Inspirations, Challenges & Not Knowing When to Stop

All of a sudden it's April and even the regular grocery store has great color . I've been inspired and challenged this week, not the least of which is getting pictures where I want them on this blog.

Tues. was fun, food, and INSPIRATION galore. "Wonders" gathered with the stated intention of making charms (ala Cloth, Paper, Scissors). Flo arrived with abundant stash treasures to share. We dove in and some of us moved into Subversive Jewelry style on overload. This is a revisit for me to low those many years ago when I did "lost earring" necklaces and others adorned with plastic toys such as Kermit the Frog. My jr. high students thought I was a bit odd even then.

Much of my inspiration from this group of hyper creatives comes from the sharing. I was putting out lunch so I didn't get pics of the latest of the Lu-Connie collaborative (in progress); Lu's quilt top from Sara's class; or Flo's wonderful jewelry creations but did snap a hint of Deborah' s incredible creative output. We're all encouraging her toward publishing and showing her latest series. She's the "baby" of our group (by years) but her maturity is astounding. Her daily art meditations for Lent is inspiring on so many levels and her Window for 12x12 is wonderful. I do believe the responses to this challenge, chosen by Gerrie, are my favorite to date. Don't miss it or Gerrie's blog about her class and fabulous shiboris. There's another challenge for me. I want that level of complexity in my cloth. With the weather warming, I hope to be dyeing and discharing soon.

I'd gotten behind on my obligation to a round robin from complex cloth list so I got out the printing materials on Wed. It was a slow start(fear? - not sure). I went to bed with Rayna Gillman's book (more inspiration) and got up yestereday going full tilt. Rayna says you'll know when to stop; I'm not so sure. It was only necessity to clean up for weekend obligations that brought me to a halt. I did about 10 different pieces of cloth and I'm itching to do more. I used Ruthie Powers' stamps on some and lots of "found" treasures. Don't you LOVE sequine waste! I used 2 Gocco screens and have soooooo much to relearn there. I didn't have time for a copy store trip so I didn't get to the on-loan thermofax. I plan to do that soon along with deconstruction and dye printing.

Now as I think of it, "Not stopping" can be a good thing. I like the idea of being creative until the "very end" which I hope is far, far away.