More Texture

As I reported on an earlier blog (here), our little sub-group of the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network has been meeting and exploring different elements of design and techniques in art quilting.

Liz Schneiders led this workshop on texture. All of these pieces are hers and I think they are pretty cool. She did some experimentation with three dimensional pieces, this chartreuse pyramid I think is my favorite.



But this is pretty neat too.



















This piece should probably be oriented in the opposite direction, but I thought it was pretty neat too. She used fleece and sewed it together, then cut it apart and resewed it.









Even the back of it has really neat texture.












Of course, whimsy is quite evident here in the frog with the yo-yo eyes. This inspired Lori Gravely to do a quite elegant piece which she posted on her blog here









In this piece, Liz simply wove strips of raw edged check through a piece of fabric she had cut slits into. Also quite effective.


So, where's my art for the day? Well, my creative tallent was spent working in the garden, planting the last (thank goodness) of the tulips, daffodils and Camas lilies as well as going through some of my fabric and quilting arts magazines. I also thought I was pretty creative in the patterns in which I vacuumed my rug.

Tomorrow will be a more productive day I hope. At least it will be part of the day when I'm meeting with the MVAQN group of stitchers at Appalachian Quilts.

While I was working in the garden and thinking about the Art Every Day, I was thinking about a conversation I heard when I was 16. I was working on a piece of pottery at the Battle Creek Art Center and the two instructors, who were young women probably about 25 at most, we talking about a third woman. The third woman was somewhat older and she set aside a portion of her day every day to paint. She structured it so it was the same time every day. The two instructors I was hearing as I worked decried this and said that she wasn't REALLY and artist because she worked at the same time every day, not when the muse moved her or for as long as the muse moved her.

I have remember this all these years. At the time, I thought that they were wrong. Today, I know that they were horribly wrong. As other responsibilities come our way, whether children, a job, or whatever, sometimes we have to set aside a certain time and hold it sacrosanct...this is our time for creativity. Sometimes we can sneak it in other times as well, but at least we have this one sacred time. I suppose that the two instructors thought that it became too much like work...but I think that the third woman was very wise. While I usually shoot photos every day, and am creative (or at least try to be ) in the food I prepare and certainly my gardening is very creative (if you ever want to talk color and texture in gardens, then I'm your gal). However, sometimes the time I am able to spend in my sewing room or with my paints is short indeed.