Absmall Update - Pug Kokeshi

Okay, I have to type this really fast and there is no time to edit so bear with me:

Cut and pasted from the Etsy description:

"I am one surly pug with nothing to say to you.
I'm still trying to figure out what to say about this piece. But some sort of explanation would really defeat the purpose, wouldn't it? Not to mention it would probably only make the pug surlier.

Anyway, some details: This piece mixes lots of hand stitching with lots of machine stitching. And lots of loose dangly threads hanging everywhere. The letters are adhered with, of all things, puff paint. Remember puff paint? And those horrible sweatshirts your grandma made you with kittens plastered to them, ringed by puffy plastic? Yeah, that's the stuff.
Oh, and this pug kokeshi sports little bat wings, ripped from an old book.

It's made from cotton, leather, wool, vintage paper bat wings, buttons, felt, all sorts of threads, and LOVE. Okay, not love. More like crabbyness."

Now. The last fabric painting I posted on Etsy received abysmal views, sending me into a spiral of despair, defiance, blah blah blah blah. And yet, I continue to make these things, despite how they may be received. Or not received.

Olive has been going through a barnacle phase, meaning she is only happy-ish when she is clinging to a parent. (Usually me.) This makes working on anything very difficult. She has a particular hatred of me using the computer, so I have to type this REALLY fast while she is napping. Hey, did I mention how she is not so good at napping? And how I might get 45 minutes TOTAL, all day, if I am lucky? YEAH.

So, the work continues at a snail's pace, and I am really not comfortable with that. But I'm trying to be.

Hoping to post more soon.
Chicken pecks and pug licks to you!
Claire

New thing.

I just finished the most intricate, time consuming thing I've ever made. I feel a great sense of WHOOOOSH. I don't know how else to describe it. Anyway:


I've been working on this piece for a few months now. A little bit here, a little bit there. A little bit every day. I am SO relived that it is finally done. I have two other (non-Chickenpants) pieces in progress.

The thing is, I've been feeling really creatively stymied for a long time. I've been needing a new creative challenge. I've been feeling that proverbial pull towards the NEXT THING, whatever that may be. There have been fits. There have been starts. (And lots of stops.) And then I stumbled onto this fabric collage/painting thing idea. Holy cow, it's totally taken over my creative brain. I haven't been this excited about what I've been making since I first started working on the Chickenpants.

I don't even know what to call what I'm making. Fabric collages? Fabric paintings? Is this already a thing? I have been exercising a LOT of self control and deliberately NOT googling these terms. I'm sure there are already a lot of talented people doing this. I didn't want to be intimidated by what other, more established artists who know what the heck they're doing. Instead, I'm making myself breathe and figure this out on my own. It has been wonderful. (And I don't know how much longer I can go without googling fabric collage.)

I have too much to say about all this. Time to go process thoughts into something useful.