Finding Purpose

I've been thinking about the purpose behind both my business and personal goals ...

...trying to distill thoughts and feelings into just a few words.

What is it that I want for myself? What do I wish to give to YOU?

My answer is simply this:

Find Joy

Be Inspired

Create Beauty

I've revamped my Artists Statement to better reflect these ideas.

In a world where too often, the images we feed ourselves are full of violence and fear, my goal as an artist is to create beauty, to uplift, and to remind us of the strength we all possess.  In a many layered process I gather intriguing materials both old and new. I marvel as plain cloth absorbs dye and changes appearance. I cut, piece and stitch, print, paint and embellish. Slowly order emerges from disarray, beauty from chaos.

The tactile nature of cloth, its texture, richness and malleability are what have drawn me to this medium. Fabric has a history almost as old as humankind; we cover ourselves in cloth every morning and wrap ourselves with it at night. Quilts hold a particular fascination for me. During a time when creative women were not allowed to be artists, they were able to stitch together beautiful works of art imbedded in objects of utility. My quilts are freed from utility and allowed full freedom of expression as fine art.

Thanks to Alyson Stanfield's book, I'd Rather Be In The Studio, this was easier than it might have been. She has a great list of questions to ask yourself.

She's coming to Durham on May 20th and 21st for a fantastic No-Excuses Art Marketing workshop. It's part of the Professional Art Quilter's Alliance - South spring conference but is open to the public. I'd love to see you there! You can look here for the workshop description and to sign up.

http://www.artbizcoach.com/durham/index.html

Have you thought about the reasons you do what you do?

What are your gifts? Why do you create? What is your purpose?

If you have any thoughts or critiques on my statement I'd truly appreciate hearing those as well.

For Your Inspiration - Playing With My Food

Every once in a while I'll be working on dinner and something will strike me, capture my attention. There is such beauty in the mundane world. Color, line, form. If you are looking, seeing, you will find it. This day it was a head of red cabbage.

It's often interesting how the photographs only vaguely capture what my imagination is seeing as I snap the shot. A little fiddling with a digital editing program often can bring the visual images closer to my inner reality.

Who knows what will happen with these images. Ideas float and flow as I imagine how they might be translated into some larger work of art. Perhaps for now this is enough; to simply gather and to play.

If there is a lesson here it is that there is beauty everywhere. Stop. Play. Feed and nourish your creativity. If you want a really great recipe for red cabbage here you go:

5 cups sliced Red Cabbage
1/2 cup dried Cranberries
1/3 cup Rice Vinegar
1/3 cup Sugar
2 tablespoon White Wine Vinegar
2 teaspoons Olive Oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 1/4 cups sliced Green Apples
1/4 cup chopped toasted Pecans
Combine cabbage and cranberries. Whisk together vinegars, oil, sugar, salt and pepper. Toss with cabbage, cover and chill for 2 hours. Add apples and pecans and serve. I found a wonderful pecan, cranberry, rosemary package at Trader Joe's and it was divine in this slaw.