Saturday, March 16, 2024

In touch


A post about the cloth I've been working on these past two weeks.     
 

I'm adding complete skeins of cotton floss in horizontal rows to a wool patchwork, couching the thick threads firmly through several layers with red sewing thread.  I want to make a texture that you will yearn to touch.


I took it with me to stitch while Ned drove us to visit family in Eastern Ontario and Quebec.  We took the rural roads whenever possible, and there was no snow.


Look.  This happens so often and is not planned.  Suddenly I notice the similarity in what my eyes see and the marks my hands make.   


We visited our twin grand daughters.

They've started to walk!  They eat solid foods with gusto!  They play together.  They love music.
We had a wonderful time with them.  


I want to get in touch with something more mindless, more intuitive.  I'm not clear about the meaning.  Maybe its the spectator who puts the meaning in.  

I don't work from experiences that are fresh.  I tend to repeat things.  I've carried thoughts around in my head for months.  I have a feeling about a form that I want and I want the feeling to develop as far as it can go, and I want my work to be able to stand a lot of inspection.  Vija Celmins


I'm back at home now and continue with this mindless stitching.   I read an old Border Crossings magazine the other day and Vija Celmins was interviewed in it by Robert Enright.  What she said resonated with me so much I had to note her responses into my journal.  In fact, her words inspired me to make this post.  

See Vija Celmins’ art work in the most recent Modernist Aesthetic post.  Click  here.  

My feeling is that when you are not using your brain, you are not necessarily being stupid.  It's just that you're in touch with some other things in yourself.  Then they become brainy. . Because look how we talk about the art afterwards.  We can talk about these pieces in an intelligent way even though the work itself is ..... what is the work like?  I don't know..  I don't know what the work is like.   Vija Celmins

4 comments:

Julierose said...

Awww , your granddaughters are just so adorable;)))Grandchildren are definitely a gift to be cherished...
I like how your stitches do mimic the landscape out your window as you travel...colors and all...

Meanwhile, I have come to the time in my life when I can no longer handle large projects--and I am struggling to "change" and "let it go""...

So, I am cleaning and re-doing my craft space which relieves my feeling of loss and tires me out also...
hugs, Julierose

Stephanie said...

The twins are darling. Their smiles are captivating and such bright, intelligent eyes! The winter fields mirrored in your quilt also fascinate me.

Mystic Quilter said...

Two little treasures to visit! I'm admiring your quilt greatly, as always your stitching is amazing. Thank you for sharing the words from Vija Celmins - an unknown name to me but I shall search.

Nancy said...

The way that first landscape shot (w/ the tree) truly IS your quilt - or is it the other way around?!
And those faces! Oh my goodness joy X 2 🙂