Detail showing hand stitching
This photo shows the detail of the hand stitching I have been doing on the barnacle/urchin piece. It is looking distinctly more urchin like and the stitching is taking forever- serves me right for taking up hand stitching after years of only doing machine stitching.
It has been one of those blegh weeks and then a commission I was hoping to do over the next two months fell through- bye bye income, and I have not really got anything else planned to replace what I would have earnt. That is the problem with working freelance, when things fall through it can have a major impact on your practice because you have allocated time for the project , but if for some reason the project falls through you are stuck. The joys of being self employed. I guess i will have to do the summer markets again and hope for good weather on Saturdays. And unfortunately my studio is not finished so i can't teach in there yet either. The one upbeat thing is that I finally managed to get going on my nanowrimo novel and am now at the 12000 word mark. I just started writing, not too much planning and I am intrigued how the characters seem to take you to the next stage and how some of them dominate others despite you're best intentions. It is actually a strange process for when you write for a project oriented book everything needs to be defined and contained within parameters- but a novel is so open-ended. I am sure it is why Luigi Pirandello wrote Six Characters in Search of an Author- well i think they found me all of eighty or so years later....
Oh and btw- all of my work is for sale in case anyone is interested- and I am prepared to bargain if necessary (ggg). I also do commission work. I shall put pictures of new work on my picturetrail site tomorrow and I intend to do some dyeing next week when the fabric I have ordered arrives next week ( early I hope)- so I will put some more of the interesting dyed pieces on the site as well.
Someone asked about my book- I do have some for sale but if you are in America there are a couple of craft book places that have it for sale and it would be cheaper for you to order the book from them.
I am also planning my next trip to Europe next year for May- June 2006. If anyone out there is interested in having me come and teach please contact me and I can send you more details and workshop lists.
Hi Dijannne, what a bummer about the commission. I envy the fact that you are able to really devote yourself to your work, but relying on the fickle buyer to put food on the table must really suck.
ReplyDeleteI was going to email you to ask whether you accept layby because I'd like to buy one of your pieces:-) but I couldn't find a way to contact you other than the comments here. I'm just about to put in a big paper order so my budget is going to take a big hit this month. But if I could layby and pay off over a period of time then I could manage it!
Anyway, I think my you'll be able to contact me through my blogger profile if you are interested.
Cheers
Claire
I admire beautiful machine work, especially done by those who are really proficient at it like yourself and Jenny O'Dempsey, (http://jensfootsteps.blogspot.com/), but there is something extra special about hand stitching. It adds a textural dimension that machine work can't capture in quite the same way. I really like the look you're achieving with your hand work in this piece Dijanne. :o)
ReplyDeleteI guess we all bave yucky times when things don't quite go to plan, but I'm sure it won't last long! Your work is truly beautiful. I love the colours and shapes in your quilts and find them so inspiring. I'd love to buy fabric and maybe even a quilt but couldn't find prices etc. Do you have a specific website for this? ( I bought some fabric from you when you were in Wheedon,England in March and the resulting quilt sent me in a completely new direction.)
ReplyDelete