New Year ~ Day #15

The creative process requires dedication, perseverance and 100% commitment.  We’ve got to create like it’s our last gig!  No excuses and no whining, just create.  The medium doesn’t matter, the process is the same for drawing, painting, quilting or writing.  The only way to communicate what’s inside of you is to be creative.  The desire to create is inside all of us.  The essential question of “What do you want to make today?” posed by Mako Fujimura is relevant by what’s happening in the news everyday.  Whether or not we consciously ask ourselves this question or just act it out in anger, we all create.  Our society is angry, resentful, insecure, jealous, mean-spirited, vengeful and cruel.  Once these emotions take up residence in your heart, they manifest themselves in your creative hands.  We can’t control what another human being creates but we can decide with purpose what we, as individuals, will create.  You can only change yourself, not another human being.

Whole Cloth Art Quilt In Progress

So, as I greet day 15 of this New Year, I want to create with purpose.  “What do I want to make today?”  Today, I’m making texture with peace and joy in my heart.  The first whole cloth art quilt for my “Indigo Blues” series is in progress.  But I need to add texture and after researching my available options, I’ve decided to incorporate machine and hand embroidery.  I used embroidery on the “Convergence” blanket shawl but now I plan to rev it up so that the lines are more fluid and read as “thread painting.”  To incorporate this is going to require that I stitch out all the available stitches on my machine and make me a “Stitch Book.”  There are NO shortcuts in art and design and the possibilities are endless!