Thursday, January 28, 2010

Fresh Start

I've learned my lesson that I'm only good for one show a year. They really do change how I create, and I end up too focused on the final product and lose my willingness to experiment and take risks. Once the product becomes more central than the process, I know I'm out of sorts.

So I'm thrilled to be back to experimentation time! The first thing I need is a little Jude therapy and some slow, mindful stitching. At the same time, I want to try a few new things.

I want to try starting with an overall composition in mind and then let the piece evolve. I've wanted to do a small piece about light breaking through the darkness. From my sketchbook, I like this basic cruciform composition for it:
I've also wanted to return to pieces that are heavily black and white with accents of color, along the lines of these I was doing last year:

But this time I want the color to be integrated more, subtle, keeping the piece primarily black and white.

I'm beginning by building strips of white texture:






8 comments:

gerfiles said...

That strip of white texture is wonderful... you could just as well leave it like this...

Jacky said...

Your strips of texture are wonderful. I like the idea of some sort of structure for the piece before beginning...your sketch and notes ... the idea evolving.

Looking forward to watching the progress of this new cloth.

Jacky.

arlee said...

this is strong, powerful, a warrior start!

jude said...

little long cloth, a tiny path. a quiet path. yes. walking in winter it say to me.

lee said...

I did a month of black&white + a color, in December 2007. All kinds of interesting things came from it.

The link I can find is to all the postcards on Flickr, the December ones are down at the bottom (of course).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancingcrow/sets/72157594470343877/

I love your textured white pathway!

Robin Olsen said...

Thanks for your comments on this--they are leading me in a new direction. I'm liking the idea of a pathway. This may stand alone for a while until I see where the path leads.

Judy Martin said...

Magnificent. You are off to a great start.

Dee / Cloth Company said...

look forward to seeing where this goes... and thanks for sharing about the show-limit -- as we work to perfect our craft and share our pieces with each other, you remind me that the learning on the marketing/public interface end is critical as well.