One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. --Helen Keller This is a detail from one of the 40 panels of the work Dancing Ground. About Call / Response: Quote-a-day calendars infuse my day with an unpredicted perspective. This year I will post weekly words of another person and my … Continue reading Call /Respond Week 12
Tag: courage
Call / Response Week 7
One of the marks of a gift is to have the courage of it. Katherine Anne Porter Heart's Desire began as fun, putting together tumbler patches in a neutral colorway. After I had layered it with batting and backing and quilted through the layers, I added tucks to the bottom of the hanging. The copper … Continue reading Call / Response Week 7
Trinity: a Mural for St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
Textile mural, 14' wide and 7.5' long. Constructed in 17 separate panels. Photo courtesy of Nancy DeForest. She snapped it with her phone as a great kindness to me. I had not yet seen all the panels hanging together because it is too large for my small studio. Here is what I wrote to the people of … Continue reading Trinity: a Mural for St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
Advent Interlude 4
This art piece was doomed to be unfinished, untouched for months but still in the range of daily examination. The aha! direction found me as I drove over the mountains, pondering my child's life. "He's never going to be happy until he learns to dance on the rim of nothingness." I thought. "No, it is I that … Continue reading Advent Interlude 4
A Year of Listening: Week 19
Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide. -- Napoleon Bonaparte
A Year of Listening, Week 10
One of the marks of a gift is to have the courage of it. --Katherine Anne Porter Art quilt, Heart's Desire, illustrates the courage to cut a hole in a quilt, to let go of one pattern to become something new. Personal collection of Norma Colman.
A Year of Listening, Week 6
Find out who you are and do it on purpose. --Dolly Parton
Hit the refresh button and head to comfort zone!
Mid-week there was a great amount of reverse stitching (also known as ripping) in the studio. Neither design nor construction technique was working. When I rip many stitches one of two things happen: either I repeat the sewing step with more care, a different thread, a new machine setting, or I have an aha moment … Continue reading Hit the refresh button and head to comfort zone!
An Artist’s Prayer
There has been discussion recently about what pieces of artwork I would not sell. This is one of the few. It evolved over several years. It began as an 18" square, my response to a class assignment to work in a monochromatic color scheme. I loved the unfinished results for several years; I remained unwilling … Continue reading An Artist’s Prayer
Courage
Well practiced artists can move along for hours, days, months without giving the need for courage a thought. Well, at least I can. And I haven't heard this topic come up often, so I think I am ok in this perspective. Mostly, it is our own courage that is an issue. A friend of mine … Continue reading Courage