Monday 3 January 2011

Honesty - one stitch at a time

Firstly I would like to say a very heart felt 'Thank You' for all your kind support in my previous post. I do feel much better and reassured that we have made the right decision concerning our cat, Marvin's care. But life goes on.

"Inspiration is for amateurs, I just get to work"  Chuck Close

"...and I slowly build these paintings, construct them, in the way someone might crochet or knit.
If you believe in the process and you knit one, purl two long enough, eventually you get a sweater."


I found the above quotation from Chuck Close very empowering as I am one who used to think that to be an 'artist' one had to sit around and wait for inspiration to hit like a bolt of lightning. Whereas I have learned that it is only by 'doing' that inspiration comes. Sometimes just through playing around and experimenting without  thought to outcome, sometimes by looking at others' work.  I also liked the idea that his work is incremental and if he sticks to his process he will end up with his painting.
I have, at last, finished my book based on an Honesty Seed Head - one stitch at a time, one process at a time.







Click on any of the pictures for close-up details

Now I intend to fill the book, one page at a time. I have been collecting information about the Honesty plant and quotations involving the word honesty, so this time I think I will fill the book before offering it for sale,  that way the whole thing is a piece of my art work. 
 I did sell my Leaf book with blank pages for someone else to fill - what do you think?

Here is a brief intro into Chuck Close


Have a good week - and never give up!