Artist's Date Revisited

Well, after I got home on Tuesday, I downloaded my pictures, sent some to my blog and then started going through them and doing some tweaking. The next day I started printing some out...the large central oak was printed on canvas. The oak tree trunk was printed on white pima cotton for the detail. Then I started painting the canvas and playing around with it. Then worked on several shots of the branches and cropped and played with those and then did gel transfers. Then continued to paint off and on for a couple of days. I really felt alive during the process!

And then...I started to assemble the new quilt and to start the quilting. Boy was it fun!! Got it finished on Saturday!

Velda Newman came to our guild this weekend. Love her and haven't seen her since Art Quilt Tahoe. She will be there again this year for two sessions...that is, if they get filled.

Saturday was the last, LAST, LAST, day that I have any responsibilities to my quilt guild. For the past five years I have been president, quilt show chair and program chair. And now, I think, I have done enough there. No more board (bored) meetings, no more squabbling (although we really are pretty good) and no more responsibilities during the meeting. I can just sit back and enjoy.

It's funny when I share my work...I have a group of people who really like it but the majority are traditional or new quilters and they just aren't interested. However, everyone sees the work from quite a distance away since it is shown on the stage. No one ever comes up to see my work up close...and there is so much detail in it. I guess that is just the way it goes. I do get a lot more support when I go to my chapter SAQA meetings...there they are supportive and interesting is how and why I do things.

This new piece is very different from what I have been doing. It has been fun to experiment with it. I have wanted to incorporate photos in my work and this time just stuck with the oak tree and think it works ok...not sure, since it really is different from what I usually do. But then, that's the idea, isn't it?

So, my quote for the day is again from Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit, and she says:

"The most productive artists I know have a plan in mind when they get down to work. They know what they want to accomplish, how to do it, and what to do if the process falls off track.

But there's a fine line between good planning and overplanning. You never want the planning to inhibit the natural evolution of your work."