Category: Uncategorized

I am still spending lots of time in front of the computer. I’m so close to finishing my newest online class. (I know I seem to say this every week.) I’m still running into glitchy things, especially working with a new computer and trying to set things up to work familiar to the old computer. I have had to add new software because so much needed to be updated and now I find myself re-learning things that I use to know so well with the old computer. Believe me (envision eye roll), I know it isn’t very exciting.

Someone recently mentioned to me that life has it seasons. I guess I am in one of these seasons now. I don’t want to stay here, but I have to attend to what’s in front of me at the moment. The only other solution I have is to give up…and I refuse to do that. Things will get finished and it will be worth it. I will be on the other side soon with an entire brain-load of new skills.

And, “yay” for me it hasn’t been all work. I can report that I did something creative this week. I made a little fabric postcard and then played with its image using my phone. Jeez, sometimes I’m amazed at what a computer can do, especially the one’s that fit in the palm of your hand.

Just prior to writing this, I thought I had another week before the Christmas holiday! But, holy moly, its less than a week away!

Oh let’s not overlook, that every program needs to be updated (e.g., re-purchased) to accommodate the updated operating system. By the end of the day my brain is frazzled, but I’m slowly seeing progress and finding comfort in the new working environment.

With that said, there’s not much creating going on. But I am thinking about how much I loved doing a 100 day stitch challenge earlier this year. I’m wondering if you would be interested in joining me in a challenge like this? Could you commit to spending 15 minutes each day, for a set number of days to work on a project of your choosing? It could be hand stitching, knitting, drawing, painting, sewing or whatever your desire. The only thing it needs to be is something creative that provides you comfort when you do it. If you’re a creative, then I bet you can think of a 100 ideas that would work.

If you’re subscribed and receiving my blog posts via email, just hit reply and let me know if you’d like to join me. If you’re reading this on my website, use the contact form available at the top of the page.

I would love it if you could join me…

~Nanette

When meeting new people, I am always curious when someone tells me they are not creative. If you’ve followed me awhile, you know I think everyone is creative. We’re born with it, but somewhere along our journey the creativity shifts. Most little children love to color/scribble on things. So where does it all go with those proclaiming “I don’t have a single creative bone in their body.”

I think it goes to other things. I am a left brain/right brain kind of person. I majored in environmental biology and wildlife science in college. And, in past careers, I worked as a field biologist, web developer and technical editor.

All of these interests remain part of who I am, but I can see in each how my creative thinking assisted me. I’m a visual learner. When I work on technical tasks, I look for visual and rhythmic (e.g., repeating) patterns. Its a very creative way to get things accomplished.

When I have down time, I like to work on projects that are mindless…but have a rhythm to them. Knitting is a good example of my “to go” projects. There’s a rhythmic beat to knitting (e.g, “knit one, purl two, repeat”). When I take me scribble sampler with me, I’ve noticed that I look for patterns in the stitches and how I place colors or objects. I start kind of random, but as the project advances I’m thinking balance. “Do I have too much pink on one side or the other?” “Should there be more or less open space exposing the background fabric.” It is analytical thinking because I’m looking for patterns.

This all came to me this week while I sat at the dealer waiting for my car to get serviced. I like to bring something to occupy my time while I’m waiting. This time I brought my scribble sampler and it had me thinking. I wonder, do you bring a project with you to work on while you’re waiting?

~ Nanette

I’m posting this Thanksgiving Eve and I bet you are busy. I will keep it short and just say THANK YOU! for following along in my journey. It makes my heart swell with love and appreciation knowing that you are here right now reading what I wrote.

Stay well and have a fabulous holiday season!!
Most sincerely… ~Nanette

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I’m sitting here this morning thinking about what to write. It occurs to me that lately I haven’t been doing much “art-ing.” I’ve been busy with other things. I’m wondering if I should be worried that I’m not producing new art quilts.

As I sit here pondering and typing, I’m remembering the seasonality that sometimes occurs with me. Sometimes I have very productive periods other times there’s a lull. I remember that these less productive periods are usually valuable.

As I mentioned in last week’s post, I’m cleaning, purging and reorganizing my work space. That’s not “art-ing,” but wow! When I walk in that room, I feel a lightness and sense of inspiration. I’m not dreading going into that room anymore.

