Sources of Inspiration

Who inspires me? There are many people, artists and designers who inspire me; people that I know, and others whom I’ve never met. While looking around, I can find sources of inspiration everywhere I look - in my home town, in the big city, the media and of course, on the Web. But the person that inspires me the most is my daughter, Kate. She is talented, smart, creative - and I swear - it’s not just because she is part of my family! Most of all - she is patient with me and all of my crazy ideas and the many creative paths I continue to tumble down.

I’ve so enjoyed watching her as she embarks on her life independent of us. She’s the one who helps me blog, she answers my questions about websites, and she leads me to new creative ideas. You can see samples of her ideas and thought processes at her blog: love-and-reason.com and her sense of design at her etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/loveandreason

Her academic career has been in art history. I always knew she was terribly creative - even when she was a little girl and dressed quite - independently! Here is a photo of Kate in 1995 exhibiting her personal sense of style.

                                             

How does Kate inspire me?

She’s a natural teacher. She imparts knowledge willingly, she’s patient, and she explains things clearly. She has worked in the classrooms at the Montessori School here and I swear I can hear her patient teacher’s voice when she is explaining technological mysteries to me. Her apparent ease with new media helps me stay up to date with my communications.  

Kate is always sending me cool stuff that she finds on the Web: fashion, design, business advice, etc. She helps me sift through new ideas, and find new questions.

My designs come from me, but Kate is my sounding board. She’s the one I can share new directions with before I go public with them. We share our design explorations though digital images on email and pix messaging.

Now we are moving into a design partnership - we are working on a t-shirt line that will be Brooklyn-themed. We’ll both design; and we’ll silkscreen the t’s ourselves. 

This is Kate’s preliminary sketch for our first product - the three bridges from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Isn’t it fun?

                                            

Kate is my muse, she is my inspiration, and she is my technological wizard. The world is changing, and she is helping me change gracefully along with it. 

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Why I Worry

Sometimes I find myself wondering why I seem to worry so much over my artwork. I don’t normally see myself as a worrier, but when I have an idea forming, an idea that I am nearly ready to put into action, I find that I have to… well… worry about it for a while. Whether I am considering writing a blog post, creating a new design, experimenting with a new technique, or designing a new product, I worry about it - I agitate, I ponder, I become a little uncommunicative! I focus all of my attention on that point I am trying to nurture - it’s like I cannot take action without having this storm in my head first.

Lately, I’ve come to see this process as a healthy one rather than a disruptive one. The worry-time is a gestation period for the thoughts that are swirling around in my head, a time for images to fly by, and for problems to be solved. I become quiet because I am seeing what is inside, what is to come, rather than what is plainly apparent on the exterior.   

I am finding that this blog is changing that process somewhat. It’s easy for me to talk to you about how I create - how I make things, how I am inspired, how I put hand-to-silk, and that helps me think though my ideas and plans, so thank you Dear Reader! Where would I be without you?

  

 House Wren silkscreen on paper

Revisiting Goals - Bird Cushions

Now is the time of the summer for me to get back to some of those longer-term goals I’ve been talking about here, like silk screening tea towels and other linens. I have been busy silk screening, and will share those results on the next post, but first I wanted to show what I did with the bird designs that I wrote about in my earlier post. I am pleased to announce that I just made my first Birds! cushion!

I ordered down & feather throw cushions online from Ballard Design. While the pillows were in transit, I hand-painted the Whip-poor-will design onto silk broadcloth. After much experimentation, the bird became a raspberry color with a tangerine background. In painting the back of the cover a matching tangerine, I loved the effect the dye created while not quite reaching the edges. - it was a mark that the cushion was hand-dyed rather than mass-produced. It also adds to the visual interest to the piece. I could imagine the new pillow owner fluffing up the pillow on the couch and tossing it with the back of the pillow facing forward. I hesitated to leave the dye looking ‘unfinished’, but I ultimately left the dye the way it spoke to me.

I am very pleased with the result, and after I make a few more prototypes, will be out marketing this product. Very exciting! 

                       

                                                    

Art Around Town

The mornings are cool, the light is wonderful, and the studio calls me. Although it is getting hot in the afternoons - it was 98 degrees here yesterday! - I am staying busy. My art can be seen in a few places around town right now. The Birds! collection went up in Jittery Joe’s this morning - they look great!

Two weeks ago, the Athens Clarke Heritage Foundation called to ask if I had any “Athens themed silk scarves” they could purchase as a gift for the outgoing president, Jennifer Martin Lewis. She did an extra-special job last year leading the ACHF and they wanted to give her a special present to show their appreciation.

We decided on the 224 E. Clayton Street (Jewelry Store) 2010 piece. It was extra large because it had been created for an exhibit at Ciné where the spaces are large, so I reformatted the silk for Jennifer, hemming the edges so that it could be worn as a scarf or dispalyed as a wall hanging: 

          

I learned the day after the presentation that not only had Jennifer been gifted with the large silk piece, but she had also been given a framed print version of my Greyhound Bus Station 2004 silk by the Athens Welcome Center at the same event - Jennifer is well appreciated! As you look at this image, can you hear the bus rumbling into the terminal in the early morning light? 

                                                                      

I wanted to let you know that the group exhibit at the Oconee County Library has been extended until July 17. From our Studios is a three-woman exhibit including Robin Fay, Sarah Hubbard, and myself. Here is a copy of the poster for that exhibit:                                                                                                        

I will continue to work on the Birds! collection I wrote about on the last posting. I love the way the designs are simple, yet strong, with bold color combinations. I am VERY happy with them and am curious to see where this new design idea takes me. I am considering more bird species, new color combinations, plump pillow covers, maybe some prints? 

Let me know of your ideas for where I should take these birds!

Happy Summer Solstice!