Thursday, March 27, 2008

Smiling and whistling and all but dancing

as I worked. If it were possible to dance sitting on ones butt as you machine quilt my bottom would have been doing a jig. I was happy, I'm still happy. I felt somewhat like all six of the seven dwarfs rolled into one in "Snow White and the..." kind of happy. There was no room for Grumpy. Not even the rain and the clouds spoiled my days.
While it is hard for me to come up with names for my work as I've said previously, and staying true to myself, this piece doesn't have a name either, but I know it needs to called something that speaks to happiness. Like "Ode to Poppies" maybe.
I love what I do, (creating with fabric)therefore 99.5% of my days are planned around my studio time and I can't wait to get there. Some days I go knowing that what I have to do that day, or for the next several hours to get a pieced finished is going to be down right boring, like miles and miles of free motion quilting that isn't terribly creative, just necessary. But I go. After all showing up is 90% of the battle. A lot of times it is while I am doing something boring like miles and miles of FMQ or hand stitching to hold down a facing while listening to a continuous loop of news on CNN or MSNBC that sometime wonderful pops into the head. I find it is harder for something exciting to pop into the old nogging while listening to a book on CD.
The idea for this piece that began in a moment of boredom has had no boring moments from start to finish. I couldn't wait until the last stitch in the facing on my latest piece was done to get started. (See previous post) I knew from the start I was going to be happy with this piece too. I began to smile when the first glimmer of the image popped in my head. I could see the reds and the oranges and the yellows and I continued to smile until the last stitch in the facing was done before supper last evening.
Truth to tell, I am still smiling this morning, so I hope the image makes you smile too.
The piece measures 29" x 55" and was dye painted. Start to finish, 5 days. Not bad hey!
The down side of not being bored while working on this piece is I have no idea of what I will start working on today. I am hoping something comes to me in the 30 feet between where I am sitting at the computer and my studio space.
 
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4 comments:

Melody Johnson said...

deeeelicious!

Karoda said...

well send some happy dancing butt vibes over my way! :) and the piece made me smile too!

Deb Lacativa said...

It delights me every bit as much as you. I'd call it Smiling. Wonderful!

I'm about to spend some time dyepainting whole cloth pieces after a long dry period. Thanks for the lift!

Anonymous said...

I love it. No purples in the background is so different for you. This pieces is definitely sunshine and happiness. Non-Artist