Monday, November 24, 2014

Lisa and the Convoluted, Hazy, No Good, Very Mediocre Process

book (Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst) 
comes to mind when I write this blog post...

So my process in a nutshell 
(ha! My mother always annoyingly says "to make a long story short" and it is not ever short!)

After a weekend (September 17-19) wandering the streets of Manhattan 
and drooling over the architecture there...



I thought that somehow, I could incorporate my love of these old buildings
 into our latest challenge...


And I even blogged about it early on
(September 24th to be exact!) 

and I was happy with my first rubber stamp...


so I made a bunch more...


And then, I painted on fabric paper 
(sorry no photos taken of the strips of tissue paper being glued onto muslin)...


and I even bought a bunch of colored zippers...


At this point, things were going swell 
though it was getting a little hard to move about in my small sewing room at home...


and it got worse...


which was okay because, I moved most of my messy stuff into a studio on October 1...


along with two other fiber art friends...


so there was painting, and cleaning, and  moving for days...



followed by a trip up to my hometown of Ottawa (including my first speeding ticket---ever!)


to hang out with family while my dad had some surgery on Oct 6,


but I did return to my project, 
stamping on my painted paper fabric....


adding some free motion-stitched lines and some zippers....


 
which was put on the back burner while I prepared for and attended 
 a reception with our fiber art group's exhibit and presentation (October 10-11)
in Old Forge NY...

 

eventually my sewing room became unbearably messy, 
 so I cleaned...




and now that it was clean,
why not start another project that was in my head? because I don't have enough going on...





and take another weekend off 
to go to the Sheep and Wool Festival (October 17-19) with friends....


I mean,
don't we all need another craft and project for distraction????



by then the zippers had been separated and sewn to make a fire escape...


but there was another hiatus to enjoy a glorious weekend 
(now it's already November 7-9) of mindfulness 
(ironically defined as a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment) 
and yoga at Kripalu with my sister-in-law...


and then spending a couple of days photographing the snow...


and ice that befell us...

which looked pretty but now is all gone and 
we were fortunate to be far enough from the snow belt of Buffalo...

and all of a sudden,
it is November 23rd...


and my project that now measures 26.6" x 22"
no longer seems so exciting, mediocre at best,
has been set aside as a... 
"yeah that seemed like a good idea at first but now longer interests me so much"
kind of project!

I could have just dropped out of this challenge
(it would have probably saved you a bit of time with all the reading!)
but I figured it was worth showing everyone that
not all projects end like we had anticipated
and the process often has a tangled textile history!

6 comments:

  1. Oh Lisa I love your posts, whether you are making a long story short or not! I'm so glad you did not drop out of this challenge as this was a great process post. I hope you'll go back and find these old zippered buildings exciting again as I think your piece is looking great.

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  2. I love what you have done, too. Stop beating yourself up. Not everything we start comes to fruition and we need to be OK with that. It looks like it was fun at times and that is all that is important. Remember perfection is overrated!

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  3. I hope you don't mind, I laughed out loud while reading your "short" story. Keeping on task gets harder every day, it seems. At least your are in good company. I for one have much the same problem. The zippers as fire escapes is a novel idea and the vibrant colors make this a cheerful creation.

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  4. Ha, ha, ha!!! Couldn't help myself, but I felt your thoughts all the way over here. I am so glad that you stuck with it and posted. Your work with the fabric paper, stamping and zippers is sheer brilliance. Your flair and panache really comes through in your piece and post. I agree with the others; not everything we start works the way we envision, but I hope after the piece has sat for a bit, the doors will open and you'll finish it. Sorry couldn't help myself!!! LOL!

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  5. now I sure wouldn't call that a mediocre piece! There is so much going on, and you've tied it all together so well! Love the zippers as fire escapes, love the stamps you created, and the paper fabric. I think this is a case of pulling it out at a later date and discovering it all over again. Loved reading your post, too

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  6. Lisa, I was laughing by the end of your post! I really like what you did with the zippers, and think this deserves a second look after it's had time to age in a closet for a bit.

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