FEBRUARY 25, 2013
“Everyone is born creative:
everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.
Then
when you hit puberty
they take the crayons away
and replace them with dry, uninspiring books
on algebra, history, etc.
Being suddenly hit years later with the’creative bug’
is just a wee voice telling you,
‘I’d like my crayons back, please.'”
-Hugh McLeod
I feel very fortunate. Creativity has always been part of my life. My high school had a rich art program, my parents gifted me with art supplies and opportunities, and my extended family includes many self supporting artists who are role models and guides.
With my own children I made time to take them to the art museum for open studio sessions, which I enjoyed as much as they did. And at home I encouraged them to create and explore. The reality though was that personal focused creative exploratory moments, outside the usual one or two forms of expression I usually pursued, were rare for me during those busy years. I am branching out now!
I smiled when I first read the quote above. Receiving my first “adult” box of crayons almost three years ago was so memorable that I recall the exact when and where. There is no denying the pull of crayons! They have that distinct smell that floods the air when you open the box. That aroma immediately takes me back to the time I spent as a child at my grandparents cottage. I would colour so much, that long before summer had ended the crayons were a mere jumble of colourful stubs in the box. Along the way to that state they produced not only piles of carefully peeled crayon paper, but hours of pure colour delight. The 64 pack with sharpener was heaven! These cylinders of colour could easily be considered a gateway drug to increased creativity!
I recently went on an creative exploration outing with my friend Mitzi to The Toronto Artists Project. I was struck by the work of one particular young artist, Leanne Lang. With my passion for circles it is easy to see why! The series of canvases she had hanging looked deceptively simple enough that one might think one could replicate something in the spirit of that style on one’s own. Yet the simplicity of each white background canvas painted with a collection of brushless circles, in pure paint and colour, belied the artist’s intense process of consciously editing … her restraint … her intentional light hand … her knowing when to stop. I think it is all too easy for our creative freedom to be crowded out by intellectualization and analyzing. It’s easy to lose touch with instinctual creation. Cerebral noise defeats creative process.
Some crayons in hand, this is a sample of what I played at as an exercise to loosen up! Simple circles … lol. Unlearning muscle memory … more lol. Lines overlapping and straying. Assessment. Mental chatter. Making marks.
This little bit of crayon box play already has me seeing ways I want to explore this further.
Oh, and this fellow, by Julia McNeely, in all of his 6″ x 6″ sweetness just had to come home with me! He is ruling the roost on my wall of red artwork!
How do you like to explore creativity?
Happy Stitching!
FEBRUARY 14, 2013
This past weekend I taught English paper piecing to a wonderful group of women at Stitch. One word summed it up:
You may remember that I blogged about Stitch before and the wonderful environment that Jocelyn has created in her store. Aside from curating a wonderful collection of wools and fabrics, vignettes around the store engage customers imaginations and I stand in her store and want to jump in and start creating!
At the end of the day beautiful hexagon florets abounded and it was agreed by all attending that they were now looking at their fabric in a completely different light.
This fabric will produce an amazing secondary pattern!
So addicting was the process of creating these hexagon beauties, that before the class was over they were talking about and arranging getting together each month to carry on the fun!
Have a great week
&
Happy Stitching!
FEBRUARY 5, 2013
What I was not enjoying so much was the process of uploading photos or to be more accurate the inability to upload photos and post! All is figured out now though and I am back! Many thanks to M for getting me sorted out and J for helping me with my photo issues. I have missed posting!
Remember the favourite fabric that I was going to play with, well here is what it grew up to be!
I love these buckets! I first saw them at The Workroom, a fabulous creative space on Queen Street West in Toronto. I have made a few over the years and what makes them extremely practical is that they are so easy to store because they do not take up a lot of space!
They are great catchalls and help keep my space looking somewhat neat! (Lol, did I say neat, as in tidy? As I stare around me at piles and “arrangements” of ideas!)
Have a great week
&
Happy Stitching!
JANUARY 8, 2013
Where to start? A quick clean up and my studio is ready and set for another year. I have been dividing my studio time between my “Unfinished Finally Over” UFO’s, working on WIP’s (Works In Progress), mind-planning some new ones (also known as noodling around some ideas) and playing with some projects that are feeding my creative soul. Is anybody ever just working on one thing!!
This quilt was pitifully close to completion and I am at a loss as to exactly why it was languishing! It is now done! (I refrained from inserting a video of my happy dance!)
All the projects in my UFO pile are things I am still attached to and want to complete. And I am pressing forward with them because I can feel a new creative focus coming and I don’t want to go too far along that new path without finishing them for fear I will no longer be enthused by them.
New projects … well … a new babe arrived a wee bit early and is doing very, very well. Time to get to work on the quilt. Here are the fabrics for it:
And then there is the playing! I have a favourite fabric that I am about to cut to use in a small fun project! I know I am going to get so much visual joy looking at it in my studio every day.
Today I was working in silence in my studio. I realized I was unconsciously taking deep breaths and those breaths were reminding me about my desire this year to “sink into the process”. I was enjoying the silence as I pinned the pattern onto the fabric and was acutely aware of the sound of the scissor blades sliding against each other and the whoosh of the rotary cutter as I worked. With each deep breath I took I was feeling a depth of appreciation for things like cutting boards, rotary cutters, good lighting and my counter height work table (thank you Alex Anderson for vlogging about it a few years back). There was something else too that was working with the “sinking into the process” feeling.
When I was on vacation a number of years ago, I went for a walk on the beach with my mother. The wind was so strong that day, that I could stand still, then lean back and the wind would hold me up.
I realized that’s how it felt today, like I was leaning back into the process, trusting with a deep peace that my creative instincts are true for me. Excited about what I was working on and enjoying the moment. It was a slice of creative heaven!
How do you tap into your creative heaven?
Have a great week
&
Happy Stitching!
JANUARY 1, 2013
As I head into the New Year, I want to thank all of you for your wonderful support, comments and emails. It has been a fabulous, fun filled and fast paced year!
Looking forward to 2013, there are so many exciting things ahead and I can’t wait to share them all with you.
One thing I am personally going to be focusing on this year is what I call “sinking into the process” of creativity.
And I have learned over the years that an important part of doing that is remembering to breathe … deeply … as I work through the process. I hope you will join me for the journey!
I wish you and those dear to you a happy and healthy New Year!
Mary Elizabeth
