New work and establishing a new routine!

 

(Above:  First Communion.  Click on any image to enlarge ... some more than others! LOL!)

I purchased this special, hand-tinted, anonymous photo weeks ago at the Pickens County flea market.  It was fused to fabric and hand-stitched embellishments were applied for several evenings.  I posted it on Facebook and Instagram (April 23rd) with this caption: Just finished! This is "First Communion", vintage hand-colored photograph with embroidery. Framed: 18 3/4" x 16 3/4". Available for $275 plus sales tax and shipping. She's definitely ONE OF A KIND! 

 

(Above:  The Newly Weds. Anonymous, vintage photo with hand-stitched embellishments in an antique walnut frame with outer dimensions 13" x 11".)

Two days ago, I posted The Newly Weds to social media.  That's when I started to realize that my creative routine needed to be realigned.  Back in Columbia, I was in the habit of posting first to this blog.  Why?  Well, this is where my heart and mind really are.  This is where I prefer to share my work.  This is where I can later find images, information and back stories/statements that include inspiration and other details that might later escape my memory.  My blog has always served me well.  Countless times, I've linked a post when writing to a curator, an interested client, or just someone posing a question that requires a lengthy explanation (which is covered in the blog post.)  I love this blog.  Yet, posting to social media on my iPhone is easier and the routine that was once "habit" got lost during the move to Cateechee.  

 

(Above: Patchwork #124. Framed: 60 1/2" x 20 1/2".  Scraps of vintage and antique quilts, crocheted elements, fabric yoyos, appliqued butterflies, Battenburg lace, and assorted buttons hand-stitched together and then tacked to a black frame.)

 

There are sensible reasons for this disruption.  My desktop computer is now on the second floor of our new place.  My laptop is on the first floor.  (The opposite was true in Columbia, but in both places, my studio is on the lower level).  The desktop is not updated to Windows 10 or above.  Why?  Well, the desktop has Photoshop and the old version of QuickBooks.  To update means these programs don't work.  We'd have to subscribe to Photoshop instead of being able to use the program we have owned since before this blog started in 2006.  The same with QuickBooks.  (The laptop has the new PhotoElements.)  My iPhone, however, is not compatible with this old system. Plus, we are now living in an area that might never get high speed connections.  We are on a rather slow satellite service but using our iPhone's unlimited data hotspots. Basically, there's plenty of technical obstacles to overcome and a need to consciously map out a plan that gets me posting on my blog before social media.  Why?  Because I WANT THIS BLOG to maintain the continuity it has always enjoyed.  If I accidentally forget to post something to social media ... well ... it is forgotten within a day or two and doesn't matter.  To me, the blog matters!  So ... here's to my attempt to start blogging first!

(Above:  Detail of Patchwork 124.)

Today I finished mounting and photographing the piece started during Artista Vista 2024.  It began as a community crazy quilt public art project.  I blogged about it HERE.  Over a decade ago, I did a couple of public stitch events that just didn't satisfy me.  Sure, the public got the experience of stitching.  Sure, people enjoyed it.  Laughter and shared stories filled the few hours but later ... nothing happened.  The work never materialized into "anything".  So ... now I put together pieces that I know I will finish!  With intention, the project is laid out to become part of an installation.  This piece is part of my ongoing Patchwork Installation.  It is the same size at the earlier community crazy quilt public art event that was done at Bethany Arts Community while I was an artist-in-residence there last October.  (Click HERE for another blog post!)

(Above:  Selfie at the 20th annual Reedy River Duck Derby in downtown Greenville.)

Being able to link earlier blog posts is important to me.  Most art residency programs want some sort of community engagement.  Being able to document successful events with just a few fingertip clicks makes it obvious that the project is viable and that any new one will be equally shared!  Now ... I am determined to stick to my new routine ... going upstairs to download images from my phone, crop and color correct them on Photoshop, label them properly and create searchable folders, and BLOG.  Downstairs, the laptop will remain important for the reason I bought it.  It is there that I write my daily Morning Pages, a habit started in 2007 after my second experience going through Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way.  Yes!  I write at least five times each and every week.  I know what I was doing, thinking, and planning at any given time for more than that last fifteen years!

(Above and below:  Photos from the 20th Annual Reedy River Duck Derby.)

I am aware that much of this blog post must give the impression that I'm some sort of frustrated historian.  I am! LOL!  Yet, I like to have fun too!  Yesterday, Steve and I went to the rotary fundraiser known as the 20th Annual Reedy River Duck Derby in downtown Greenville.  The waterfall is one listed on my Upstate waterfall guide but there really wasn't a hike involved. 

We watched the ducks leave their upstream enclosure ...

... and then walked to the area where they were being scooped up by plastic crates and dumped into trash cans ... until next year.  We assume that the small tube projecting from the mass of ducks (photo above) are the winning ducks.  Every duck was "adopted" and numbered.  It was $10 per duck but there were discounts for multiple duck adoptions.  The top prize was "groceries for a year" donated by Publix grocery store.  Second was $2500.  There were plenty of lower level prizes too.  We did not win but had an absolutely marvelous time!