Sunday, January 24, 2016

Love and Art part 1

It started with a love letter. 


Love letter : written on ink spattered paper, cut into strips.  I sketched a red pastel heart on the paper before cutting.




When I think about showing how much something means to me, I think of making art.  I have been weaving on a loom lately so naturally when Valentine's Day approached I was thinking: woven valentine!  Perfect.

Yarn, paper, food?  I could weave a pie lattice... I once wove strips of seaweed on a beach so I'm pretty sure no specialized materials will be needed!  I made a color and technique study of watercolor paints and kept the pages to cut up as components later.  Now is just the time to get out a few of those!

the color palette: red, purple, white
The experience of creating a piece of art is slow, perfect in this case because I spend most of the time while creating dwelling on the meaning of the piece, the circumstances that led me to be interested enough in these thoughts to be able to focus for this long on them.

In this way, the art becomes an expression of the care I take as I examine the feelings I have.  Although I sometimes make large pieces mostly I keep things small and detailed.

I removed a few of the strips of inked paper and replaced them with strips cut from a paper bag from
 the Metropolitan Museum of Art. in NYC.  Watercolor study in red at the top.


I wrote "I love you" over and over in a heart shape on the red water color paper before I cut it into the cross strips.
This word-heart is the same size as the pastel heart on the lengthwise strips.
I love layers of information and repetition of elements in design.  There are words of love on every layer of the materials to be woven.  Some will intersect, some will be stand alone elements but all of them say the same thing: I love you and cherish you.
papers to draw from and cut










(Some glitch in my system or Blogger's won't allow me to upload any more photos, so I'll start a new entry and see if that solves the problem. See you in part 2  This post is part of the Link Party Palooza! 






If you sew on paper:

You need to keep track of those needles. Machine needles are sharp and paper has grit in it- enough to dull your needle (and enough to scratch your glasses if you use a Kleenex to wipe them). 
My solution is to write on one of my pin cushions to indicate where I am keeping each used needle. I added a section for "paper needles" today. This way, I can save the dull needles for that task.