Challenges

My entry in the Keep It Simple Challenge

Recently, one of the on-line groups I belong to has been discussing challenges and whether or not they are a good thing, or a bad thing.  My response is: it depends.

I actually tend to do quite a few challenges.  I joined the Fast Friday Fabric Challenge in order to try to force me to work smaller (that's been successful) and to try to work more quickly and without as much thinking (this has not been successful....I still take a long time and tend to over-think things).

The major problem with challenges is that if you participate in too many of them, especially ones with lots of restrictions on materials, methods, or subject matter, then you might be working at the expense of your own "authentic" personal voice...in other words, doing what others say you should rather than working on your own art.  You can get caught up in the "busy-ness" and not develop your own style and body of work.

They can also cause you to mess around with materials or techniques which may or may not be yours...but that's not necessarily a bad thing.  Exposure to new stuff helps you determine what is your "voice".  It also brings you a healthy appreciation for those people who do the technique and do it well.

However, I find that usually, I only enter challenges which fit in with an idea I have been banging around in my head.  Thus, the challenge gives me an opportunity to work and develop them, often on a smaller, prototype which can later be developed into a larger work....or thrown out.  AND (most importantly) it has a deadline.  I need deadlines.

I'd prefer to enter challenges which have the end result of having an actual show....but those seem to be few and far between.

However, I'm not above falling into a particular trap....well..hmm...situation? For instance, in April, when I was at the IQF show in Cincinnati, Liz Kettle buzzed by me and said "here, you need to do this," as she shoved a package into my hands...well...she said something like that, I don't remember what.  Did she probably mean it? Probably not...she was probably just desperate to off-load the package and I was the lucky one standing there....

The package was composed of three sets of fine suiting and shirting swatches from high end designers, a single grey necktie, and some buttons.  A little card said it was the Power Suit Challenge and was being put on by Artistic Artifacts.  We were to make an 18" square quilt using the materials and interpret the theme "Power Suit."  Hmmm..... I came up with several ideas, and while I was working on one of them, I decided to scrap it and do something entirely different.

Little did I know that since Liz had handed it to me, I was sort of off their radar.  I had the little tag and I finished mine and sent it in so it would supposedly get to Alexandria, VA on Aug. 31.  They had set up a yahoo group...and had other things to fill out which I didn't have.  So...I merely sent it in.  That show will open on Oct. 23 at the Artistic Artifacts Gallery.  I'm contemplating going.....after all, it's only 8 hours away and I have family there.

The other ideas I had actually fit into another challenge which is now going on with the Quiltart message list...the Unusual Materials Challenge....so...I signed up for that because I had already gathered the stuff to make the quilt and it fit the challenge.  Otherwise, I think the little bag of goodies would probably sit in my sewing room gathering threads.

Does it take away time from doing other "important work"?  Probably...especially dusting.  But on the other hand it fits in with the ideas I have and I am learning while I'm working on it...plus, challenges tend to be smaller.

So, rather than taking away from what I am doing, I see it as a great shove in the right direction....but you do have to be aware of what you're doing...which is why I am not going to participate in the crazy quilt challenge....I'm quite crazy enough already, thank you.

Dabblers

Someone over on the SAQA yahoo group made a comment about some people who were in the group were "dabblers" who were quick to try any technique which came down the pike and intimated that challenges were not for "serious" artists. She also went on to disparage quilters who worked in "photo realism."

I hope what she really meant was that SAQA is composed of two levels, Professional Artist Members and the regular crew.   Needless to say, I'm part of the regular crew and joined in part because I aspire to become better.  While I don't think there are enough days left for me to be a professional artist, in my heart of hearts, that's what I'd like.  However, I don't like being called a "dabbler."

These ducks, Mallards, are of a variety which are called "dabblers" as they float on the surface eating weeds and bugs and what they can get shallowly rather than being one of the diving ducks who dive with the purpose to grab a fish on the fly.  You can see, when you're a dabbler, you expose your backside.

I also don't think that participating in challenges which use a particular technique or material makes you a dabbler...someone not serious and driven to dive deep after that fish.  I usually participate in those types of challenges because I had been mulling over an idea which used either that technique or that material....and I think challenges drive you to produce...there's a deadline...which for me is always a good thing.

I don't think that there is anything wrong in experimentation with materials which may not be our norm.  We might indeed find that there is something which can really fit our vision or skills and they become incorporated into our tool box.  Or we may find that it just isn't for us.  Sometimes I think intellectually that I don't like something and by trying it out...I find I'm wrong...often just as much as I find I'm right. 

I don't see, however, where it is right to disparage either group...the divers or the dabblers.  Sometimes I get a bit grumpy about how people are reluctant to have their work critiqued, but that's because I see it as a vehicle to becoming better at what I do.  I do recognize that it is MY prejudice, and MY disappointment that I can't readily find a local group who is interested in critique.  But these are my issues and they shouldn't be projected on anyone else. 


