Friday, February 04, 2005

Bringing in a little color



I have unearthed some old paintings, which I never did anything with. I thought I would post them, and that would suffice. The thing about my old life as a drawing and painting person was that when one is finished with a drawing or a painting, it has to be mounted or framed or both. That means that one has to have a place to put said painting or drawing, either on a wall or in a closet or a gallery or someplace to display it. And one has to make a value judgement about the work's worth, in order to justify the cost of framing.
Arrrggghh. This is just way too much stuff to do and not what I ever felt like doing. So I just let it all go and became a quilter.

I still draw in my sketch books. But then these drawings just stay there awaiting my visits, or maybe get made up into quilts, which may or may not ever get made into finished works.

This is a tryout of the above sketch. I made it a long time ago and it is still in this pristine unfinished condition. I think it was the fabric choice that halted its finishing. I get it out and look at it every now and then and think "I should really do something with this idea..." and that's as far as it goes.

This is the other sketch on the same page. Perhaps I will launch a small works series and make these two dillies up into quilts for the Keiko and Friends: Art Quilt Show. YOU CAN ENTER TOO, SEE LINK.
I have a dental appointment to have my pearly whites polished so in lieu of posting my almost completely quilted piece from yesterday's studio skirmish, I will instead invite you to enjoy the following links:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1402029,00.html

http://www.52projects.com/ I like the idea of taking a picture of yourself at the beginning of the month, pasting it into a book (or a blog) and adding finished projects to the pages. I may do this in reverse. At the end of the month (starting with January 2005, since it is over) I will post myself and each finished work afterwards. That oughta soothe my conscience come this fall when I am never gonna be home...

And then mull over Gabrielle Swain's great blurb in her blog of yesterday:
There is a famous quote from Judy Chicago that I am going to bungle but it goes something like this: "Well, first, you make some stuff and then you have to find somewhere to store it and then you make some more stuff." Right on, Judy. Thanks for that quote Gabrielle.

4 comments:

  1. I really love your unfinished piece. DO finish it! Pleeeeeze???

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  2. Wow! The potential in the first sketch is very exciting...start it over the way you would approach it today...the Melody you are now.

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  3. Hi Melody,

    I love the cherries... my favourite fruit of all :-), they look so glossy in your painting.

    Your sketches are very interesting (in a good way), after my disaster with my 'illustrations' I've come away with a new appreciation of line drawings.

    Cheers
    Claire

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  4. Gorgeous, juset gorgeous! All of it! The paintings, the sketches, and the resulting quilts. The cherries are my favorite, though. I want to just reach out and grab one for a snack.

    Damn, woman. You're really good at art.

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Hello,
So nice of you to drop by. I love your comments, and if you would really like a reply, please email me at fibermania at g mail dot com