MAKING SPACE

The other day I had just finished reading a short essay, by Tosha Silver, that was in her book OUTRAGEOUS OPENNESS, Letting the Divine Take the Lead, when I received the clear message that today I would finally clean out the three draws in the Hoosier Cabinet.  The essay was titled "The Energy Vacuum" and discussed getting rid of clutter and things that might be useful but they are no longer useful to oneself. As a result, they suck up our energy and take up creative space in our lives.

Now, I had already been been going through the house and even the studio and getting rid of clutter on a pretty regular basis, for the last several years. I thought I was doing a pretty good job but I really knew better. 

I knew those drawers needed a good going through.  I received a very clear message that " today is the day to clean out those three drawers".  I groaned at the thought of going through all of the stuff that had accumulated in them over many years. While I have kept all the other drawers in the kitchen free and clear of clutter, those three continued to lurk in that corner of the kitchen, weighing me down every time I thought of them, or had to try to find something in one of them.

So, I found a cardboard box and emptied the first drawer into it. I figured that I would only put what was needed and/or wanted back into the drawer.  It all went surprisingly smoothly and by time I tackled the second drawer, I had decided on a strategy for reorganizing the drawers.  I also had a pretty good size box of stuff for Goodwill and the trash can was filling up.

The third drawer is the big one, in the photo at the beginning of this column.  I was shocked at some of what I found in there. A newspaper from 1988 was lining the bottom and there was a can of shoe polish that might have been from Steve's army days, back in 1967 to 1971. Yes, very old and molded. 

I only found two items that are still useful and they are now put in a more appropriate place.  I finished filling the trash can, wiped out the drawer and put it back in the cabinet empty. It's going to stay that way.

I did feel a huge sense of relief at getting rid of all that stuff.  I  had not realized how much those lurking drawers were affecting me until I had dealt with them. The more I got rid of, the lighter I felt. 

I also am left wondering why I let them get so filled with clutter but that's probably another subject for another time. I can now enjoy opening a drawer and finding what I need.  Most of all, it's opened up space for something new to now appear in my life.

I've been using this same approach in the studio. I realized that I haven't been really excited about creating anything new.  I started looking around at some of the unfinished projects from years back and felt weighed down by them.

I know that sometimes it's best to just give up on a project; that not all beginnings are meant to have an end, but these were things that I wanted to try finishing. Some of them I really liked and others are a creative challenge that still looks like fun.  I've  decided to open up space by finishing those projects that still appeal to me.

One of them is a collage that I started many years ago at a KHQS Getaway. 

I got as far as painting the background and the three green silk rectangles, and then set it aside.

Here I've accented the quilted lines with brown shades of watercolor pencils and added more paint to the green silk rectangles. I've also found a collection of antique buttons, pearl leaves, turquoise and a belt buckle.

 














It was looking a bit plain, so, I decided to check out the trim drawer.  

After applying the trims, I decided to add some beading.  

Things are coming along. More is being added and I'm feeling a bit of energy coming back into the studio.  A project is about to be finished up that I'm really liking while I'm having fun finding and using things up and making room for something new.  

Hopefully, I'll be posting the photos of the finished piece in a few days. 

To paraphrase Tosha Silver, "when we let go of what we don't need, what we do need can then arrive."  

I'm opening up space and inviting in more creative energy.

Creating Always,
Karen 

 

FRACTURED GRAPES- Translating a photo into a quilted piece

This photo was issued by the Quilt Artists of Kentucky as a challenge. We were to translate it into a 12" square quilted piece.  I chose to print parts of the photo on fabric and go from there.

I started by cropping out the leaves and only printing the grapes on a 8"x10" piece of paper.
Here's the photo that I printed.

I then cropped out the leaves and printed them as narrow strips on paper.

I then sliced up the blueberries and alternated them with the leaf strips. I realized very quickly that I had over sliced the blueberries. So, this gave me a preview of what slicing up the printed fabric might look like.

I ended up slicing the pieces like so:

You can see that I reversed the inner leaf pieces and made the last grape piece larger. I also reduced the size of the dark red leaf border on the left.

I sewed all of the strips together and then squared up the piece.  I knew I needed borders on the top and bottom to make it 12"square. I found a piece of snow-dyed cotton sateen ( I had dyed 40 yards of cotton and silk fabric during the big March storm of 2015, so, I just happened to have something that was perfect for the borders.) and cut the borders out of it.

I then started quilting it.  I first outlined the grapes with Madiera FS20 Metallic thread.  You can see that the quilting has added real definition to the grapes. 

Then I quilted the leaves using a free motion veining design. 

Once I had completed most of the quilting, I started painting the grapes with Inktense Watercolor pencils. I was excited about seeing what kind of difference they would make on the grapes.  I colored in each grape and then brushed it with Golden Fabric Medium- GAC 900.  The medium caused the colors to flow and to heighten in intensity.  It's also easy to add in more color while the medium is still wet and easier to see where shading or highlighting might be needed. 

After letting the grapes dry overnight, I finished the rest of the quilting and proceeded to color in the rest of the piece.  The borders were covered with Fabric medium mixed with paint pearls by Jaquard.

I finished off the grapes with a slight coating of gold metallic Tushineko Ink, that gave the grapes a lovely frosted look.

I am going to try printing and painting again. I really love working with the watercolor pencils. I've also discovered that I can use Prismacolor and other brands of watercolor pencils that give the same effect and allow me to work with a broader range of colors.  I'm also excited about adding in details with ink pens. No telling where this will all go.

Off to a night on the town with the husband and friends,
Enjoy,

Karen