The "realism" viewpoint is a horse I'm going to flog in another blog post.  Stay tuned.  Or not. :)

A Little Bit of Silliness

Self portrait: A night on Bald Mountain

I have been taking an on line class with Pamela Allen.  One of her exercises has us drawing inspiration from another artist's work or from another piece of art. 

One of the class members, Holly I think, chose Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" as her inspiration.  I happen to love Mussorgsky and enjoyed her rendition of the witches dancing on a mountain top.

Now, I know that a "bald mountain" is really one which has no trees....but I got the giggles as I thought about doing a self-portrait with me bald and  a bed on my head (how else can bald people have bed heads????) as a Night on Bald Mountain.  So...here it is.

Yes...very silly....and it only took me an hour to put together. Do you think it looks like me?  Well....me as if I had rosacea???

Wordless Wednesday: One Reason why I quilt slowly at times

Buckeyes in the Garden

Today I took a little break and went out into the garden.  We've finally begun to get some rain.  It's been a very dry summer after a very wet spring and the result has been a lot of stress on the garden. 

I usually have a lot of butterflies, hummingbirds and other wildlife in my garden.  Now, the majority of the butterflies are Buckeyes (Junonia coenia), monarchs and the little  drab butterfly you see on the upper left  edge of this sedum.  I often look at my garden and sigh.  I think of Sunita and her wonderful exotic flowers and plants in her garden in India and wonder....do our common butterflies instill her with the awe that hers instill in us?  You can see her blog  here.

In case you're wondering...the name "buckeye" has nothing to do with Ohio.  These butterfliesa are common in all parts of the US, except for the Northwest, and in southern Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Quebec, as well as in Central America and Columbia.  The name comes instead from the dots on the wings which resemble deer eyes.  The "eye spots" are thought to confuse birds.  They are kind of hard to photograph as they are constantly fanning their wings.

A Slice of Dayton

Dayton Art Institute photographed by Ronnie Doyal

Dayton Art Institute in fabric. My slice.

On of the several projects I've been working on in the last few weeks has been a "slice" of the Dayton Art Institute. 

Last year, the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network decided to do a series of quilts based on familiar Dayton landmarks.  Ronnie Doyal, one of our members who is a professional photographer in addition to being a quilter, took photographs and Lori Gravley, Mindy Marik and I chose the shots.  We then sliced them up and handed the slices out to our members to interpret in fabric.  Mindy, Lori and I did the Dayton Art Institute to show as an example.  Lori got the left portion, I got the middle, and Mindy got the right portion.

While I had a good start on mine and had the majority of mine completed (or so I thought) by November of last year, my chemo and Meg's graduation got in the way.  At the July meeting, we had set the final date for getting them in as October, but at the August meeting it was changed to September.  Gulp.  I was taking Pamela Allen's online class "Think Like an Artist," had to finish quilting the borders and bind my daughter's quilt as well as get her ready to start college on Aug. 31, as well as have the Power Suit challenge done and sent.  

I madly went to work on the slice...and I'm amazed at how much time I put into it in even though I thought I was well on my way.  I finally finished quilting it tonight (although I am not terribly happy with the job...my numbness in my hands means I don't have the fine control I usually do...and my upper tension disks were catching the thread and causing it to break at the needle...something I've had trouble with before, even though this time I cleaned the disks twice....

The part of the reflective stainless steel sculpture in my section IS reflective fabric...while it looks yellow in my shot, it is actually reflecting the ceiling light.  I used a metallic jersey fabric for it.  The body of the building is rust dyed fabric.  I can see that I need to work on the lettering some more as the photo of the slice shows how faint it is....when you see it in real life and up close I thought it looked stronger.   This is a prime example of how the camera is your friend in seeing flaws in your art.

"I may be crazy, but I might just be the Lunatic You're looking for....."

Susasn Pickerell and Maria Elkins

Well...sort of...I sometimes think I am ADD when it comes to quilting and fun things....I'm madly trying to finish the Dayton Landmarks slice so I can hand it in on Saturday as well as catch up with the on-line class with Pamela Allen ("Think Like and Artist.").

I suppose thinking like an artist might include attention deficit disorder, but I don't think REAL artists suffer from this...I imagine they are more disciplined.

You see, I've been wondering about some of the new stuff out there..and when Maria Elkins contacted me about working with her on a new series she's hoping to do for Quilting Arts, I jumped at it.

Maria plans on a series of working with new materials...in this case, DeColorant.  I purchased some in Cincinnati  but haven't had a chance to use it yet and I thought it might work well for what I had in mind for a fabric for the next part of Pamela's lessons...of which I am woefully behind...and while I was at it, I thought I'd make it work with the Fast Friday Challenge too....and I'm late on that one as well. So...today, Debra Bentley, Susan Pickrell, Maria Elkins and I did all sorts of stuff with DeColorant...testing, messing up, seeing what happens if you do this or that....and we'll do some more on Friday.....so ....now I have to get back to the salt mines...but I thought you'd like to know what I'm up to ...before I end up strapped to an....oh, wait...that's in Billy Joel's song...not my life. :)

P.S. Apologies to Deb...she was working back at the ironing board when I took these....

Susan Pickerel and Maria Elkins (background) working hard.