Last discarded try

Another try using Electric Quilt 6. It is fast and gives me time to try many more ideas than I could using pencil and paper. I rather like this one best and will make it at some point, but it didn't seem right for this challenge. I've always learned more from my discarded attempts than from pieces that just came together easily which is why I decided to blog them. Once a teacher; always a teacher. This also is the reason one should work in a series. The more I explored, the better the ideas seemed.

Thanks to people who have commented. It's always nice to know someone's out there.

Next try

I made up some quilt blocks with the wonky i as a lower case letter.They are fun to arrange and may lead to something in the future.I just get the feeling that the block has been done before. Oh well, try again.

Last aborted attempt next week.

Work continues...

Late to the party

I'm checking in to say I'm working on it. Like most everyone else, when the challenge word was revealed, I went to the usual sources. I still had nothing. Scoured my sketchbooks looking for inspiration...nothing, nada.

My "go to" method when I need an idea is to make a list of nouns on one side of the page; and verbs on the other side. Well, this time I already have the noun so I just made a list of verbs based on the various definitions and my interpretations of the word "Initiative". I chose 4 verbs from that list, and magically I had 2 ideas! So, which to choose? I've been going back and forth with that for the last 2 weeks...making and rejecting sketches. Last night, when I should have been sleeping, it came to me, just as clear a bell! I got up at 3 am and made a sketch right then before I could forget.

Today I refined that sketch and made my full size cartoon, chose and marked

my background fabric, and began painting. The painting will be finished tomorrow, but it won't get quilted until right at Christmas.

It feels great to have gotten this far. And below is a sneak peak. Hey Vicki, you might recognize the background fabric as one from my extensive stash of your hand dyes. So it's a collaborative of sorts!

Of course you knew there would be feathers, didn't you!

-Fiberactions Journey Journal-

Like many of the others, after the initiative challenge was announced I went to the dictionary, thesaurus and sketchbook.  It took me a few days to come up with my concept, but once I did - I knew I was going to go with it. The hard part was deciding how I would represent, in fabric, what I was thinking.  I sketched out several designs, never in one sketch book.  Once I came up with my final design, I thought it would have been nice if I had the sketches contained in one book where I could illustrate how and why I went from one sketch to another.

SueB recommended I make a scrap book/journal for myself. I knew what she meant by 'make'....... I didn't exactly make this journal, I took a premade mixed media journal and customized the cover. Inside I plan to keep all of my Fiberactions notes and sketches. It is big enough so I can add envelopes for fabric scraps or whatever I might have been considering for each challenge interval.  At the end of the 2 years I think it will be neat to go back and look at how I approached each challenge.

(ps-my challenge does not look anything like the journal cover, so this is not a sneak peak...)

Enjoy the journey.

Started working on my quilt

This morning I did some research on the meaning of colors and have decided to use the fabric I mentioned on my last post. Started to work on the layout and the design has taken on a life of its own....not at all what I originally imagined and definitely out of the ordinary for me. Still needs work but at least this is a start.

Quilt's Complete!

I finished the first challenge quilt today! That's it -- no photos, nothing else to say, except that it's better than I originally imagined it!

Golden Brown Mood

I hate to post without pictures, so here are a couple. The first is a crazy quilt I have in progress. It's 1of 3 that I've used some of the same fabrics & colors. This leads me up to what I am working on for the Initiative challenge.

I knew  almost instanly that I wanted it to be "about", but had no real idea of where I was going with it, or how I wanted to get there.  I printed out some photos & text on fabric but that's as far as it went, until today.

After working on some small Xmas projects, I sat looking at my photos on fabric, stated pulling out fabric that went with the photos. Seems like I have a color theme going on here. Hmmm...

Suddenly had the desire to rip into my stack of fabric. Yes actually RIP it! Ahh what a fun & liberating thing to do. I had a nationally know teacher once tell me I should NEVER rip my fabric! Well phlibbbttt!! to her!

I've always enjoyed breaking rules that have no really good explanation for why they exist. So here it is, the  of my "Initiative" piece.

Deb Hardman

2nd attempt

The comment on my first attempt was right on. It did look like Hi which wouldn't be bad for the initial challenge.The block letter I was just too traditional, so maybe a wonky i would be better. Not bad-has possibilities, but still too traditional for me. I think this will be a later quilt.

Next week, next attempt.

Happy Dancing

I've finished! I'm very excited about that. Here is a teaser peek at my creation. I'm looking forward to the reveal.

Finally an idea is taking shape.

My motivation for signing up for this challenge was to stretch my artist abilities and step outside my comfort zone. I want to create pieces that have some level of unexpectedness as it relates to my style, exploring new techniques and trying different approaches. I am finding out this may be easier said than done….

Also, so much for any preconceived notion that the person who selects the theme for a challenge already has an idea in mind! I have really been struggling with ‘initiative’. I was starting to feel a little panicky and wondering if anything would ever start to crystallize. A few things have been rolling around in my brain but nothing I could really get excited about. I had made a couple of weak attempts at mind mapping and sketching but nothing was working.

