#8 - a challenge

As I got #8 out a few minutes ago to stitch on, I paused to look at the area still to be stitched. The page measures 9 inches x 20 inches with the work area being 3 inches x 13 inches. So far, only the top 3 inches have been stitched. More holes needed punching which caused me to wonder...if I go ahead and punch holes along the remaining 10 inches now (instead of an area at a time as I'd been doing), is it really possible to accept what is there and not add more holes as the process continues?

Sounds like a challenge to me. Let's see how it goes.

#8

Pristine white pages have been asking for their turn so I've obliged on #8.

2016 waiting = stitching #8 in progress

Red hand stitching on a pad of  St Armand Canal Paper 

whose pages measure 9 inches by 20 inches.

2016 waiting = stitching #8 in progress

Punching the holes from the back allows for slightly raised threads on the front, 

giving the sense of a secret language when lightly touched. 

Waiting = stitching

For over 10 years now, it's been a habit of mine to hand stitch during times of waiting - on trips when someone else is driving, on flights, during quiet moments in the morning, watching tv and, most consistently, since my little urchins started taking various lessons after school.

My bag nearly always contained a roll of black cotton and a pouch of brightly colored threads. The stitching was intuitive while varing direction, stitch length and contrasts. The action itself gave me joy, a sense of contentment. It came as a great surprise toward the closing of 2015 to find myself no longer enamored with this work. It had become a chore and ended up being undone most often than not.

One morning during that week between Christmas and New Year's, as usual I found myself downstairs before the house woke, wanting to hand stitch, but being a bit reticent to do so. My old way was not working and I knew it, but what next? Try stitching on white cotton? On my rusted cottons? Or on that pad of St Armand Canal black denim paper that I'd bought in Santa Fe? Hmmm...now there's an idea.

2016 waiting = stitching #1

I began with +'s by punching holes in the back for the rows

 2016 waiting = stitching #2

and then proceeded with this one. It was too much like what had come before and left me frustrated.

2016 waiting = stitching #3

This luscious paper wanted to be different. Wanted me to stitch in a new way. Wanted me to embrace the chaos that I felt around and inside me. So on the third piece, I punched holes and then more holes on the back 

 2016 waiting = stitching #4

before beginning to stitch...all the while promising myself to stitch only through the holes already punched,

 

  2016 waiting = stitching #5

to not look at the front and decide that another was needed just here...or right there. Just let go and accept what exists.

 2016 waiting = stitching #6

Acceptance = a sense of freedom  = many ideas on where to go from here.

2016 waiting = stitching #7 in progress from back

I'm enjoying this new waiting = stitching series very much and am trying to take it slow and let the process guide me and grow organically rather than to rush and get ahead of myself. 

By the way, if anyone knows where more pads of St Armand Canal paper in black denim (9 inches by 10 inches) can be purchased, would you mind dropping me a note? I'd be very grateful for the info. 

January

What comes to mind when you think of January? For several of my friends, January has become a month of play and experimentation in the studio. They've given themselves permission to wonder what if and then to pursue the thought wherever it leads.

For me, January is a time of refocusing. Time to take stock and decide what to keep,

what to purge or repurpose, what to listen to.

The tea bags are fairly singing these days.

It is also a time to simplify. My new waiting = stitching series embodies this. What began as an experiment in embracing chaos and the wabi sabi-ness of life has quickly become one my favorite creative endeavors.

And then there's the January sun that demands one to stop and admire it as it streams through the windows and reflects off the snow. We scraped through with only 14 or so inches as compared to my brother's 30+.

January will soon be turning into February and I'll pause to wonder just how we got to February already? After all, it was just New Year's Day a few days ago...

Perspective

Seems ages since I've been here - way longer than the little more than a month that it has actually been. The time away began as a byproduct of the holidays - too much to do and too little time so something had to give and the blog was it.

But as the holidays came and went, the time away allowed for much contemplation

and rumination as to what I hope to achieve in 2016.

All that thinking lead to changes in perception 

and perspective

regarding my art. 

2016 just might be a year of very creative art math - figuring out how 

1 = 15 and how + 1 more = 22.

Here's to fulfilling and creative year!