What Brings Me Joy.

I'm tired tonight.  The kind of tired that has me eating cold spaghetti and hot cocoa at midnight. It's the kind of tired that comes from sadness and loss and taking care of two amazing and active young boys, and thousands of ideas swirling in my brain every day, ALL day long, and making plans for bucket list items and taking up rollerblading at forty-seven and facing rejection and success, which oddly enough, can almost be just as stressful as rejection. As I snuggled into a big blanket on the sofa tonight and almost dozed off immediately, I couldn't shake the feeling that I wanted to write a little first.

I've been archiving and cleaning up all my photos on my computer, and that's allowing me to take a fresh look at my work.  I was trying to decide which piece to write about tonight, and since I don't have a design of a black hole or a mental institution, I chose a favorite recent piece. Something a little more hopeful.

I chose this one because when the client, who happens to be an old college friend, asked me to make this religious stole, he put his full trust in me to just make something beautiful and full of joy.  He had commissioned a large banner for his church (read about it here) and asked if I would use some of the leftover batiks to make a stole for him that was abstract and joyful. Those are always his words.  When he cut me loose to do my thing on the banner with only moderate direction he said:

"I really do trust you wholeheartedly. Do what brings you joy...truly. Do what brings this to life for you and I know it will be the right choice."

You know, as an artist, there is nothing better than that.  To be given such trust and freedom.

So, tonight, this is what I want to share.  I love how the stole turned out.  I looked at the leftover banner fabrics and though the color palette isn't exact, I immediately thought of a couple of Klimt paintings. The Kiss and Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. I loved the overall gold look of the pieces and all of the abstract shapes and how he put them together. There is life there. I kept both of these paintings in view as I built the background for the stole.  The left side is tiny squares and rectangles all pieced together. I appliquéd more squares and rectangles on top to add depth and detail.  I liked the idea of the two sides coordinating and flowing together, but also being individual designs. Instead of just making two differing sides, I wrapped the squares and rectangles up around the neck and back down a little bit onto the right side, so even though there is a hard line separating it from the circles, it helps it to blend and look like one cohesive art piece.  And that's truly how I see this stole...as and art piece. I kept the stitching simpler so it would just tie everything together and not distract. I love the colors and shapes and how it all came together, and did not want to take away from that at all.

The stole is only about 4 1/2" wide so all the pieces are very small, which made for a lot of work! I truly did "do what brings you (me) joy" and I think it's tangible. I backed it with a bold orange batik so that if it ever flips up, you catch another fun burst of color. I always think about the backs of my pieces.  Looking at the stitching from the back is a favorite thing. It's not forgotten.  It may be hidden and only be seen by a few people who take the time to look, but those people always appreciate that extra detail. And it makes me smile knowing I've sent a little hidden gem out into the universe. I guess that's the artist in me. 

More process photos:

My inspiration! This Klimt painting

Added sooo many shapes

Love how this turned out so much

Shapes within shapes

This was the banner that inspired it

Done and ready for assembly

Always love the backs

Let the piecing begin

Now it was time to add the circles

Lots of free motion quilting