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Last Bird
Here it is: the last bird drawing on the last page of my 2013 calendar. I have to admit that most of December with its holiday deadlines has made this project extra challenging to draw and post to instagram every day. And I also have to admit that I am looking forward to not having to post a drawing every single day. This project has been super fun, and has led to some very interesting projects, and I am sure that I will be doing a lot of interesting things in the future because of this too. I feel like I accomplished what I set out to do, which…
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Blank
Today I purchased a brand new 2014 page a day calendar. It is so.. blank.
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Cold Hummingbirds and Procrastination
With only a few days left before my biggest show of the year, I woke up and looked out my kitchen window to see my hummingbird feeder was frozen solid. And just as I thought to myself, “oh well, I rarely get a visitor” a hummingbird arrives. OH NO! Never mind the giant pile of things that are still not done, this problem needed to be addressed immediately. Of course I had to drop everything, and thaw out the feeder. I also determined that the feeder needed some insulation to slow down the freezing, so of course I had to mine my yarn stash for some yarn to knit a…
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Cashmere Winter Coat
I had no intention to make myself a new winter coat, but sometimes serendipity happens in the form of finding gorgeous cashmere fabric at a sale for $6. per yard. This fabric treasure was unearthed from a pile of junky fabrics on an unmarked bolt at a clearance sale. I recognised it, because I made a jacket out of the same fabric in a different colour last year. That fabric cost something like $25. per yard on sale. So, of course I had to buy it; the deal was too much to pass up. And who in their right mind could let that fabric just sit there in their fabric…
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You Probably Forgot That I Actually Sew
So most of my writing lately has been about art. Art is that thing that I rebelled against for so so long, but have been doing an awful lot of this year. From my daily drawings calendar drawings to my collaborations with Brent Wear, that has been my public daily face on instagram for the last while. But secretly, I have actually been sewing. There are a lot of projects going on behind the scenes. I’ve been banging away slowly at new designs, some personal projects, and some secret projects as well. All and all keeping my head down and working on my holiday collection. Here is the first draft…
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Drawing and Painting: Bird Collaborations with Brent Wear
Not too long ago my friend, painter Brent Wear approached me about doing some collaborations with my bird drawings. He has been encouraging me forever to do more visual artwork, and has been my go to art mentor whenever I am in some sort of existential art crisis. I have resisted making purely visual art for a long time in order to keep myself on a steady track of sewing, but it has always been difficult for me to focus on one thing single-mindedly. Usually, I am satisfied to make a stray thing here and there to feed my curious soul’s need to try new things. Brent is well known…
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Drawing, 365 Daily Projects, Forming Habits and A Question
Many people make New Year’s resolutions, or from this day forward lifestyle changes that have varying degrees of success. If you follow me anywhere, you know I’ve been drawing birds. Almost every day this year, one on every page of my calendar. And here I am in the last quarter of the year. Very soon, I will have to purchase a 2014 datebook. Now I won’t lie, it is incredibly satisfying to see a drawing on every page of this book. The idea of not drawing something everyday is kind of sad and weird. I may continue. Not sure if I will continue with the singular purpose of songbirds, but…
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Waiting Impatiently For Missing Pieces
I have a confession to make: I’m not working on anything. No sewing or knitting projects. I’m not reading any novels. I haven’t even sewn a single heart on my quilt this week. Or sewn a single stitch at all. It isn’t for a lack of things to work on or a lack of desire for a project. I have been obsessively browsing through Ravelry, and I have been sleeping with Quilting Happiness. I have a teetering stack of vague projects and quilting cottons waiting to be cut into; if only I knew what I was cutting out. In a different time, I would be suffering from the anxiety of…
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Crossover: Tying Drawing and Embroidery Together
This is a work in progress, and it is taking a long time. But one’s life work hopefully does take a long time. I have told you quite a bit about my Calendar Project, and I have a lot to say about craft when it comes to me attempting to translate what is in my head into a tangible thing. This began in music school with hours of practice to be able to produce the sound I wanted on demand. Same with fashion: from idea, to 2-d to 3-d with movement, flattering to the particular figure, and drawing the eye in a line away from and to.. So what does…
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Sometimes You F*ck Up
sometimes you are drawing along, and the drawing is nearly perfect and then you f*ck it up. there is a pause and moment of did i really do that? and it is in ink, and there is no going back. so if you are like me, you cannot crumple up and toss out what was a perfectly good drawing that you spent over two hours on. how to fix it? it isn’t something that can be inked over, so you just have to embrace it, and let the weird ideas just leak out of your head.. and then start over on a new one. in all i drew this poor…
