Truth and Fear

Truth and Fear
Truth and Fear

Often at some point in the morning, as part of our morning conversation, Jon will ask me what I’m going to be working on that day.  Yesterday I knew I was going to finish up my happy housewife quilt.  Sometimes I have an idea and just say that I have something in mind, not wanting to talk about it especially if the idea is only half formed. But other times, like today, I just have no idea.

Jon got up early, he’s been gearing up to start his new book.  I know his book writing process so well.  There’s the time of thinking and talking about it before the writing begins.  Then one morning he just gets up early and starts writing.  That’s what happened today, the first draft of the introduction.  Sometimes I think it’s as much for him as it is for the book and readers.  The writing is slow in the beginning with lots of changes, but at some point the pace picks up and then there’s no stopping him.

I went back to sleep after he got up thinking maybe I’d have one of those hypogogia  visions, or at least a dream to inspire me.  (I love this new way of working, where sleeping is working!) But when I woke at 7am, the only thing I remembered was a dream where I lived in a house with a white sand floor and everywhere I looked I found a sparkling crystal.  Hmm, now that I think of it, there may be something there after all, but not realizing this at the time, I went into my studio having no idea what I would do.

I fussed around a little, picking up pieces of fabric, moving things around, then saw the three panels that I didn’t include in the “happy housewife” quilt that have been kicking around my studio floor for weeks. Feeling they were complete content wise, as they were, I started to look for fabric for the border for the first one.

I used the same image of the Baroque Woman with the blindfold  in each of these pieces.  I cut out the man next to her whose arms you can still see. Looking at it today, made me think of  a scene in the book “Perfect” by Rachel Joyce (a great new book for anyone looking for something good to read) when the husband and wife in the story are playing Blind Mans Bluff at a party they are  having.  The wife is blindfolded and has to find her husband, but as the game begins, he leaves the party without telling anyone.   The perfect metaphor for their relationship.

blind    With that in mind, and life in general,(Although I’ve dealt with a lot of my fear, it  still blinds me sometimes) the words Fear didn’t served her so she took off her blindfold and saw the truth came to me.   I played around with them for a bit and decided on Fear no longer served her so she opened her eyes and saw the truth. Those are buttons sewn on under the words.  I’m not sure why they’re there, but they seem right.

I was going to save this to sell at the Bedlam Farm Open House at the end of the month, but I have the other two panels that I’ll work on for that.  I think I may use the same or similar words on one or both of them.  They are different enough and also similar enough where I think it would work.

So this piece, Truth and Fear is Sold for sale for $125 + $15 shipping (those buttons are going to need a box to fit into.) It’s 17 inches high by 35 inches long.  If you’re interested in it, just email me here or at maria @fullmoonfiberart.com.

 

12 thoughts on “Truth and Fear

  1. Hi Maria! If this piece is still available, I would be honored to hang it in my Airstream. You could keep for your Open House, ship later. Please advise. :)) Thanks, Luanne

  2. Loved the last few sentences! Just had to put two dogs down, another missing several months. The pain is worth it. It’s a choice.

  3. Maria, the fabrics, patterns and design elements you choose to juxtapose I always find fascinating. They can stop me in my tracks, and I have to just sit with them. I find your pieces have such an artistic integrity where all the elements go together so beautifully. And your designs keep changing in new and creative directions. And of course the blindfolded woman in this piece with your words is perfect. It’s breathtaking.

  4. Love your creation. I keep learning this lesson over and over. the fears just creep in and Hold me hostage for a while
    Until I open my eyes. I think the buttons represent the weight of fear… Physically and emotionally.

  5. I really like this piece of art. Fear creeps in on me and holds me
    hostage until I manage to free myself. The buttons to me are rocks that represent what fear does physically and emotionally to us. I like the lady with the blindfold on and then off. So creative.

  6. Oh, my, made me laugh…sleeping is working…I want that job and am working towards it. There is a space where ideas are free to surface between sleep and wakefulness. Another place I find that space is during or after exercise, usually riding my bike. Thanks for that hypogogia word too!

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