My quilt is finished!

I wanted to post this last night, but the light had gone and I couldn't take my photo of my quilt, of which I am very proud. It's what you might call a freeform quilt, that is to say I didn't follow the usual quilting conventions when I made it! I saw a lovely quilt in a home magazine and immediately wanted to make one similar, using silky fabrics and velvet. So I didn't have time to equip myself with a rotary cutter and quilting ruler, I measured the rectangles with a ruler and cut them out with my trusty dressmaking shears and hoped for the best. I do now own a rotary cutter, which is fab for cutting everything, including body parts if you get them in the way (ouch). Seriously, keep them out of reach of little fingers, and your own, because they are deadly sharp and could cause a lot of damage and gore.

I did learn a lot from making a fair few mistakes, for example, I had to undo my tacking and smooth all the layers out again, because I hadn't started tacking from the middle as you're supposed to. Ooops - made a few ripples before I realized but it all adds to the character, and it's on the back so no-one will notice. I am very pleased with my shiny, tactile and cosy quilt.

The photo came out quite well - I've got a bit of the evening sun shining through our windows, and reflecting off the gorgeous satin. The teddy you can see in the background is one my mum made for me to take to university (19 years ago - my word!) Thanks mum! It still travels around with me!

Quite a crafty post tonight, a refreshing change after doing some bookkeeping (which I hate, but someone has to do it!) Even writing about creativity gives you a wee buzz after a busy day, good medicine for the soul.

Some art therapy

Here's a picture of what I painted for my art therapy session I did a couple of weeks ago. It's lovely and bright, I call it a sunburst; I just kept seeing lots of them popping into my head whilst I was doing the visualization. It was just beautiful. It was also great because I got the opportunity to use some gorgeous, expensive brushes and they just made the paint flow so easily! Looking at the painting a few weeks later makes me feel happy, I remember on the day feeling that I'd got something out of my system that was threatening to burst out - it was very freeing! Like I said before, you don't have to be having emotional problems to benefit from art therapy, sometimes it's good to express yourself just for the sake of it.

Back again ...

Feeble I know, but I finally succumbed properly to the 'bug', whatever it was and spent lots of time lying around feeling sorry for myself. And after making fun of my husband for being victim to 'man-germs'. That'll teach me!

Anyway, back to feeling fairly normal, and the creative buzz flowing again. Hooray! As we've been talking about mandalas I thought I'd share a work that didn't initially start out as one, but ended up as a mandala style and could be quite healing in the process I think. It's a very rough drawing from my art journal, you might not be able to read the notes scribbled in the corner, but they explain I just had to get the idea on paper - I want to turn it into a painting very soon. It's quite personal - I was challenged to look at myself as a little girl, and to imagine being with her now - what would I do and how would I react to this younger me? I've always been a bit disappointed in my younger self as I remember being painfully shy and awkward around people, but as I imagined that little girl being me I realized I didn't dislike her, I just wanted to befriend her and encourage her - and that's where the picture came from. When I've painted it I'll publish it here, then you can see the continuation of my idea;jottings;painting process. I just love it when an image comes together!

More mandala stuff ...

Here is an exercise I did after looking at the book 'Mandala' by Judith Cornell, who is an authority on mandalas. Can't remember why we had to draw it now, but looking at it reminds me of energy moving. It actually looks better in this photo than the real thing, I think the light from the flash must be reflecting off the white! The white pencil didn't work as well as I hoped, might be better if I had used pastels. Quite pleased with how it looks here though.

Meant to mention that the mandala from yesterday was drawn and coloured with 'Inktense' coloured pencils. You use them the same way as normal watercolour/aquarelle pencils, but they give a much more intense result just as their name implies. They aren't cheap, but every artist must have their vices!

Not much doing today

Just a quick blog today - the house is full of germs and we are all feeling a wee bit poorly! So thought I would choose a mandala to show today, think I had been investigating Celtic art and nature religions to come up with this theme of being 'one with the earth'. It was the first mandala I'd ever drawn and I found it very relaxing, also I love round things (explains the dotty blog template) so I think I will probably produce some more in the future. Will post a couple more I've done recently and explain a bit more about mandalas another time. This virus turns the brain to mush and I just can't think straight! Apologies for short and uninspiring blogging!

It ain't half hot ...

I spend a lot of time thinking about but not doing things, because I don't know how to do them, instead of having a go anyway and seeing how it all turns out. That's another great thing about this blog, it's inspiring me to try new things like the felt egg I made a couple of weeks ago. I didn't have a clue, but I wanted to share the results anyway (good job it turned out well!).

It's really too hot to blog - 34.5 degrees today, just the start of things to come. Yuck! So I will finish with a quote:

"The best angle from which to approach any problem is the try-angle." Author unknown.

I just love it!!

Sustainability

Every time I walk out to the washing line I pass this amazing display of nasturtium in a battered old dustbin, but it's one of the most beautiful things in the garden! We actually ripped up some of the plant because it grows like a weed in this area, and put it in the bin to dispose of it. However, it seems the plant had other ideas, and after dying back after the first few days, it keeps coming back as this lovely voluptuous plant. Isn't it just gorgeous, I adore the colours, fiery and passionate.

What got me thinking was the question of "what sustains you? what keeps you going season after season?" Then as my mind does, it started a rollercoaster of other ideas. What sustains me each day, what energizes me to keep going? Firstly, my family sustains me, though of course I also expend a lot of energy on it - it's a two way street! And my art sustains me, I think I would be totally lost if I couldn't create a little something each day, even the 'routine' portfolio I talked about the other day. So, what sustains you, energizes you, where does your passion lie?

This blog has been somewhat of a revelation for me, not just the techno side of having to get to grips with a PC, but also that it makes me think about issues, ideas, creative processes each and every day, which in turn energizes me - and keeps the brain ticking over! And all that from a dustbin filled with flowers ...