Another Small Step in Resparking my Making Mojo

One of the first things I did in my 'resparking my making mojo' journey was to sit down with a paper and pen for five minutes and brainstorm. I wanted to see if there was anything holding me back that was an easy fix.  There were plenty of 'headspace' things, like finding time and inclination, but sure enough, there was one easy thing that I could tackle without needing to rearrange my head.

I had been holding off getting the rest of my studio moved into the apartment because I wanted to clean the carpets.  That's it, that's all I had to do.  Because not having all my gear in one place made it easy to make excuses not to make art.  And that's a pretty easy fix - I just checked that the weather forecast for the next day (conveniently a Saturday) was good and made a plan to hire a carpet cleaning machine.  I also let everyone know on Instagram that I'd be doing that so I had some accountability. Thanks to Colleen in particular for keeping me honest!

Saturday came around, four hard hours of labour later and we were done.  That spurt of industry got me rolling and over the next two days I (we!) shifted all the remaining studio gear and got it all cleaned and beautiful, ready to advertise for a new tenant. Phew!

Anyone want to rent a flat?

Now I'm busy sorting my studio gear into some semblance of order and use ability in the new place, but it's amazing how that one simple brainstorm got me motivated. Because I found one thing holding me back that I knew how to fix and could fix relatively easily.  

But what next in my creativity jumpstart program? Viv had commented on my blog how her  'go-to' is her sketchbooks when in need of inspiration, and that comment made me think of my own sketchbooks.  

Sketchbooks are a wonderful tool. You can record those brilliant ideas you have in the middle of a project that you don't have time to work on right then and there, then come back to them later to see if they are as brilliant as you first thought. Just picking up my sketchbook and flicking through can inspire me.  

One of my !00 Days of Faces pages

So I sought out my sketchbooks and my sketchbook supplies while I was unpacking and I scheduled in a creative appointment with myself.  To avoid getting 'blank page fright', I used a sketchbook that was themed - the one I had used for my 100 days of faces work - so I already knew my topic.  I even went so far as to photocopy one of the previous faces I had drawn and use it as a basis for colouring and collage.  I wanted success, because success breeds success. I wanted to achieve a small goal (put together a pleasing sketchbook page) so that I would gain confidence, feel good, and want to do more.

I'm taking baby steps in this remotivation journey. And it feels good so far, it feels like I'll get there.  How about you?  What small goal could you set today to take a step in your creative journey?

You'll have noticed that it's been a bit quiet around here lately.  In New Zealand, Christmas and New Year's coincide with summer and the summer school break, so the country sort of shuts down, or maybe slows down is a better description.  But in my case, it was definitely a full on shut down!

A week before Christmas saw me camping in a paddock with our extended family.  This is a bit of a tradition - it's been eight years now - and usually we hang out there for a couple of weeks, then head back home and back to work.  But this year, on New Year's Day, we left the paddock dwellers to their tents and my little family of four jumped in our 'Hippo' and embarked on a month long South Island trip.

The Hippo is a 4WD that we bought a few months before Christmas and spent some time decking out with a rooftop tent, awnings, storage and a camp kitchen. We intended to get off the beaten track so needed something a little more robust than a traditional campervan!

After a month of off road adventures we made it back home, but life didn't slow down. It was straight back into school for the kids and work for the grown ups.  For me, my work schedule increased dramatically when my husband's business required some extra admin help.  I found myself working there and doing my midwifery work without time to take a breath in between!

You'd think that was enough to keep us busy, but then we added another twist to the plot - we decided to move dwellings.  We have been contemplating moving off the boat for a little while for several reasons.  The kids are growing bigger and bigger and wanting friends over and needing room for projects and just generally needing more space; I was ready for a change - the tiny galley was always doing my head in; and we were all just ready to have the boat as a holiday vessel rather than our home.  But we hadn't found the right place until now.  

The building attached to the wharf where our boat is tied up has an apartment upstairs.  It became vacant a little while ago and was then offered to us to rent.  As soon as we had a look around we knew it was perfect; three bedrooms, lots more room and still in the same area that we love to live in.  We began moving our belongings in the very next day!

The view from my new place at sunset.  There's our boat, bottom left.

It was quite good timing really, because a week later we slipped the boat (took her out of the water) and it's really inconvenient to try and live on a boat that's on the hard. Boats need regular maintenance and it was time Cerego had her bottom cleaned and repainted.  We also needed to check her for damage after a recent close brush with a beach during a storm while we were away.  We were very relieved to see that she only had very minor damage along her worm shoe (a sacrificial bit of wood along the bottom of her keel and very easily replaced) phew!  

