Renewed Sense of Direction

I've spent the last two days in the studio doing a lot on the computer.  I've sorted photos, cleaned off the full camera memory chip (only after a panicky double back-up on CD of ever photo on it, just in case) and watched a zillion videos by Teesha Moore while I worked and my feet turned blue from lack of movement.

I think one of the big reasons for my getting so little art done is that I flounder about exactly what to do.  As I've fussed over and over about, there are so many areas in which I wish I were skilled, but I always let those too-many ideas block me from making progress.  As my good friend has advised, narrow it down!  I love working with fabric and paint.  That's probably what I enjoy most about my figurative work/art dolls so much.  They give me the opportunity to make a single piece that incorporates painting and sewing, with a little bit of playing with clay.  But sometimes the stress of the sculpting part takes the fun out of it (I know, I induce the stress myself which is totally dumb and a waste of time), but I've been looking at book after book about projects that include both the fabric and paint and just hadn't found anything that excited me.

Yesterday I was looking at an old copy of Artful Blogging and a very colourful spread caught my eye.  I went to the artist's blog and looked around until I hit the jackpot.  It wasn't until I saw Teesha Moore's videos on art journals that I got really, really excited about a new project.  The journals include everything I love doing, from using the bright fabrics and hand quilting bits to make journal covers, to the collage techniques in the individual pages.  I thought of other things I'd add, including personal images on fabric and interesting embellishments, and am so eager to start.  I have journaled since I was 12 and this is a great time to incorporate the journaling with art.  I really can't wait!  I can try the sketching ideas that my friend Debbie has helped with, and talk with my sister about ideas for painting cloth...the ideas are swimming in my head in a GOOD way for a change!  How fun to dip into the stash for something new and different.

Today is an especially good day.