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Autumn Ramblings

Once again, I have wandered off course.  I try to accept my habit of getting easily distracted as a side effect of being creative, but it does not do anything for those of you who might be eagerly anticipating some words of wisdom here.  In a way, I have been searching for many things this month.  Not only searching for canning jars (unsuccessful), but searching for unusual pumpkins (very successful).

There have been a few days where it has taken me a half an hour to get the mail because I simply must pick up so many interesting leaves that have fallen.  I am watching a series of gigantic puffballs grow near my driveway.  Creativity is all about observation.  These little moments will somehow resurface in the collages that I stitch over the winter.

I have been keeping up with my 4 x 4” square challenge, here are the bits and pieces from September.

In a few days, I will reveal the squares from October.  This time of year, have you ever stopped to listen to the leaves fall?

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Lessons from Eggplant

Every once in a while, I completely forget that not everyone has had the same life experience and knowledge that I have.  We’ve all done it.  Recently, at a local produce auction, I was inspecting some lovely white eggplant that, unlike the eggplant that most are familiar with, was two inches in diameter and 5-6 inches long.  An older gentleman came up to me and asked, “What are those?”  I was stunned that someone buying vegetables at a produce auction wasn’t aware of different varieties.  Take a look at photo transfer image on this little art quilt that I made a few years ago.  Among an amazing assortment of peppers, there is a basket of tiny green eggplant, and another basket of white eggplant looking very much like… eggs.

Eggplant isn’t just eggplant, there are the standard pear shaped black, and then there are other shapes, colors and tastes.  The same goes for most other cultivated fruits and vegetables.  Of course, I politely explained the world of eggplant varieties to the man, and perhaps he went away a bit wiser.  I have a series going of heirloom vegetable quilts.  Here is a fabric portrait of carrots that I grow, in colors true to the real roots.

A week later, I was contemplating a half peck of okra that I wanted, and another bidder asked me a familiar question, “What are those?”  Another teaching moment, and this time, I piqued this gentleman’s curiously.  He asked if he could have a few to try if I ended up buying them.  I readily agreed, wanting to encourage him to try something new.  I was the high bidder on the okra, and I kept my promise, giving him a generous handful with cooking instructions.

Those of us who are creative in the visual arts need to look for similar encouraging teaching moments in our encounters who might be curious about making something but think that they cannot.  Take a travel kit of art supplies wherever you go, sit out where others can see you make something.  Have some finished artist trading cards to give away, or even give out some extra supplies like a blank card and a few colored pencils.  Encourage anyone who asks about what you are doing.  Be positive, talk to them about being persistent and patient about learning something new.  Ask them if they make a craft, or if anyone in their family has a special skill.  Share your knowledge, and look to learn new things from others.

In case you are curious about the world of heirloom vegetables, check out Seed Savers Exchange and Baker Creek Seeds.  And for the record, I am not a vegetarian, I love a good hamburger and many other delicious foods.

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Catching Up

I just realized that I never posted my 4 X 4″ squares from July, and of course, August.  So, here they are:

The squares are about the only stitching that I have been doing the past two months.  My creativity has been channeled into canning the harvest from my vegetable garden and trying new and delicious recipes with fresh veggies.  Take a look at these tomatoes:

The green ones are fully ripe, there are some varieties that stay green when ripe.  Next week, I’ll share a story that happened at my local produce auction; yes it does have to do with creativity.  Right now, I want to sample my new salsa.

 

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Wrapping up ICAD 2020

At last, here are the rest of the index card creations from my successful completion of the 2020 Index Card a Day challenge.

Week 6: Ocean, Hydrangea, Rust, Mirage, Gradient, Cinnamon or Spice, Knot.

Week 7: Bloom, Unravel, Simplify, Diagram, Pencil, Confetti or Glitter, Orchard.

Week 8: Pinwheel, Blue or Blueberry, Orbit, Garden Gate, Outline, Paisely, Unfold.

Week 9: Billiards, Tea Set, Arboretum, Bossa Nova, Adventure.

For the first time in four years of my attempting this challenge, I finished all 61 cards by July 31.  Now, I will admit, there were some days that I made more than one card because I skipped a day or three and had to play catch up.  Overall, it was a great creative challenge – I learned some things about the art materials I have on hand, got some new ideas and further reinforced a daily creative habit in my routine.  Now that I finished an edition of the challenge on time, I don’t know if I will participate in it next year.  For the two months that it runs, it does take away from my stitching, but I might try a variation on it next year that will keep me creating fiber art.  Meanwhile, I am going to make fabric boxes to hold my index card creations, and pick up some unfinished fabric collage.  A little bit of work each day on a project is another step towards finishing.

 

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Drawing to Sound

I’m back!  Well, I never left, but I have been making things.  I am pleased to report that today is the last day of the 2020 Index-Card-a-Day Challenge, and I have finished all of them!  I will post more about the end of this year’s ICAD next week, because now I want to show my attempts at creating to music.

My tastes in music are quite eclectic, so it is difficult to find something that am not familiar with.  The Hoopla app (should be available through your local library) has a meager offering of some world music, and there I found a recording of Australian digeridoo music.  That is what I chose for my creative experiment.  I decided to make my musical sketch on an 8.5 x 11” piece of dark gray textured paper, using gel sticks, crayons, colored pencils and oil pastels to make my marks.

After getting everything in place, I started the music and listened for a few minutes, choosing colors, making an effort to select colors that I don’t normally use.  Then, I started drawing lines, trying to imagine my hand connecting to the sound and taking over my movements.

I kept going, filling in shapes and adding marks.  I think that you can see how the red waves and orange scribbles were in response to the undulating drone of the digeridoo, while the blue bars, white dots and yellow slashes came from the sounds of sticks tapping together.

Finally, I added more shading and bulked up the composition with some brighter colors.

This could be a great creative block smasher, I will be making a point to doodle or sketch to music more often in my art journals.  As luck would have it, one of the last prompts for the 2020 ICAD challenge was “Bossa Nova.”  Hoopla again saved the day with several Bossa Nova titles, and here is what came out of my mind:

Next week, (yes, I will post next week, I promise) the ICAD wrap up and moving on to something else.