making marks

making marks, © Paula Kovarik, 2012

I spend a lot of hours at the machine these days. It is not a healthy sport. My shoulders and hands are weary at the end of several hours. I have come to set alarms so that I look up. On bad days I forget lunch.

So when I looked at this piece in the shadows I was taken by the texture that hand stitching creates. The stitches are not even. They dip and ding the fabric leaving a hill or valley or a crease. For some reason I can work hand stitch happily without tearing anything out. But when I work by machine I focus (too hard) on stitch length and tension. I think after I finish the large piece I am working on I will concentrate more on hand work and play wih the light and darkness created with fingers instead of machine.

 

morning light

©2013, Paula Kovarik

I love how the morning light in my studio skids across my work table. It gives me a way to see where the bumps are working and where they might be a bit too much. Continuing this challenge of a higher loft with the wool batting I am using, I am starting to feel more comfortable with the 3D-ness of it.

shadow and light

©2013, Paula Kovarik

The photo on the left of this image is a detail shot of a quilt I am working on. On the right I turned it 360 degrees. Isn't it interesting how the shadows on the left make the piece look concave but the same pic turned upside down looks convex? Since I was turning the image to see if the curves were balanced (an old trick for judging layout) I was confounded on how different they looked. I had to shoot the piece again by turning it upside down to be able to have a fairer comparison.

progress

©2013, Paula Kovarik

Working on a piece for the Earth Stories exhibition sponsored by SAQA. This is a large piece that has stumped me several times. I was 3/4 done with it back in February when I realized that I had ruined it. That piece is still residing under my work table in a tumble of frustration. I guess it proves to me that I can not do too many things at once...ending my business...taking care of my ailing mother...reinventing myself in the transition of ending my business and starting to work full time in the studio. It was all too much. Then, mom got worse. So plans went on hold.

For now, I am making progress. Slow, step-by-step progress. I still tear out 10 stitches for every 50 I put down but I am finally seeing results. And that is a blessing.

I can't really post whole shots of the piece due to honoring my committment to the show organizers (who want the opportunity to unveil it in its entirety at the opening along with the other pieces). So here is a detail. This little section is in the rural area of the quilt. There are rural and metropolitan areas depicted. I am using a wool batting that is fluffier than my normal bamboo choice, so it is significantly more dimensional. It is the story of a river running through it.