Productive Week & The Markings Series
Last week I finally reached (and exceeded) my goal of working in my studio 20 hours a week since the first time since my vacation in mid August. It felt great to finally get things going again.
I finished quilting a large red piece (Structures #57 - photo to come later - I still need to finish it off with a binding, sleeve and label), so my walls were bare having completed all the quilts I had on my design walls at the beginning of the summer.
So I basted 6 quilt tops I designed earlier - 3 Markings quilts and 3 Structures quilts. Two of them finally being some pieces I posted a while back.
Structures #54 ©2006 - top only - still to be quilted:
and Structures #52 ©2006 - top only - still to be quilted:
I hope to complete these 6 pieces by the end of October. That would bring me up to 54 pieces completed in the Structures series and 7 pieces completed in the Markings series.
But still 6 unfinished pieces in Structures and 7 in Markings and a handful of other quilts. So right now I’m still hovering at 20 pieces that have been designed and pieced but not yet quilted.
I wish I could say this means I am totally focusing on the quilting as that is rather a ridiculous number of pieces of unfinished work laying about. But I had an inspiration this weekend and I designed and pieced the 14th quilt top for the Markings series. I’m quite pleased with it and I think once I get a few more of these pieces finished I’ll post a few on my blog. I’m slowly starting to warm up to this new series.
After working on just Structures quilts for 5-6 years the new series has been hard to reconcile. Do I like it, do I not? Is it any good? What am I trying to say? Have I succeeded? Is there enough there to really do a large series?
I still don’t really have answers to some of these questions, which is why I still haven’t posted pictures. When I can answer the questions I’ll be ready to show the work.
Posted by Lisa in: Motivation
Omega said,
September 26, 2006 @ 12:25 am
I agree with you about having to know what I myself think of my work before I want others’ opinions. It is also interesting that artists / makers combine both the love of visualising and of making because most that I know run their designing of new work alongside their making of others in the pipeline - just as you do.
I very much like the colour and line combinations of the two pieces on this post. They really conjure up landscapes in the USA for me, particularly those I have travelled through in Arizona and Colorado. In Structures 54 I can just see the hazy light and the beauty of electicity or somesuch industrial lines crossing the country. Many people hate them, but in many circumstances I find such elements to be as beautiful as Christo works in the right surroundings. I look forward to seeing images of the new designs.
Ed Maskevich said,
September 26, 2006 @ 7:28 am
I have found that while working on a series I have to set it aside for awhile so that I can come back to it with a fresh eye and a clear mind. I have a series that I have been working on for 3 years and it most likely will continue for many more. You might say that it is open ended. For me it is hard to stay focused on one direction. I need to meander on other paths and then come back.
Deanna said,
September 26, 2006 @ 9:41 am
Thanks for your comment on my blog. I love your quilts! They’re absolutely gorgeous.
kelly rae said,
September 26, 2006 @ 3:14 pm
just found you. what a great blog you have. love your work. really, really great.
Lisa Call said,
September 26, 2006 @ 5:06 pm
Welcome Kelly Rae and Deanna. And thank you both.
Omega, so glad to have outside confirmation my reluctance to post my new series isn’t necessarily all that odd. I get questions asking me when I’ll show it and I’m just not ready yet. I will trust my inner voice and wait until it is right for me. And thank you for the comments on the work - I love hearing what others see in my work and it gives me ways of looking at it myself.
Ed - I stayed focused on that one series for many years - now that I am working on 2 I find both are benefitted by the switching back and forth. The rest and meandering are helpful.