How We Roll

Why that phrase is on my sketch, I know not.  It had something to do with making a joke to my son during the children's sermon and something about Jesus and how He rolls.  That's all I got.

So, today's journey is a series of sketches from end of April.    Walk with me....

All previous sketches have begun to feel ordinary, boring almost.  Above is an attempt to shake it up a bit.  And yet....it still feels static.  Also, it looks like a crustacean trolling the sea bottom.

On to #2:

le sigh   This is worse.  If these two drawings were projected into fiber, they'd feel like a sucky version of Susan Carlson's fish quilts.  I luv Susan Carlson.  Her work is magnificent.  I use a version of her techniques and her first book inspired me on a crazy level.  But if I get a whiff of 'derivative' off of anything I do, it's over.

#3:

This is more like it.  I had to shake off the urge to control the line.  And dots feel more natural to me than cross hatching.  This feels like the zygote of a very large piece, probably a series.

Let's look at it sideways, shall we?

Yes.  There is something here.  Something calling to me.  But what is more prominent?  The white area or the dotted areas?  It feels topographic and I'm not sure the emphasis should be on the 'land'.  A second sketch is in order:

Also intriguing.  I think smaller studies are in order.  Is this collage?  Whole cloth?  French knots?  Free-Motion?  I don't know yet.  I'm not sure it should even be fiber.  It might need to be paint.  Or a combination of the two.

I do know this:  I work painfully slow.  Something has to grip my imagination before I can bare to bring it to life.  I must feel compelled to recreate the image, the line.  For all these months of sketching, I finally feel like an idea has been achieved.  My next post will likely dive into studies in fiber.  It is thrilling.  And terrifying.  It is what is meant by 'needing to create'.  It is how I roll.