Hiring the slip is an expensive exercise and you pay by the day so we've been working like stink to get her back into the water as quickly as possible.  She went in yesterday and is sitting pretty again.

So now that Cerego is back in the water, I can carry on shifting stuff, because that's the other thing we are doing - shifting my studio back into the house now that we have room again.

Holidaying, working full time, shifting house, shifting studio, slipping the boat...is that enough of an excuse as to why there's been a dearth of creativity round here?

And now we are to the nitty gritty of why I'm writing this post.  I haven't touched my art in about two months.  I guess that's not entirely true.  I did a little hand stitching while we were travelling in The Hippo, and I took lots and lots of inspiration photographs, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that I haven't invested myself in my art for far too long.

Which is why I'm writing this down, putting it out there, gathering my thoughts and planning for a return.  The thing is, I feel a little apprehensive.  Scared is too strong a word, but uncertain isn't.  I'm not sure where to start. I've forgotten what I was working on, what I was excited about when I put down my needle, and now I feel I don't quite know how to start again.

So I'm going to share with you, my wonderful, ever supportive readers, the process I go through to get myself going again.  Because to share is to lighten the load and I'm also going to shamelessly use you for a bit of accountability!  But also because I know I can't be the only one who has been here, in a bit of a creative slump, and if I can help or encourage just one other person by sharing, well, it'll be worth it.

This is my first step in getting going again - writing about what's happening in my head.  I'm not entirely sure what the next steps will be, but probably some fun little creativity tasks mixed up with the daunting task of getting my studio moved, unpacked and in some kind of order.  

So come back regularly and travel with me on this journey to respark my making mojo, and I'd love to know the things that have helped you if you've ever been in this position.  

Thank you for sticking around and listening!

Screenprinting for Beginners (Me!)

Kings Theatre Creative is a local creative community space and art gallery in Kawakawa, Northland (home of the famous Hundertwasser public toilets).  I've had quilts hanging there as part of their exhibitions, and sold at least three, woot!!

As part of their Winter program they've organised some one-day creative workshops.  One of them was Introduction to Screenprinting.  I jumped at the chance to get a hands-on with a teacher who really knows the ins and outs of this technique, because I've dabbled in it a little on my own, but there comes a point where you really need proper instruction.

Jasmine was our teacher and she hails from Te Kowhai Print Trust in Whangarei - a facility with traditional and modern printing equipment and techniques, established to teach and support people of all ages in the art of printmaking.

I had a blast and learnt so much!  We started by having the process explained to us with a simple example that Jasmine had constructed.  We watched her pull a print from one layer of stencil and it got us all itching to get stuck in.

But first we all had to draw our own drawings and create newsprint stencils from that.  I chose a cormorant drawing that I've used before in my quilts as an appliqué motif, but thought it would lend itself nicely to a screenprint stencil.

In the photo above, you can see the original sketch top left, then the tracing I took off it with colour notes bottom left, and on the right are two of my newsprint stencils.

Then we were allowed to start printing!  It was really interesting to see everyone's drawings come alive with the layers of stencils.  My first two stencils were of the tiny yellow and blue eye details of the cormorant so were not very exciting, but once I started layering on the wings and body, I couldn't stop grinning!

I have a lot to learn and of the ten prints we made, probably only four of them are of a standard that I'm really pleased with.  But not too bad for a first go!

My quilty friend, Suz, pointed out that she can see a lot of influence in this from my 100 days of scissors and paper cutting project that I'm doing.  And I agree.  It's interesting how much unconscious crossover there is when you start comparing the different strands of your creative projects.

So yay!  I can see more screen printing in my future.  In exactly what form I'm not sure, but now I know more of the ins and outs, I'm confident to try it again and continue my learning.

Hitting the Wall

I am so buggered.  Just mentally and physically exhausted.  Over the last few weeks I've finished four quilts to exhibition standard, the last one today.  I delivered that one to the exhibition this afternoon and then I suddenly felt deflated.

I didn't realise how much I had been running on adrenaline, but boy, I realise it now!

So what's been going on?  The NZ Quilt Symposium exhibition submission deadline was midnight Thursday (yesterday).  And Wednesday afternoon I got a call from my good friend asking me if I had anything for the Matariki (Maori New Year) exhibition they were holding at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds where she works.

A while ago I had agreed that I could probably have something for that exhibition and then promptly forgot all about it.  So I asked Monika when she needed the quilts by, and bless her heart, she said, "Friday!"

So not only was I hurriedly finishing, photographing and documenting symposium quilts, I also had to rustle up another quilt or two for the Matariki exhibition.

