New Ideas for a New Year

No Artist Can Resist an Empty Workspace

This is an idea that speaks, not just for those of us that call ourselves artists, but for everyone. At no time in our lives is this more poignant than at the turn of the New Year. I think we all feel like we’ve got a clean workspace. Either that, or we’ve got to clean our workspace so we can start fresh.

And then what do we want to do?

…Something different than last year.

As usual, good fortune has shone upon me and in these first two weeks of Florida Scarf 2014 I have done completely different things. Coincidentally, these news things have had something in common.

Embroidery

I would never have guessed, but I’ve spent countless hours in this past week with a needle and thread. I tend to prefer fast-and-furious work habits; but I’ve really enjoyed taking my time and letting the details of my work emerge one stitch at a time. The sweetest part of the deal…I can embroider in my rocking chair!

If I was looking for a new style for my scarves and hoods this would be it.

I had two customers request special order hoods. Each had an incredibly different theme, baseball and sugar skulls. As radically different as the two subjects may be, the technique of embroidery was the only solution for my interpretations. Of course a bit of online research was needed for me to acquire the basic skills needed. After that (and the sketching of the ideas onto the fabric, which I have also never done) I was rocking, listening to a new grip of CD’s I borrowed from the library, or watching German cartoons, and stitching away.

At the start I was questioning why I had decided to employ such a laborious technique. Then I remembered watching the movie Gandhi. If he can find Peace while hand making his own thread and fabric all day, maybe there is Peace in embroidery for me. I’m definitely happy with where hand-embroidery has taken my work thus far. I can only imagine what design possibilities lay on the horizon.