Personal Symbols WIP

But I’ve been quietly stitching here in the studio. It’s always a good way for me to contemplate other things while I keep my creativity going. It’s been a very good thing for me this past week. It’s not done yet. I need to add more beads, but I needed to take a break from it.

I have a busy week planned. I spent a good part of today running errands. Tomorrow I have several appointments and then Dave is playing poker with friends, so it will be a nice quiet evening here at Casa Saperstein. Then on Wednesday, I’m speaking about the Baha at the Fountain Hills Hearing Loss Association (HLA). I hope to get some time in for drawing in-between appointments. It’s been a while since I’ve spent time alone with my sketchbook, but that’s OK, too! I’m hopeful that Thursday and Friday will be quieter and that I can focus on art for the majority of both days. Next week is my treatment (already!), so I think that some art time prior to that is just what I need!

L’Shana Tova to all my friends who celebrate Jewish New Year.

Desert Sunset Landscape Quilt: Completed?

Yesterday, while I watched MSNBC and listened to the 9/11 memorials, I needed some sort of creative distraction to balance out some of the horrors that were being relived on my television. I didn’t want to hide from it, I just wanted to be present, but not without a way to work through it. I’m not sure that makes sense to everyone, but for me, my art has always been a sort of therapy – a way to work through tough things – and on a day as filled with emotion as 9/11, I felt a need to keep my hands moving on something beautiful.

I am also still recovering from my treatment, so I needed something that was grounding for that. Enter hand sewing my landscape quilt and then adding embroidery. Yesterday, after I’d embellished with all the embroidery I felt the quilt could handle, I knew it needed something else. So, I raided my supply of beads and I added them between yesterday and today, finishing up this morning. (Click on the image for a larger view, where you can sort-of see the beading.) I’m happy with it, but I’m going to let it sit on my design board for a day or so until I can be sure it’s done. At that point, I’ll consider adding a border and then adding the backing.

In the meantime, I’m going to relax and get through the continued fatigue and nausea from the treatment. I am really ready for it to go away now…