Future Artistic Endeavors

Found some inspiration at Michael's! The purple gem with the Mermaid Tail sparked an idea for a Mystical Mermaid Treasure themed piece with an ancient old world feel with some sunken treasure! I can't wait to get to work on it! Abalone and Tarnished Silver inspired color theme!

I want it to be visual story that as you gaze at it you can dream up a story!  So you won't be seeing the mermaid herself!  I want that part of it to be left to the viewer's imagination.  I love art that invites me to daydream and I hope that I will be able to create something like that in this piece!

I still have the Wandering Rose Memorial to finish and another Series that I have an idea for as well that is more about capturing the experience of specific types of wine and visually translating that.  My idea for that one is that as you gaze at it you are feel like yup that is exactly how Merlot or Chardonnay or Champagne tastes and is like with all the nuances!  Very subjective but I'm excited about that series as well as this new Mermaid one!

Dry Erase Shadow Box for Hashing Out Ideas!

So while contemplating what to do next I was having a hard time visualizing what I actually wanted to do and nothing seemed like it would work out right and I was feeling upset at my lack of ability to doodle out and hash out ideas in a safe way that wouldn't affect the piece itself!  

I had a thought, what if I could put it behind a shadow box and draw and how could that come about and so I thought just some 1 by 2 wood and some plexiglass would work and my Hubby has the skills to be able to make such a thing!!!
 
So I told him about it and he built my idea for a plexiglass shadow box to use to doodle out ideas over my current piece using dry erase markers!

You could probably use any shadow box to do this or use a cheep frame taken apart from a discount store.

I love what I doodled and finally have an idea I feel more confident about trying to bring to realization!

Wandering Rose Memorial: Gold Scalloping Chain Stitch

I added a gold scalloping chain stitch on the light gold moire in the corner.  It's very imperfect but I think further embellishment will fix that later on.  I might be ready to move on to the next stage of embellishment and add some Silk Ribbon Embroidery!

Wandering Rose Memorial: Metallic Gold Curving Feather Stitch

I added a Metallic Gold Curving Feather Stitch today!

Wandering Rose Memorial: Little Yellow Zigzag Stitch

Today I added a little yellow Zigzag Stitch!  Not sure if I all out love it but we'll see what I think as I move on and get to the further embellishing stage.

Wandering Rose Memorial: Tiny Vining Feather Stitch

Today I added a tiny vining Feather Stitch in a fine gold silk thread!

I totally skipped a week of work!  That's the trouble sometimes with trying to start a habit sometimes you fall off the wagon.  But as long as you get back to it as soon as possible, it should be okay.  Last week was pretty busy, and I honestly felt a little blocked as well, but if I'd prioritized a bit better I could have still worked on it a tiny bit each day.  Well at least it's Monday again and I've got mission accomplished for today!  LOL

Wandering Rose Memorial: Little Yellow Feather Stitch

Today I did a little seam to make me happy again. It's a light yellow feather stitch! 

♡ 

My plan of doing a little bit every day to start building consistency is paying off with almost all the seams in the seam layer done! It's my least favorite layer, I much prefer silk ribbon and beading layers! LOL But first things first! One step at a time!

I'm going to take a break for the weekends, but my goal will be to do a little bit each workday as possible.  I want to build that habit as an Artist to help me with my further ventures down the road!

Wandering Rose Memorial: Gold Herringbone Stitch

Not sure if I like today's addition of the gold herringbone stitch. It may come out later on. We'll see.

Wandering Rose Memorial: Swirlies!

So I'm trying to start building consistency of working on something every day.  Today I added some back stitched dark green swirlies in silk thread!  I plan on playing with them later on.  I know it seems extreme with the dark against the light but hopefully with later layering it will be balanced out...that is what I do!  I keep balancing the composition as I go!

Lately I also have been thinking about my dream to be an Artist.  And I know technically I already am one and I realize that now.  It's been hard for me to acknowledge that to myself feeling like I'm not a real artist.  But now I am going to start working on heading towards building a portfolio of work that could be considered fine art and be in a gallery.  I still feel like at this point people will totally laugh at me for thinking I might even have a slight chance to do that eventually.  But I think I can do it.  My media is different than traditional artists and I don't totally fit within the Crazy Quilting world for art quilts either.  I still think what I do is just as valid as anyone else, it's just different.  Right now I need to look into copyright issues that could come up with fabrics and materials I use and start working on pieces that are completely free of that issue.  When only working privately for myself and gifts it didn't really matter as much.  With the goal of being a Fine Artist it's important that I create with that in mind.  Also to create things that are the heart and soul of what I do but done in a way that I can allow to leave my possession.  So much of my current work could never leave my hands...including this Memorial Piece!  It has too much meaning for me personally.  So I need to work on things that are meaningful to me but I can let go of.  I also don't need to do this for income, my ultimate goal is *just* to create fine art!  It will only be icing on top of the cake to one day be sold.  If it never happens then I will be just as content having built up a portfolio of art!

I'm now acknowledging that what I do is art, it has emotion in it and people connect with it on an emotional level.  I always have a larger goal of showing people things that bring them enjoyment, maybe tickle a desire to find more details within it to enjoy.  It is meant to be framed on the wall, and has no use for it other than to bring enjoyment to the viewer!  It may be that I use pieced fabric as my "canvas" and I use forms of needle art, other objects, and textiles as my "paint" but it is art.  I'm not sure what genre it belongs in.  I don't think it's even fully crazy quilting because I don't finish it in a traditional way or create quilts.  So this is what I'm trying to hash out right now at the beginning of this new journey in my life!

Wandering Rose Memorial: Fearless Freehand

Almost a year later and I added a new seam treatment detail freehand inspired by the way she fearlessly created beautiful things without fear of imperfections!

I used a light pink swiss made cotton thread that was in my stash and used chain stitch in wavy lines.  When I first set out I thought they were going to inter-cross, but as I worked it ended up wanting to be parallel wavy lines.  No matter it's still overall like the idea I had in mind when setting out and taking the risk to just do something and not be paralyzed by fear.  I just kept remembering how she would be so fearless when creating!  She made such beautiful things all the time and fear of not doing well didn't seem to stop her!  I can see the imperfections in my waves but you know what?  There are no straight lines in nature, there really is beauty in imperfection.  I'm trying to embrace this more and more and take risks.  I want to just flow more!