Tangled Stitch

I guess I don't have to tell you that my art and my writing has been sort of a slog lately.  For the last two years to be exact, I've been kind of lost in a world of loneliness and then overcompensating not to be alone.  Grateful to have met many good friends on the path of not wanting to be alone.  But it has interfered with my work, an artist really needs to be alone and ok with the isolation and loneliness that being an artist sometimes can bring.  I'm really trying to get used to that feeling.  Thanks in advance for reading this post hopefully it will be the first of many in my new life. Yesterday I went to the opening for the Fences Select Show in the Art Center of the Capital Region where I have recently rented an art studio and where Primal Scream was selected as one of 50 out of 300 entries.  It was very exciting and very humbling.  When it comes to meeting new people and carousing I am the life of the party.  When it comes to to...

Ok so I've been so busy embroidering that I don't have any pictures to show you. I finished the outside of the hand bag but can't seem to settle on a lining so it may be a while. I embroidered another cross, a small one but it is not framed yet so perhaps tomorrow. I finished a little turtle that took entirely to long to end up on an eyeglass case so it's in waiting. I sketched a few small pieces waiting to be inspired by a big piece. Got inspired to do a water goddess and then hated the preprinted fabric I intended on using so watercolored a new piece which isn't dry yet. I've been having a ball just being caught up in embroidery and the creative process. But no pictures. If you want beautiful pictures to look at any one of my bloggy friends blogs will do the trick. Ok so now more about the interviews with Lynda and Sybil. I hope you enjoyed them and learned more about them and their work and their processes. It was wonderful hearing the answers to the...

Today in my email I found my weekly newsletter from ArtBiz and the fabulous Alyson Stanfield (http://www.artbizblog.com) about having a fire in your belly for your work and your blog. Lately I have been immersing myself in embroidery, inspiration, blogging and promoting my work(actually the promoting my work is the hardest part and a big part of Alyson's blog for this week). Embroidery wise I finished the front of the hand bag and will show you the finished project asap. I've been making lots of sketches and can't wait to start my next project. I'm trying to get a little looser with the sketches and trying to change things up enough for a change but not so much that I lose my style. Trying to incorporate different stitches and colors and contrasts. I've been embroidering a lot(I reward myself with embroidery every time I do something domestic win/win situation). Inspiration and blogging sort of go hand in hand. I love to visit the blogs of other artists and ...

This is a piece I've had for a little while(before Valentines Day) but hadn't taken a photo of. I was a little embarrassed to share it so close after Valentines Day so here it is. It kind of ties in with my topic for today. Blogging Hearts. I love to blog because it lets me express myself in words, but mostly I love to blog because of the hearts I've met along the way. So many good people with creative and open hearts. I've read about their successes and their work, their blockages and their sorrows. The blog is a wonderful way to express things that you sometimes can't say face to face to another human being and that is what makes it the lovely medium it is. You blog from the heart. I remember when I took a bit of a break to opine anonymously about politics and when I returned I had friends who had lost loved ones, some who had given up their blogs, some who had complete life changes in the time I was busy opining politics and leaving real life behind. Rea...

My real life has intercepted with the color blue again so for a change I'm going to talk about blogging and how much I love to blog. I love to blog about my own work but what I really love is to be inspired by others. I live to be inspired and I am on a daily basis by the most beautiful posts about thread, yarn, quilts, art, spirituality, photography and so on, and so on. Counting Backwards is a photography blog by my friend Judy Olsen. She has an artists eye and I have one piece of her's which is a turtle that looks like she laid down in the sand to take it. I absolutely adore it and cannot for the life of me figure out how she took it. But that my friends is why I love, love, love Judy's work. It inspires me every day on her blog. She has a friend named Carol and my favorite thing is to look at the photographs they create when they are together, both beautiful and unique. Lynda Lehman and Peripheral Visions is another photography blog. She has the most beautiful ph...

Tonight I have been blogging. I went to visit quite a few friends and I still have many more to see, but perhaps tomorrow. I love to blog. I like it almost as much as I love my needles and the work they do. We are so lucky that we've found the blog. It creates a community and somehow, someway I always seem to find something of an inspiration or someone else dealing with a trial I happen to be going through. It's a miracle. When I started blogging I truly did it as a business idea. Sorry but that's the truth but what I've found is so much more. I've been inspired to laugh, inspired to cry and inspired to read so many of the blogs that make my day. I never fail to find at least one written by some lovely person that seems to make my day, and usually much more then one. Such talented artists there are out in the world waiting to be discovered. Such wonderful souls to meet. It also makes me realize how truly connected all of us are to the world outside our ho...