LAW 135: The Art of Making Art

I know that a lot of people think that 'art making' is an inborn talent, that it is something you can not teach. There is some truth in that line of thinking, but also a fair amount of falseness as well.

It always looks wrong at the start

I think a more true statement would be; there exists in some of us an inborn desire to make stuff. That 'stuffness' could be making art, making music, being an incredible cook, a seamstress, the world of creative making is very large. For some of us that desire falls into the category of obsession, we are the makers, the creators of this world.

Working multiple colors at once

You can teach anyone the basics of design, the elements of style, the basic, nitty-gritty techniques of any media. You can not, however, teach the inherent love of making, the joy of creation. That, which is perhaps the most important part of the artistic equation, does have to come from within the individual.

closing in on the second shell division

I am not in any way deriding the importance of technique, practice and skill sets. After all, as we have been told over and over, practice does make, if not perfect, damn close. I've been watching the development of my needle work from this perspective.

Big decision, it is a horizontal piece

I'm about a quarter of the way through yet another major embroidery piece. Hopefully Grandmother Turtle will not take as long as the Firebird did. That of course remains to be seen, and is pretty much completely dependent on what choices i make as i finish the piece. Backgrounds, as i well know usually take far longer than the object.

Time to work on a different part

I start with a pattern that i have developed after research into related imagery; sketching out, then refining imagery until i have a drawing that i use to transfer the basic form of the design onto the fabric.

The log is complete

These pieces were originally a mix of quilted/embroidered work on blank backgrounds; as such i could not afford to mess around with free hand drawings. Once the basic outline is transferred to the fabric, i might sketch in rough ideas for important features, an example would be the shell divisions of the turtles back.

detail of log in progress

I choose a basic color palette. isolating that floss from my horde(less confusion that way as some of the colors are so close to each other that the only way to really tell is by number) than spend some time thinking about stitch forms. The way the color gets laid down, the patterning of the stitches, is all organic to the piece as it develops.

Yup, here is the part i think i could have done better

It is all a learning process, every single time. Almost always i find some thing about the piece that i don't like, that i wish i had done differently; but that is the process. That is the joy of making and learning and knowing that somehow, next time it will be better.

Wish i knew what to do with the background!

More later,
gail