I sat down and took stock.  First up, did I have anything in my collection that would fit the bill?  And actually I did.

Matariki occurs when the Pleiades star cluster rises above the Eastern horizon.  There are lots of stories associated with Matariki and it is a time of year for reflection and celebration.  One of the Maori myths is about how the Matariki cluster was formed.  When Ranginui (sky father) and Papatuanuku (earth mother) were torn asunder, Tawhirimatea (one of their sons, the god of winds) was so angry that he tore his eyes out and cast them into the sky where they formed the Matariki stars.  Cool story, huh?

And I happen to have a quilt that has Ranginui and Papatuanuku featured as a subtle quilting design.  It's called "I don't feel lonely".

Phew, so that was one quilt, and it was completely finished with hanging sleeve and all.

Then I looked over everything I was working on.  I had four quilts lined up for symposium exhibition, and one that I had decided not to finish for symposium.  But now that I looked at it with Matariki eyes, I could see it would be perfect.  Matariki is a time when people say goodbye to the loved ones passed away the previous year.  It's a time of renewal, a time of remembrance and a celebration of the harvest along with holding portents for the coming growing season.

Here's my artist's comments that I wrote for the quilt:

Matariki reappears, Whanui starts it's flight.  We say goodbye to those we lost in the year gone.  We look towards the new season and send our hopes flying to the stars.

In the close up you can see the star cluster that I hand embroidered (with metallic thread - never again!).  Maori often flew kites at Matariki, so the birds are a fitting symbol of that, along with being symbols of remembrance as well as hopes and dreams for the year to come.

So everything got finished, photographed, documented, uploaded, delivered - whatever had to happen to each quilt happened and now I'm done.  I'm sitting here, writing to you, drinking a comforting hot chocolate (it would have been wine, but I forgot to put some in the fridge) and thinking that I could easily not sew another stitch for at least a week.  My brain hurts, my shoulders hurt, and my hand-sewing finger has holes in it.

I was listening to a podcast by Tucker Harley the other day and he said something that resonates with me today.  Creativity can be like breathing.  Sometimes you are breathing out, creating, giving, making, sharing.  And then sometimes you have to stop, and breath back it.  That's what I feel like today.  I've breathed every last drop of air out of my creativity lungs and now I need to pause, and take a big breath in.

So I'm going to go relax and breath and when I next write I'm sure I'll be feeling more alive!

PS - I feel like I never share photos of my boat, so here's the wheelhouse/office where I'm sitting right now.  It's full of boat thingies but my computer, printer and paperwork crams in too.

100 Days Project

A creative practice project is something creative done regularly with a certain intent- a journal quilt every month, a zentangle per day, you've probably seen or read examples of them as they seem pretty popular around the blogosphere in recent years.

"Show up, show up, show up and after a while the muse shows up, too."   

-  Isabel Allende, Author. 

I've thought about creative practice projects before.  Like way back in May 2015.  And I guess I have been doing one in a loose way with my little colour compositions, but that particular project doesn't have accountability, or the support of being part of a bigger group.

An artist friend introduced me to the 100 Days Project recently.  She has participated before and found that it was enriching, challenging, frustrating, confronting and most of all, worthwhile.  (Find her work here).  The 100 Days Project in New Zealand started in 2011 and has been running annually since.  Except for last year - I don't know what happened there.  There is a website where you sign up, create a profile, and then when the project starts, you record your efforts there every day.

"The project gives anyone (young & old, artist and non-artist) a framework and the permission to be creative. It challenges you to dig deep into your creative reserves, to rely on your readiness to work in order to achieve creative breakthrough."   

- 100 Day Project, NZ. 

I signed up yesterday.  The project starts on August 24th and you have until the 20th to join up.  I'm nervous and excited because I decided to do something that will challenge me and, hopefully, enrich my textile art in a new way.

I've called my project 'Facing Up' and here's how I described it:

"I'm a textile artist, afraid of faces. So here comes 100 faces, in textiles or not, with the intent of 'facing' my fear."

This is a detail from a quilt about Ranginui and Papatuanuku (sky father and earth mother).  I think it's the only time I've included faces in a quilt.

The great thing about this is that my stitch and bitch group that I run through the studio and gallery is taking part too.  Not all of us, but at least four others.  When it gets hard and when we get stuck, we'll have someone to commiserate with.  When we feel the exhilaration of breakthrough and satisfaction of completion, we'll have someone to celebrate with.

And at the end of it all, I happen to own a gallery where we can have a 100 Days Project exhibition!

If you did a hundred days project, what would it be?

