Currently working in a series - my 2021 challenge to myself - to create works that have a relationship to each other. I chose a random figure of "30%" which means there has to be something linking each piece that can be seen as incorporating about one third of the previous and next piece. It's not literal - but could be. It might be the language of the materials, techniques, colour, texture - any aspect so long as the pieces are genuinely connected to tell the story of my art in 2021. I can carve out hours or days throughout the year with the fervour of a religious experience. Actually, making art is my religion, my spiritual place. Using different techniques, working on creating better pieces, better stories and exploring the universe through stitch. Below I've experimented with using black tulle as a mask - the dark tulle doesn't reflect light in the way white or light coloured tulle does - so it instantly creates visual depth. That's what I'm looking for in 2021 - some artistic depth. Here's to a big year for all of us, making art.
Three or four hundred upper thread and bobbin changes over the past four weeks. There's a textural effect I'm trying to create with the quilting - that compliments the imperfect shapes of the pieced fabrics. Something akin to wabi, sabi and shibui. The infinite ways that dense, linear quilting can be used to create story are coming to life, one piece at a time. Sometimes barely visible, sometimes contrasting. There is an uneven fullness in the seams that help create miniscule bumps at the end of each line. There are also the seamless directional changes absorbed into the looser weave of some fabrics. Every change and every bobbin. Testing tensions, adjusting for the different threads as each shape submits to the process. It is a peace-filled activity, permanently set up so I can work for several minutes at a time. Never wasting moments. I get immersed in the meditative quality of the quilting and thinking only about the stitch. Some of the combinations I use: using the same ...


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