Releasing Control
For the last few weeks (in between doing Symposium stuff) I’ve been working on this one quilt that came to me as I was reading an article somewhere. I read so much in quilt magazines, blogs and online that I can’t remember where I read it but the words resonated with me and Lightness of Being was born…in my mind at least.
Most of the time I work intuitively…..my abstract pieces are usually born through feeling and touch and intuition, picking up and auditioning fabrics and finding those that fit the piece.
Recently though, especially since the Orchid Show pieces (below), I been feeling the need to work in a representational manner. One of the tools I use to gather information and to have a starting off point for these pieces is to mind map words.
Part of the Orchids: Sensuality Stitched Show
I am not very good at drawing…..this is not a whine nor a complaint but a fact…..so instead of getting frustrated at not being able to draw images that I see in my minds eye, I mind map those images with words instead. These words turn into ideas for surface designs or stitching or the images themselves.
It still fascinates me what happens when you release control and just start writing without checking for content, grammatical errors, words that don’t fit or giving in to distracting thoughts. The flow, if allowed to continue, is almost cathartic. Images into words tumble out (most of the time that is).
Sometimes one of these words pops out at me and I take that one and run with it. Soon the page is filled with “images”. From this cacophony of words I pick out ones that resonate and start the quilt.
I haven’t finished this one I’m working on, still needs to be quilted, but I like where it’s going. Here’s a sneak peak.
What do you do to release control and let your work flow through you?
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