I’ve been fascinated with super close-up details since I was a little girl, lying face down in the grass imagining the world the way that ants or grasshoppers do. In my photography, I am drawn to the graphic lines and spaces and textures more than to a certain subject matter, but generally I love nature photography the most.
For the past two years my interest in quilting and stitching has returned, due to a few fantastic fiber artists such as Melanie Testa, Susan Sorrell, India Flint, and Jude Hill. Susan got me into stitching again:
I just realized that this is not the finished version of the cardoon embroidery – it is now framed in my office so just imagine a lot more bright pink thistle flower. I couldn’t stitch for a long time after this.
Melanie and India tempted me back to the road of resist painting and dyeing:
And now I suddenly have so many ideas for combining my photography and fiber surface design and stitching that my head is about to explode! This, on top of my not-yet-finished spurt of tapestry weaving, and my continuing bookbinding, and now I have taken to weaving painted papers. Really, this may be why so many artists go completely crazy.
That’s why the calm voice of Jude Hill is so soothing to me. Even though I had sworn off online art classes, I succumbed to the temptation of Jude’s “cloth whispering.” And guess what – I didn’t do a single solitary thing in the last class that I took from her! Everything was crazy busy and I was traveling. But I can go back to it any time and sink into that lovely world she has created. So I signed up for her longer class “The Magic Diaries.” Even if I just draw energy and inspiration from Jude, I’ll be happy, but I intend to make a story cloth for myself. And I intend to share my life and thoughts with you again, rather than only reporting random events and complaining.
Sometimes people ask me why I feel compelled to share my life online. I don’t really know the answer to that – there are probably a lot of reasons all mixed up together. But I do know that one of the nicest things about blogging was that every now and then someone would email me or make a comment that I made a difference in her life – that I inspired her. That is better than any anti-depressant I ever took.
So here we go, another phase of blogging in my life, as long as I need to and not a minute longer or shorter.
slowly she turned 