Week in Review 2019 – 04/19

What was I thinking? How many times I have I asked that very same question when I am midway through my current creation? The answer is far too many times to keep track of.

I thought I would simplify my creative life this year by working on smaller pieces. I purposefully opted to commit to making a monthly 12″ x 12″ piece. It ought to be doable. Pure genius, I thought, since the size fits multiple obligations. I would get the joy of experimenting and knocking off at least 12 pieces in 2019. Maybe this will still be the case. Maybe it will not. My current piece is another moment of inspiration leading to insanity. Well, that may be overstating the issue. It is definitely proving to be very time consuming.

Every hydrangea petal begins with a pillowcase turned 2″ diameter circle. Each petal takes an average of close to 30 minutes to make. It is quite a process of marking, machine stitching, cutting, ironing, hand stitching, folding into shape, more hand stitching and eventually tacking down to the quilt itself. In other words, what looks simple is simple enough, but very time consuming when repeated several 100 times.

Good thing I don’t need to make a living with my art. If I did, I would have to cut time corners and figure out a viable alternative process to mass produce petals by hand. Instead, I can opt for peace provided by a repetitive task. It is while doing the same thing over and over and over again, that nuances are seen.

What I’m really enjoying about combining my various hand painted and dyed fabrics is how it achieves the subtle color and shading variations. This image is an early test to determine how the petals might be arranged to create hydrangea blossoms.

I am linking up with Nina Marie’s Off the Wall Fridays.

By Gwyned Trefethen

I am an artist who uses fabric, thread and miscellany to create designs gifted to me by my imagination.