Project Leviathan

“If we want to create art, we have to stitch together the inner world and the outer world.” ~RobertBly

With all of the usual autumnal preparations in full swing, combined with fundraising and setting things in order for my residency, I haven’t had as much time to sit down and make art as I might like to.  There are paintings I’ve been meaning to make for an upcoming group show at the Kennedy Heights Art Center but I may not get to them in time.  Instead I managed to put the finishing stitches on the Leviathan project I have had going for some time now.  She turned out beautifully, as an embroidery project at least.  I am not quite sure where her future lies.  Will she eventually find her way onto a more finished quilt like my wolf did a few years back?  Or is she merely enough as she is in her moody blue  drapy-ness.  I do not know.  I suppose she will at least find her way into a proper display set up for the Kennedy show, and possibly for an online show as well, should they invite her…..

I love the art of embroidering.  It is much like painting and drawing, stitch by stitch by stitch, and in that way is meditative and lovely as an activity.  Yet it can also be a painstaking and excruciatingly slow process with which to make art.  That said, almost the minute I complete one embroidery project, I am instantly considering and conjuring the next.  And so eventually, I begin again.  With an idea of an image I may want to spend years with.I don’t know how the finished project will look when I begin.  I never do.  This is the same with paintings as well.  I just consider my materials…..and stitch……This project was rather large in scope, the finished whale being about 4′ x 2′ in size.  Perhaps my next project will be a bit smaller…..

It is so nice to discover the landscape of a creature with my stitches.  And every session of stitching brings with it my own moods and feelings to it, and so there are a variety of marks made over time.While I am prepared to focus on my illustration work this winter to get my book ideas ready for the world, I will likely still spend my evenings under a lamp with some new shades of thread from the craft store, a few rightly sized needles and a nice piece of fabric.  These projects calm my spirit which often runs rampant, hither, thither and yon like a squirrel.  I am thankful for this calm work which sits with me over time.  We shall see which creature decides to come nestle into my embroidery basket in the coming months.  Hawks and Foxes have been loitering around… perhaps I can tame one of them to sit with me for spell…..