I ought to be incredibly happy today, the wiring project that has meant the floor of my studio was torn up will be finished today, and all my new lights are being installed, I will get my working space restored to me this week, but it is hard to feel triumphant when people are dying in Gaza. I was lucky enough to visit Israel in my teens, and I am saddened by the cycle of violence and retribution that grips that part of the world. It seems so pointless, all this macho posturing and chest beating, all it will achieve is more dead children, more upheaval, less certainty and normalcy in their little lives, It makes me sick.
OK, getting down from my soap box, I hope you stayed with me, back to something less serious in the grand scheme of things, art making. When I started this blog I hoped to share my process with all you out there, so in that vein, here’s what I worked on yesterday, and where the ideas began…
I think I mentioned that I went fabric shopping with C earlier in the break, while we were in the store we picked up a new magazine called Stitch, which is very cool if you are interested in sewing in any way, but why its important is that I saw this project in there for this fabulous scarf
it is so beautiful, I want to make one! But when I was looking through my research the other day from my masters I came across an image of a wallpaper design by Candace Wheeler, which was in my post the other day, for some reason, the two seemed related, and I wondered, could you use this process to make a paper version of this idea, that would look like candace’s wallpaper designs, so I thought I would try a trial, and the short answer is YES! and here it is….
Of course this has made me think of tons of other things I could do now, so off to the studio I go!!!
Deb's Studio Blog 
really cool, good for you for the new project.
i know….sometimes the world stuff can make it
hard to think anything matters but we have to keep
trudging alone one person at a time dont we.
why anyone would kill another for feigned ‘control’ is
so beyond me i can’t stand it.
anyhow…enjoy your world, it looks much healthier!
Thanks Paula, I hope your world is looking healthier too? Today I start cleaning and getting the studio reorganized so I can work in there again! Yipee!!!
The question of world issues vs. personal matters, or the world as it relates to the individual’s personal and physical life, is one I think about all the time. In recent years I have come to feel like I need to ‘put my own house in order’ in terms of how I relate to other people, exert power and control in my own life, and follow through on my projects and commitments… this is important on an individual level… but will trying to be the best and strongest person you can be have an effect on the wider world? maybe by outwardly-spreading echoes, you affect somebody near to you, they affect someone else… I don’t know.
Deb, I am working on a letter to you, it is taking me a while, I’m sorry!
Jean, I’m sure the letter will be worth the wait, you say such thoughtful things anyway! I do believe our own actions are important, and I TRY really hard to back away from power and judgment, its hard, I have to really maintain a conscious awareness of those acts. I am a really driven person, pretty type A so its hard for me to relinquish even the illusion of being in control and in charge.
In addition I often stop right before the end of a project, I think this is common in artists, I think I am afraid of the end, and of what will come next, and I do have a tendency to be drawn to insanely labor intensive work!