52 Weeks of Play: Weeks 9-12

These last few weeks have been filled with play. After the project focused week 9, I got more into the flow of creation for the last three weeks. Allowing myself this time has been so good for my soul. More reminders that it is process over project that allow for the healing effects of art to come through.

Week 9: Garment Sewing

Okay, this week was more about the project. Even though it was not hard to make, it wasn't really play.  I have to admit though, I sure do like the outcome!

Week 10: Natural Dyeing

Margaret Hluch led an all day long Natural Dye workshop through The Muse. This whole day was amazing. I got lost in the process without attachment to the outcome. We played with clamping, shibori and painting. You can see more about the class on the Muse website, here.

Week 11: Applique

I really love applique. This was definitely something I wanted to play with during my 52 weeks. There is something so relaxing about using the needle to turn under the edges and find that sweet spot pocket to glide your needle through.....

Week 12: Gelatos on Fabric

Artist and friend, Colleen Attara introduced me to Faber Castell Gelatos in an art journal class that I took with her. I was hooked immediately and ordered a starter set that very night. Fast forward three years, I now have the large set and have found so many uses for them including painting them on fabric.

Besides my "play" projects, I have also spent more time knitting. I try to find at least a little time in almost every day to do some knitting. I crave the relaxing rhythm of the stitch and the click of the needles. I can feel it in myself that this creative time has been so restorative. Art is definitely my happy place.

52 Weeks of Play: Weeks 5-8

Week 5: Continental Knitting

Knitting has become a major passion of mine in the last two years. My dear friend Laura taught me and I am obsessed! The problem is, I want to knit ALL of the things but my pace is not helping me with this goal. Obviously I have so many passions that it is hard to find enough time for all of them which is part of the problem but I'm also a slow knitter! On one hand, I don't mind being slow because I really do enjoy the rhythm of the stitch, however, I wanted to give continental knitting a try because it is supposed to be a faster way of knitting.

On a recent bus ride to NYC, I brought a practice project and some yarn and spent the entire ride practicing the continental style of knitting. I feel like I got a good handle on it however I know that my gauge was loose. I did enjoy the change and it was fun but I think for now I will keep with my slow but steady predictable pace of regular English style knitting.

Week 6: Encaustics

I spent a Sunday afternoon crafting with Margaret Hluch during an Encaustics workshop!

Week 7: Art Journal

Nothing gets you into a state of flow faster than art journaling. I turn off my brain, grab whatever strikes me and put it in my journal. Later I look at it and add to it with collage, stamping or words. I just keep going until I get something I love. Pure art therapy right there.

Week 8: Decoupage

I remember my mom crafting back in the very early 80s. Two things that really stick out in my memory are woodburned keyrings and napkin decoupage. Specifically, she used beautiful napkins to embellish candles and create decorative soaps. I remember being fascinated by how the airy top layer of the napkin just soaked into whatever it was adhered to. I tried the same technique on a glass vase.

If I am being totally honest in my reflection of the last four weeks, I feel like a lot of my "play" was project based. Its hard to turn off my never ending list of projects that I want to try to make. Even thinking ahead to various weeks, I feel like I am trying to incorporate this project into something on my project to-do list. Currently I am in week 9 and I am doing garment sewing. It does not feel as much like play to me. The art journal was pure play...it was the most rewarding and the most therapeutic to my soul. Going forward I am going to try to do more of that and worry less about completing projects....even if that just means my result is a little sample. Its hard to fight our own nature! It's hard to resist the urge to multitask or check a box off the to-do list but that is exactly why I chose this challenge. I want to explore and play!

52 Weeks of Play: Weeks 1-4

Week 1: Water Soluable Fabric

I have always been curious about water soluable fabric after seeing the work of Amanda McCavour. Amanda creates environments with her thread painted installations that are breathtaking and all encompassing. See her work here.  I have tried the technique in the past with no success but I decided to give it another try! By experimenting, I learned some tricks and was happy with the results! I think I will come back to this again in the future!

Week 2: Freestyle Embroidery

Since I was working on a piece for a collaboration project that had a deadline, I decided to incorporate my "play" into my piece. I used embroidery to free draw flowers into the piece. The flowers were not pre-drawn so  I just trusted my stitches.

Week 3: Abstract Painting

I am definitely not a painter but I love working with painted backgrounds.  I have been playing with abstract painting to create some interesting bases for collage and stitch. Some have turned out better than others, these are a few of my favorites so far...

Week 4: Gel Plate Image Transfers

I love playing with Gelli Plates to make monoprints but I had recently seen artists using their plate to create image transfers! I decided to try it out for myself. While I had some success with it, I think it will take more experimenting. There are a lot of factors which can affect the outcome such as the best image to use, the amount of paint on your plate, rubbing pressure and the surface you are transferring to. Since I like to work with fabric, I was trying various fabrics and all of the artists I had seen use this technique were working with paper.

It has been a fun first few weeks but I need to remind myself that the goal is play. The goal is not finished results. Since my last year long challenge was all about creating a finished piece each week, I need to remember that the focus this year is process. To try new things, to explore things more fully. My true reward from this year is hopefully adding new skills to my arsenal to pull from when a piece I am working on needs it.

52 Weeks of Play

It has been over a year since I completed my 52 Collage Project. After I finished up with the year-long challenge, I thought about starting another challenge for myself but I needed to take a break. Not very long into last year, I realized I missed it. I missed the self imposed discipline of a weekly challenge. I started to dream up new challenge ideas...

