In Contemplation

You can't believe it, I bet.  After all that silence, two posts in less than a week.  But I did something today and I think it was helpful.

I thought about the art quilts I've made, and which among them were the ones I considered my best work.  I identified three pieces that I think are my best work so far.  Then I sat down and in my trusty Creativity notebook (we will have to do posts on our respective books, yes?) went through for each one and listed what I liked about it, what features it has that I feel great about, how it made me feel when I was working on it, how the process felt, etc.

Not surprisingly, most of the elements were the SAME THINGS in all three, although the pieces are not all the same technique or style.

And you know how we were talking about the list of 7 characteristics we wanted our work to have?    Identifying what I liked in previous work was a good way to help sort out with a bit more clarity those characteristics.

By the way, I remembered where I'd read about that list idea.  It was in a book about Vermont printmaker Sabra Field.  (I realized I remembered it differently -- she used characteristics, not words, and there were more than seven.)   Here is her list in case you are interested:

Large scale
Simple
Serene
Austere
Deep color
High contrast
Spacial penetration
Surface pattern
Metaphorical
Evocative