Right-brained quiltmaking

I have a variety of projects in various stages of progress. I'm a great starter but a bit more challenged in the completion part of the process. Ah, but part of creativity is the DOING, the joy of the activity. And with quilting I love the piecing. Being a right-brained, intuitive kind of designer, I like to randomly cut and put together and cut some more, replace, lay it out and see how it feels. I don't follow a pattern because my life has enough logical rules and instructions. For me, this is a time to be free and play with color and blocks and pattern. This grouping of blocks (and I don't know if there is a name for such a rectangular pattern/random piecing as this) I started in the hopes of making a quilt for our king sized bed. I'm scaling down my vision a bit because I would like to get to the sewing part someday. So a bit smaller but probably big enough to wrap up in while watching tv. I usually spread my pieces out on the floor to get some perspective and see how I am balancing the composition overall. Of course the downside to this method...my dogs. I believe Roxy thinks I'm making this for her.

Voice

A friend commented on her learning to "find her voice" while writing for her blog. It makes me think about how we, as artists, express ourselves through words when we are so used to doing it in images. Certainly I made it through school and can do the basics of writing. But it is a strange world to be in- this blogging world- where images abound but the expression of self is just as important through word.  I rely on my skills as a visual artist to communicate. Perhaps the visual images give me something of a crutch, a comfortable place where I am confident with my abilities and in a safe range. 

Drawing comes easily to me- words make me work. 

Writing seems like a zipper that can slide down without my realizing it and expose a bit too much. Brave new world of expression for me...living out loud in excited, emotional, crazy mixed-up words. Looking for my voice, wondering if it always coexists with image and color. Is it possible to extricate the words from the visuals in my mind and allow them to grow on their own? Would they even be the same if I did not dream them in color?

Spring in the air

I was walking the other morning and rounded the corner to these flowers covering the bushes across someone's front lawn. Same block I am on every day but today it was splendid and announcing itself in color and glory. Did I not see this yesterday because my mind was too busy thinking about getting my tax paperwork together (yes, I know, a little late for that thought)? Or did all of these blooms really come out, perfectly timed, to greet me today? I'm not sure how long they have been blooming, how many days I missed seeing them, but I guess what matters is I saw them today and it stopped me in my tracks. Bright, happy, full of life and color...dancing in the sun, perky in the morning crispness. Any worries seem to melt away when you see something as lovely and simple as that. I know they won't stay forever, so enjoy now. Take a moment, slow down, and enjoy.