Coming up with new year-long challenges were not hard for me. My creative brain mixed with my regimented habit personality loved this kind of brainstorm! I had a whole list of ideas to choose from but the holidays came and I got tired. And my new challenge idea fell by the wayside. Anyone in retail can especially identify with the pure exhaustion that comes with the end of the year. Heck, anyone who isnt even in retail can identify!

Due to my "Upholder" personality, (a personality type coined by Gretchen Rubin's 4 Tendencies Personality Types of which I am 100% a perfect match for), I had a hard time starting a year long challenge when it was not January 1st. I'm such a creature of habit that I felt that I needed to wait until New Year's to start a year-long challenge. I've decided I am going to go against my nature and start one now. Last week's blog post on the importance on art without expectation reminded me of a challenge idea that had been brewing in my mind since my project brainstorming session.

52 weeks of play. A year of play. For the next 52 weeks, I will create art for the sake of PLAY.  Unlike my last project where I ended up with 52 completed compositions, this time I will not end up with finished pieces or projects.

This year I plan to:
- try out supplies that I have always been curious about
- delve deeper into a technique that I have not fully explored
- take classes to play with art
-doodle, paint, stitch, knit, yo yo, print and create my heart out in whatever direction it leads me!

My only criteria is that I spend a minimum of a few hours each week on a technique that is different from week to week.

Follow along or join in! I will be posting my journey on instagram @the_meditative_stitcher and  #52weeksofplay and will update my progress here on the blog. Remember to have fun- that's what it's all about!

Art Without Expectations

The very reason that I love art journaling is the exact same reason that I had no interest in doing it in the first place. I thought, if you can't hang it or wear it, what was the point of it? With limited time to make art, I thought doing something so frivolous as creating art that no one would see was a waste of time. It's not that I never "played" in the art studio but usually in the back of my mind I knew that some day the piece I was playing with could be over-dyed, collaged, or used as a background for my "real" art. 

A few years ago, my perspective changed when I met Colleen Attara. I bought myself a birthday gift of an art retreat which turned out to be a life changing experience for me in many ways. I wrote a blog post on it here.  One of the most amazing experiences was taking Colleen's class. Through her stories of how this form of art transformed her life and how it helped her deal with difficult experiences, I could see how it could help my own life. As I spent the day playing with transfers, paints, inks, ephemera, typewriters and sewing machines I got lost in the process of play. I was completely free to make mistakes and create without fear which was exactly what i needed. 

Last month for my mom's birthday, I took her to Colleen's cottage art studio in Yardley PA. I wanted to share with her what had been so important for me. Spending the day with my mom and watching her learn new techniques along side of me was a gift. The day could not have been more perfect and one that I will always treasure. 

And now as I am in between projects, it is my art journal that I go to when I need to clear my head and work things out. I know my body needs to create to find peace and this kind of no-expectation art is exactly what I need.

Getting Quiet

Maybe it's the dark winter nights, maybe it's the aftermath of the holidays but it's likely a combination of both... January is always a creative time for me. On most nights I can be found hibernating in my studio. There is always a stash of unfinished projects, a few lit candles, sometimes a cat or two and the quiet hum of the heat fan. After the hustle of the Christmas rush, I want nothing more than to be alone and quiet with my stitching.

After learning to knit two years ago from my dear friend Laura, I have found it to be a huge source of relaxation. I love the tiny clicking of my needles as I make each stitch and the comforting feeling of the yarn in my fingers.

More recently, I participated in a class with my friend Margaret where she taught the art of mending, Sashiko. I have always enjoyed this process and even wrote an earlier blog post about the meditative act of mending (see blog post here) However in this class, I got to see how the other students also had a similar response. During the class, the room went from chatty to quiet as people worked on their sashiko stitches. The rhythm of the running stitch has a way of slowing down your breath and relaxing tense muscles.

The more I allow myself the time that I need to engage in the meditative craft of stitching, the more I see its emotional benefits to a healthy well-being. I feel strongly that everyone can benefit by spending some time in a meditative craft whether it be doodling, coloring in a coloring book, painting, or a needle craft. You don't need to be good at it- you just need to do it. Over time, not only will you find your skills getting better but you will be surprised to find how much more fulfilled your life will become.

Enough- Pinky Swear

Growing up, I was never the best student. But I really wanted a phone in my room. These days middle schoolers walk around with cell phones but when I was growing up the goal was to have a phone of my own in my bedroom. I made a wager with my parents that if I got on the honor roll for all four semesters, they would allow me to have a phone at the end of the year. Knowing that I had never even come close to the honor roll, they thought it was a safe bet. Not only did I get a phone, I got one after just a single semester because the girl who had never even gotten honor roll got Distinguished Honor Roll.

I work well with goals. Being a type A personality has helped me achieve many of my dreams and often has led me to success. I enjoy pushing myself hard, learning new things and trying to be better.  But what happens when you're always searching and striving for more? When you feel that you can never be satisfied with where you are right now? 

Enough. That's right- enough of the promises to be better, enough of the podcasts on doing more, enough of the books that make it all seem easy. Enough. Because right now, we are enough. Each of us are where we are supposed to be at this very moment. Thich Nhat Hahn tells the story of The Three Questions by Leo Tolstoy. The basic moral of the story is that the most important time is now. The most important person is the one you are currently with and the most important thing you should be doing is what you are doing now.  My natural instinct is to always push for more and while I can keep working hard towards a goal, I need to remember that the most important time is now.