Good afternoon, dear readers! I'm here to show you more of the unfinished work that is just so demanding of me. I've really come to realize how much space I need to work. I'm not talking about physical studio space, which thank goodness, I seem to have in great plenty. It's the space that lives inside of time...that allows the time to open up into an infinity that invites creative flow. Now that I am working part-time, the days seem to close in even more than they used to, and although I should have time "in theory" to work, I can't seem to work when I know the clock is ticking, so to speak. I take care of the many, although not all, must-dos each morning and try to leave myself enough "open space" to work, but inevitably I stall....because it's not open time and open space....it's closed and very finite. I need to know that I don't have to be anywhere but in the studio in an hour, two hours, three hours....ever. It's an illusion, a trick of the mind I realize, to try to fool oneself into falling for the ruse, but sometimes it really works. If you've never done an artist's residency, I really encourage you to apply to any one of a growing number of them available all over the world....that's where the illusion works....it works really well, when you know that you have a month where all you have to do is feed your belly and your soul with working. Amazing things happen and the creative process unfolds in ways you can't foresee when you are squeezing the work into slivers of space. All that is a way to say....these works which I want to move to completion are inching along at a snail's pace. I've just taken some shots of them in their current state because obviously it's going to be a long time before I have the space and time I need to really move them along any faster.....but I do love the way it's going, for as much as you can see, I hope you can gather a bit of what's happening.
They are all on my husband Johntimothy's handmade paper, around 15 x 11". Those extra bits are just laying there in the third shot, waiting to see if they belong anywhere on the piece or not. All the pieces will have "roof" sections attached like you see in process on the fifth shot. There is a lot of layered drawing at this point, but the pieces will all have more drawing and embroidery by the time they are finished. I just need some space.
It's interesting to see now how my morning drawings (the 10 very quick meditation drawings I do each morning) and the dailies on the teabags are all informing one another, as well as these new pieces I've shown you in process. Maybe those of you who know my work can tell, I'm not sure, but it's fun to watch it all unfold. Here's today's daily drawing posted at MissouriBendMusings.
I do hope you have a fascinating and fruitful week ahead! See you in a few days!
oh, how truthfully you speak my heart, my language, my perpetual struggle to learn how to be in that space that lives inside of time. thank you for the vulnerability! thank you for sharing this precious work in progress. i love every single piece, especially the first one!
ReplyDeletehere's to an abundance of space!
Always heartwarming to know I've struck a chord and I'm not struggling with these things by myself! I'm glad to hear you like the works in progress....a little confirmation that I'm on the right path is so helpful and encouraging! Thank you!
DeleteWow, so poetic and provocative....!!! Love these hand writing and mark-making fading away and not legible yet so powerful!
ReplyDeleteThen there are layers of works which interacting with each other...
Wonderful works. Thank you for sharing!!
Erin....thanks so much for your comment. The confirmation that these layers of mark making, legible and illegible, are connecting with people is so gratifying....do stay tuned as one of these days, each of these pieces will come to a final state! Thank you!
DeleteOh Patti - this work is amazingly beautiful, haunting, peaceful, and mysterious. The layers, the text, the colours, all are so perfect. And you have captured brilliantly how difficult it is to work when there is a set end-time. I can't go and do stuff if I know I have to go to a meeting or work-work in 2-3 hours; even if I could probably achieve something, I feel better when it is flowing rather than begin condensed. That's when I go wrap pebbles...
ReplyDeleteFiona....many thanks....exactly what I'm trying to capture and convey....haunting beauty. I've thought about you and those beautiful rocks....making beautiful objects, but using the in-between time to do do it! Bravo to you! I love those wrapped pebbles! So great to have your comment!
DeleteRealizing these pieces have been on my mind since I first took a look yesterday. Something haunting about them that I love, especially the last one. Interesting to hear your thoughts about creative space and that timeless bliss we all seek.
ReplyDeleteAnnie....thank you for sharing the fact that the pieces have stayed with you....of course these were just cropped snippets I showed, but that's a very encouraging sign that they have staying power and reach a place that's hard to name. I'm anxious to move forward on them, although I guess I am the one some weeks ago who talked about going back to the slow work. Thank you!
DeleteP-you seem to have a real burst of the creative muse. Beautiful quiet works. I have really liked seeing the simplicity and creativity with the daily tea bags. Love the piece above with marks - like a prison wall and counting off the days to freedom. Go del. B
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Barry....once I settle in, the creative muse seems to relax and do her thing! I used to use those little counting marks a lot in my work and it's fun to see them come back. Actually, they harken way back to my cataloging days when I'd have to keep statistics for the month and I'd count my cataloging sheets up with those little hash marks....it is all about counting, tracking and measuring time....thanks for your comment!! Cheers!
DeleteLovely, lovely, lovely - the work and the sentiments both!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
ka
Karen Anne...thank you so much!
DeleteWow, Patti. Take my breath away.
ReplyDeleteThis is where you've been coming to all this time, these exquisite expressions of the space inbetween. I am so blown away. The wonderful layering that creates patina, so hard to do in paperworks, seems so natural and effortless-organic- even though I know you've worked hard to get here. A quiet triumph!
Lorraine, once again your keen insights have captured exactly what I was after...or am after in these pieces. Go glad it is coming through. A patina of age, natural, organic, timeless. Thanks so much for your words of encouragement!
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