The Lull

The week between Christmas and New Year's has always been a time to relax. If it hasn't been done for Christmas, it's too late now. We can just kick back, sit in front of the fire and work crossword puzzles. Of course, now it's time to get back into the art mode, and it's not easy. I just finished a piece and was not very happy with it. Took it to one of my groups, and they were quite underwhelmed by it also (although it was expressed much more nicely than that.) So the question is, what to do with it? I might try adding some paint to lighten it up. Or maybe cut it into pieces and have a bunch of small works. In any case, I've put it aside and started on something else.

Yesterday was the first day of the Studio Sale on The Artful Home. Somebody was shopping early because I've already sold a piece.



This is titled 'Ode to a Stove' and is one of my favorites, even though it's sort of old. I made it in honor of my old Jenn-Aire stove that worked for 15 years before it gave up. I stood on the counter top with a camera and aimed it straight down at the stove to take a picture that I could use as a template. I used the curved seam technique I learned in a Nancy Crow class and abstracted the stove image. I entered it into the Quilter's Heritage Celebration show one year in the Pictorial Category (even though it was a real stretch to classify it as pictorial, at least by that show's standards.) Not only did it not win anything, but I received several scathing remarks from the judges: "Not pictorial enough for category" and "wavy edges." The wavy edges comment really made me laugh because the edges are supposed to be wavy. She is a very traditional judge and obviously didn't get it.

So that makes a nice start to the new year. And let's hope for more sales!