another perspective

I ruined two rotary blades yesterday in the frenzy to cut and manipulate fabric. It started as an exercise in composition. What if I tilted this piece and reassembled it with an underlying grid? What happens when I requilt an already quilted surface? What if the fabric joinery is hidden behind ragged edges...sort of like my mood? Does the assemblage of parts becomes more than the original whole?

Sometimes you have to look at things sideways and forget the main road. Casualties happen. Blades can be sharpened.

compulsion

Kindergarten - detail, Paula Kovarik, 2014

One aspect of this art form that reveals my inner self. Compulsion. An outlet for repetitive thinking.... Working on the background stitching of my kindergarten quilt has taught me a lesson in persistance. Each stitch about a quarter inch long. The piece measures about 3 x 3 foot. I am adding approximately 40 - 50 stitches per 2 inch square by hand.

It seemed like a good idea at the beginning.

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.

hand work

Vine napkin, ©2013, Paula KovarikHere's a piece that I have been working on while relaxing at the end of the day. It is stitched onto a linen napkin that my friend Leigh Ann gave me. I love these scalloped napkins as practice sheets. Since I haven't had much time in the studio to work on my machine these hand work pieces give me a sense of accomplishment without risk. No big committment, intimate and easy to finish.