Not in the studio

I am blessed to have a beautiful place to work. My dear friend and artist, Sharon McCartney-see her studio and work in this Interweave Press publicationhttp://www.interweave.com/magazines/, graciously allows me to work in her classroom space. It has been a gift. One I am thankful for on a daily basis. But today I wasn't there. I had planned to be there but I was sidetracked - those tangents again - by books. First time in the library then at Barnes and Noble. Sitting with stacks of books and magazines, pouring through information, inspiration, getting answers to technical questions and more. I filled three pages in the sketchbook with websites to visit, notes, thoughts, pictures. I started out feeling guilty that I wasn't working, but soon realized this was just as, if not more productive, for the day. Now, to utilize the sketchbook. I will be posting pictures of sketchbook pages. It is one of the best tools I employ.

Fruit of the Tangent

These pieces are pure play. I wanted to add moss to a quilt. Creeping out from somewhere. I see moss when out for a walk. I wanted to convey that in this piece. Moving along, walking on the path. These are the first in a series of 5. I tend to then work on a numerous pieces at the same time.

I look forward to seeing where these take me.

Saying Yes to Tangents

Tangents can be a good thing. I have to embrace them because I have the attention span of a gnat. I have been very focused on a group of small quilts - see them on etsy, if you like:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6287566.

I love them, love making them and am working to perfect the design, expand the size offerings and market the heck the out of 'em. But over the holiday I saw something that intrigued me and I had to try it out. Natural materials with unnatural materials. What if I started to add grass and twigs to quilts? What would that be like? Turns out it is pretty nifty. Definitely poses some technical challenges, but overall quite satisfying. I will be posting pictures tomorrow. I said Yes, to the idea and swam with it. Thankfully.

Swimming

Let me start by talking about this blog's title. Swimming in the Sea. Titles flip me out. When I sat down to start my etsy page and the setup asked for my shop name and stated in big bold letters - this may never change!- I panicked. I had to stop. It took me three days to come to the conclusion-of what I already knew-my name is my brand. I had always gone by arcticmermaid. Unfortunately arctic is a word that get misspelled a lot. But for some reason this title-Swimming in the Sea-came so easily. Like swimming, like floating. It is what I strive to do in the studio. Swim through my thoughts, ideas, materials. Feel cold, warm, exhausted, exhilarated all at the same time. Swimming. My favorite thing to do. So why is my favorite season winter?