Finally the other morning when I was still lying in bed, I thought of a piece hand dyed fabric that I bought about a year and a half ago. You may have one like this, a color you don’t usually use but for some reason you had to have it and you love it so much that you take it out once in a while to look at it but the thought of using it and possibly messing it up is terrifying. Looking at this fabric finally gave my idea legs and I did a couple of rough sketches that I think can work.

I am still in the process of finalizing my thoughts and looking at fabrics. I have also been looking through some of my favorite books on design and have been doing some experiments with a few techniques. I hope to start the construction process next week. I am as anxious as anyone to see the results.

Initiative Challenge

I've been reading others' posts on this blog with interest and a frequent nod of understanding. I occasionally sketch, roughly, what idea I have in my head...but words and ideas often shape my work.

I was out of the loop for several weeks visiting in Ghana when the conversations amongst the other members occurred. Actually, as I had no email connection I missed out on a lot...so my initial understanding of the whole process was unformed. And, frankly, I was pretty much dumbstruck (which is going some for me) by the word "initiative". I always thought I "had" it but I wasn't so sure just what "it" was.

So, I hit my thesaurus and made a list of synonyms. I carried that list with me for days...quite literally. I started free-associating and discovered that when I did that in my studio...with fabric at hand...real things started happening. Weird.

I finished the piece yesterday. Its working title was "Free-associating". Yesterday it earned "Spunk" for its label.

My non-creative creative process.

I thought I'd jump in and talk about my process now that I finally have an idea. I don't know exactly how I came around to my design process but I am sure it's born a little out of my lack of art education and, frankly, artistic ability. I identify myself more as a craftsperson than an artist. I master skills easy. Design is much harder. Of course that's the reason that I join challenges like this. I'll never learn if I don't try!

I also have to respect my personality. I am not a "swath of color" person. I live in the details and I'm very happy there. I have tried to be the abstract artist and have realized that's it's just not me. I admire people that can do interpretative art but it's not me. I'll buy that art! I'll never make it.

For this challenge I started almost the same as Sue. I rarely sketch simply because I can't draw. I rely on words and rules. I started with the words. I made lists of other words that relate to initiative.

Then I was overwhelmed.

Then one day in my "idea chamber", shower, I realized that initiative meant to do SOMETHING! That's when my whole though process changed gear and I started to think about what I wanted to get from this process and what kinds of techniques I wanted to explore.

I decided that I wanted to try to do this entire challenge as a related series. That means that there's a technique that I want to explore through each challenge and that will be the basis for all of my pieces. My challenge will be to build and develop on that technique.

..and that's where I am now! I will not start construction until Christmas break but I've known all along that would be the situation. Now you all know what I will be doing Christmas and New Year's weekend!

The process

When Judy posted the first word for our challenge my first thought was that I was in big trouble. At first I felt no connection to the word at all so my first attempt to glean some inspiration from it was to print the word and it's definition out on some paper and tack it up in the studio. I left it there for a few days hoping that I'd be struck by an idea if I occasionally glanced at it.

Well that didn't work so my next step was to do some rough word association and mind mapping in my sketchbook.

This helped me form a more personal connection to the word and once I had that connection the ideas on how I could represent it started to come pretty easily. Once I narrowed down my ideas and found the one that I felt was the best representation my quilt came together fairly quickly.

I'll be back on the 15th with a photo of my finished quilt....

A beginning

Being visual rather than a word person, I was really stopped by the word Initiative. Then I did a mental mind map and decided that it was a good choice as this is a beginning of a new Art group-the Initial project. We are taking the Initiative and starting the initial piece. As you can guess, I got hung up on the letter I. So what to do.

To test repeat blocks, I use Electric Quilt, because I can try them out quickly and rearrange them at the push of a button. Today I post my first attempt.  As you can see, it's time for a new ink cartridge, but you can still see the idea. This is boring and not the way I want to start the year-looks too traditional which is not me.

Stay tuned. Next week I'll post the second try.

Ruminations on Initiative

We recently discussed amongst ourselves that any of us who has the notion to share thoughts on our creative process relating to our challenges should feel free to blog about them. So here I am, first out of the gate.

Two of the several definitions of "initiative" that Judy posted really spoke to me...

1. the action of taking the first step or move; responsibility for beginning or originating; and
2. the characteristic of originating new ideas or methods; ability to think and act without being urged; enterprise

I did some further research in dictionaries and the thesaurus (one of my favorite book, by the way), and I came up with a few elaborations to guide me in developing a quilt based on "initiative."

1. energy or aptitude displayed in initiation of action
2. at one's own discretion, independent of outside influence or control
3. one's personal responsible decision
4. readiness to embark on a new venture

And a few additional words that came to me when I mindmapped were: volition, emergence, energy, fire, force, verve and thrust.

"Initiative" is a really challenging theme to portray visually. Many of the group have been struggling to develop an idea. I'm really anxious to see what we all come up with on January 15.

I am working on my piece this weekend. I had an interesting construction dilemma to deal with yesterday -- I had difficulty sewing on some of the fabric I'd selected (more on that when I reveal my finished piece) -- but I ended the day with the problem resolved in a way that I like far better than the original. I love how lemons can become lemonade!

Connie