Transformation
New Years Day is the perfect time to choose my guiding word for 2021. This year I’m selecting TRANSFORMATION. It came to me when creating my weekly drawing. It seems butterflies, the symbol of transformation and hope are a regular feature when I am choosing what to draw. Although they haven’t featured in my fabric art for years, they are in several of my earliest works.
Many of us, myself included, are feeling hope at the dawning of the New Year. It will be difficult to have patience as we say good-bye to 202o and welcome 2021. There won’t be instant gratification. I expect to have many more months cocooned in my home as I shelter in place. My turn to get the COVID vaccine is months away.
Taking Risks
What I can do is take safe risks. I do this with my art. I’ve already taken a scary, but safe risk with Cautiously Optimistic. Well, actually a couple of risks. First, I’ve decided to rename the work. Sometimes my working titles stick. Other times a change is called for. The work is retitled Out of the Ashes. This speaks more clearly to my sense of hope emerging from difficult times.
The second risk is to add thread painting before I quilt Out of the Ashes. Initially, I was going to do some Libby Lehman style ribbons to mirror the pieced ribbons in the quilt. This would have been relatively safe. Instead, I took a leap and thread painted butterflies. There is one more risk coming, but I will save that for a big reveal in a month or so.
I am linking up with Nina Marie’s Off the Wall Fridays.
I like the new title, Gwyned, and the butterflies, too. Now I’m so curious as to what the “third risk” might be? Also, “The Third Risk” sounds like a great title for some future work. ;-). Happy New Year!
Comments like this are precisely why I so much appreciate hearing from you, Rebecca Grace. You have a gently way of nudging me further into exploration. You are so right, The Third Risk makes an excellent title for a piece or even a series of pieces. Thank you!