I was working on CADs on the computer all day. I grew weary and had to stop. Friday afternoon, hot and tired. I decided to take a break and paint. First I painted a little narrow watercolor based on a photo I took at the Denver Botanic Gardens of a turquoise/patina ceramic column with purple clematis winding up and around it. I finished and looked at the drawing and wasn’t pleased with it. It looked fussy and the shapes didn’t work. It was not “singing.” So I put it away and started another painting. A glorious, messy, overdone bouquet of flowers. This one made me happy. Loose and intense in color and relaxed. I took the dog out for a walk and had this epiphany: why not cut up that earlier painting with scissors and glue it back together? Why not use it as an element for a collage? What did I have to lose?
I returned to my studio and tackled the clematis painting with scissors and glue. But then I decided to stitch with my sewing machine to create a texture and pattern on an inky black background. As I waited for the India ink to dry, I pulled out my sewing machine, threaded it up and sat down to sew. It was like a force field of electric energy pushing me. I had to see if it would work. I barely took a breath. I loved stitching on the paper- on black with white thread.
Above is the painting with stitching.
Here is the crazy blooming bouquet, which freed me up to think of something new…