If you want to follow along with me, I'll be posting to Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag of #100DaysOfFaces and I'll probably post here in a digest form with several days all at once, along with my thoughts about the process.

Little Bites of Creativity

I could go on about how busy life has been for me in the last few weeks, but hey, we ALL lead busy lives and busy-ness is overrated!

So instead, I thought I'd write about how I've been trying to squeeze in my quilting and art in little bits and pieces around the big chunks of 'life'.  I miss quilting and creating when I don't make time for it - I get a little grumpy - so I've had to think up ways to be creative in small bites.  And these small bites make a big difference to my mood.

So what have I found?

Handwork, in this case, embroidery on hand-dyed batting squares.  I can pick up my little embroidery kit and take a fair few stitches in 10 minutes.  I set myself a theme of circles so I don't have to think about what to stitch, I can just start.

Working in my sketchbook.  Particularly sketching on pages that are already prepared.  Or I can put together a collage of leftover practice mono prints on paper.  Me and my gluestick can make a beautiful composition in about five minutes flat!

Looking around at the world.  I can feel frustrated or I can let my imagination run wild while I'm busy painting white walls in my boat.  I can look at the ship's wheel and imagine how it would look on a quilt, superimposed over an image of the porthole.  And I can take photos of inspiring objects - whether it be for shape, pattern or colour - in about 30 seconds.

When I have a little more time, say 15 minutes, I can doodle free-motion quilting designs.  I often draw out the block I want to design a motif for and then I can draw over it in pencil until I find the right one.  I could do this on the computer too in a photo or drawing program, but pencil and paper are quicker and more portable round the house.

Then if I leave my quilt spread out under the sewing machine, I can sit down and quilt one block in about 10 minutes.  And those 10 minutes add up - all 28 of my 16 patches on my big blue and white quilt are now quilted.  It's time to move onto the 18 bordered square blocks.

How do you fit creativity into your life?

Leaf Printing turns into Navel Gazing

When I get back from some time away, be it with the family or without, I always feel a bit overwhelmed and chaotic.  I know it's coming because it's happened so many times, but knowing it's coming doesn't stop it from happening.

I've got a few strategies now that I know help.  First up I write a list of all the things I have to do and work at crossing it off rather than wandering round aimlessly.  Second, I get the laundry under control.  It must be my thing - an overflowing laundry basket does my head in.  Third, I have a clutter purge.  There is a huge bag of clothes, toys and dress-ups in my car boot waiting to go to the Op Shop and it feels soooo good!  And then lastly, but probably most importantly, I do something quilty or creative.

I hadn't realised that this last one was important to me until I sat down with my daughter the other day and did some leaf printing on fabric.  We had been home for a few days by then but I was still feeling antsy.  After doing just that small activity, it was like heaving a big sigh of relief.

What I'm wondering now is when and why has creating art quilts become so important to me?  Almost four and a half years ago I started this blog, all excited because we were moving into a shed on our block of land.  I was to have animals, space to garden, room to move.  And we moved and I had all I wanted.  Well now.... I've got my animals but we've seriously down-shifted in the amount,  I barely step inside the vegetable garden anymore and cooking and baking...well they get done, but maybe with half the care and attention that they used to get!

When we moved here I was already a quilter and I dabbled around with creating art quilts but my ten year plan only had 'have enough free time to quilt' on it.  It had a lot more goals about gardens and orchards than quilting.  Now my ten year plan includes goals like 'exhibit internationally', 'become a successful quilting tutor'.  How did that happen?  How did I morph into that?  Do people really change that much, or did I actually not know what I wanted?  I wonder about my blog followers who were with me because I was all about growing and chooks and sustainability.  Do they wonder who am I now?

Sometimes I wonder if I've just finally found my perfect outlet for my creativity.  I believe everyone is creative but in different ways.  Some people show it in their gardens, or in their interior decor, or their creative business skills, or the way they nurture and grow their families.  And some people just haven't found what it is for them yet.  Could I even be so cliche as to say the words 'it's my calling'?!

Yesterday I spent a lot of it working on my Swallow quilt.  And it felt so good.  But I also felt guilty because it was a lovely day and I should have been working in the garden.  A friend turned up and was busily working on a smokehouse that he's building for my husband and I felt that he would be wondering why I wasn't making the most of the sunshine or maybe thinking I was a bit lazy.  So maybe what's going on in my head is all about whether being a quilter and artist is valid?

Hmm, this is all getting a bit deep and meaningful and is a bit too much to ponder right now, and the chickens need feeding, and the ducks need letting out, and the cows need moving.....!  If anyone has any insightful thoughts, I'd love to read them.