Tag: inspiration

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ICAD Week Seven

Tomorrow is the last official day of the index-card-a-day challenge, I am indeed going to fall short on finishing 61 cards in 61 days.  I’m still going to finish the last few, just a few days late!  After I get the last few cards made, I will pick up were I left off on my attempts at the challenge in 2017 and 2018.  My goal is to get five cards done a week until the gaps are all filled in.

I have learned a lot by doing the ICAD challenge, and I have gotten some new ideas for art quilts.  Some of the prompts were really tough for me to complete, as I had great difficulty in coming up with an idea.  Along the way , I learned a couple of new words, tried new art supplies and learned how to (or not to) combine various art media.  In the next couple of weeks, I will feature a few individual cards and discuss the process in creating them, and show a few that have inspired me.

Here are week seven’s efforts:

The prompts were direction, pool, wabi-sabi, amethyst, turnpike, topographic and billboard.

Check back on Thursday for a quilt show announcement.

 

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Summer Meadows

I have really derailed over the last week and a half – with this blog, the index-card-a-day challenge, and more.  However, I was having a fabulous time indulging in a hobby that has consumed me for most of my life at BreyerFest– the collectors’ convention for model horses.

I’m still trying to ease back into my usual routine, so here’s a couple of images of the meadows that surround my home.

I look forward to seeing the vibrant orange butterfly weed flowers each July, and I have captured them in an ongoing series of fiber art pieces:

Take some time this week to study a landscape that you see frequently, make note of what you notice most in it, then find something that you haven’t noticed.  Does it inspire you creatively?

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Random Little Things

This week has been one of weed pulling in my gardens and very little stitching.  Mundane chores can be turned into lessons in creative inspiration and observation.  It is all about training your mind to notice details and how to capture those details that delight you and share them with others through your chosen way of expression, be it visual art, writing or music.  I find inspiration all the time.  Right now there are tiny spring flowers blooming in my yard and I want to capture them forever in stitches.

Bluets

While doing my outdoor chores, I discovered these robin eggs in the grass along my driveway.  I now want to come up with some dye color combinations starting with this lovely shade of turquoise.

Robin eggs

I’m also wondering about the eggs themselves.  Did they fall out of a nest in a wind gust?  Or where they picked out of the nest by blue jays looking for a meal?  Thinking creatively also includes asking questions, and wondering the story behind a place or object.

Art and design weaves through just about every aspect of our lives.  Sometime ago, I remember reading somewhere that, “going to the gas station should be an aesthetic experience.”  Unfortunately, I do not recall the source of that statement, but there are places, buildings and signs that command our attention.  What is is about the things that turn your head?  Are there common design elements?  Identify them and use them in your art.