A Good Day In My Studio

I decided how I would use the shibori hankies I had made. I’d cut out the designs that spoke to me, surround them in blue and make them into a quilt. I’ve done this before with small scraps of fabric, letting them float in a single color and building around them till I’ve made a quilt.

So I looked for the fabric they’d float in and just when I found the right color and texture and was about to begin sewing, the lights went out.

This wasn’t a surprise, I knew Mike would be turning the electricity off around 1 pm to install the wiring for our new generator. I just wasn’t paying attention to the time.

Since I couldn’t sew, I switched gears.

The light coming in my windows was enough to draw by, so I got out my newsprint sketch pad and began drawing faces for my Mother Mary.

It was on Tuesday, while I was dying my hankies, that out of the corner of my eye I saw the blue lace laying on the quilt top on my studio floor and was able to “see” how it would come together.  It was a moment, a spark, a peripheral vision,  that gave me the confidence to move forward.

I started with her face, went to her hands, and as my studio grew colder with the lack of electric heat, I moved to her feet and the conch shells that I imagined there.

By the end of the day, I’d figured out some important starting points for how I’d use my Shibori Hankies and what my Mother Mary would look like.

Just a couple of days ago I was questioning why I was making Shibori Hankies at all and what I’d do with them. I had only a vague idea of how I’d move forward with my new fabric painting. I doubted myself so much I started to slip into a dark place.

But I know by now that those doubts are part of being an artist.

Especially when I’ve started something new, and I don’t know where it’s going.  There’s always the chance it won’t work out and I’ll feel I’ll have wasted all the time spent on it.

But of course, I know that this is a necessary part of creativity. Taking the chance and risking it not working out.  It’s a part of the process.

So today was a good day in my studio.  I feel like I got a lot accomplished and have a good place to start from tomorrow.