In that guest bedroom is where I do my zoom calls and recording for my online-classes. I’m currently excited about going in there to finish my next online class on how to frame small art quilts. I’ve been working on this for awhile and I’m motivated to wrap it up. Sooo, soo close!!

On other days I’m processing my thoughts. What’s next? So many ideas! I need to focus down on them…but not until the framing class is finished. So there are thoughts swirling, ideas building, and projects waiting. I’m taking opportunities to be present for inspiration, like when I was able to meet this juvenile red-tailed hawk last weekend (see photo). What a lucky day to be so close to such greatness.

I think sometimes ideas need to ferment before they’re ready to be pursued. I keep going back to the phrase “holding space” which means being present and available without judgement. And, that’s exactly what I believe I’m doing right now … holding space.

~Nanette

As I mentioned last week, I decided purging was the answer. It gave me a healthy amount of work where hopefully I would see progress without too much effort.

I emptied 2 bookshelves so I could move them across the room to a new location. Instead of putting everything back on the shelves, I decided that I needed to go through every item to decide whether to keep it, trash it or donate to a charity-based resale shop.

This was hard…not the deciding… but the reliving of my journey, my life. Every item was a story. An old photo or family memento, items from school days and LOTS of patterns, sewing and craft books. Some of these creative items where from when I was in high school! Alot were from my journey as a textile artist.

As a young person I started out with basic sewing, then as an adults I got interested in quilting. Traditional quilting became a passion and I devoured the topic. I took many classes and at the time there were more opportunities locally to take classes from some of the greats. I collected their books and other little tokens. I wanted to learn everything I could!

Now, I’ve evolved into a mixed-media textile artist. I no longer have the patience or desire to do traditional piecing or machine quilting, but I was so prolific back then. I bought so many books. But, now what do I do with all the books (see image with stacked books)? I could donate them, but I’m wondering if it is worth trying to sell them for a fair price online? Or is this me trying to hold on for a little bit longer…

~Nanette

This questioning helps with the purging process. If I’m not excited about doing something anymore I have to ask is it worth holding on to the supplies/books that I collected for that activity? Sometimes I have to double make sure before I’m willing to I discard things. Those items may have to stick around a bit longer.

All of this is keeping me physically and mentally occupied. With all the heavy news the last few months, I need this physical processing. However, I must also remember that thoughts require purging to open up space in my head. Creativity seems to flow easier when my mind isn’t trying to solve issues that I have no control. If a thought isn’t worth my time, I must decide if I should just let it go.

~Nanette

This month I started reading a newly released book by Shannon Downey, called “Let’s move the Needle.” I’ve been following Shannon on Instagram for several years. She is an craftivist/activist who expresses her opinions using something women have been doing throughout history; stitching what they think.

Since I was a little girl, I have been drawn to causes, particularly environmental causes. Remember “Ranger Rick” magazine?…yah, I think that’s where it started for me. (Thanks mom for encouraging me with the subscription!). I went to college to be a biologist. I had so many romantic dreams about my grown-up life walking the wooded mountains of the West coast as a park ranger and saving the planet

That the dream didn’t become reality. Life happens that way and I took many paths to get where I am today. I’m comfortable with my life choices.

But back to Shannon, I was struck by something she wrote: “In a capitalist society, we are primed to believe that our primary identity is based on the work we get paid for.“

I don’t know about you, but I have struggled with this…because I believed it to be true. I have dabbled in art my entire life, but I also would say to myself things like “you’re not an artist, you’re not good enough.” There’s no question there were things I could do that were good quality…but calling myself an artist for it felt wrong. I WAS A CRAFTER! and I was ok with that title…until I wasn’t.

Shannon’s quote hit it right on the head. I down-played my skills because I wasn’t getting paid. I wasn’t a “professional”artist, so I felt I couldn’t own the title. Over the years, I learned to accept myself and advocate for other’s that we are artists if we want to be. Shannon affirmed that what I believed was accurate.

We (especially women) are led to think the only title we have is the title we get paid for. However if we want to, we can claim a title if we just enjoy doing something; athlete, dog trainer, musician, artist, teacher, etc. So get out there and do what you love. And, while you’re at it, wear the title with pride.

~Nanette

I’ve been paying attention to things with a different mindset then I did when I was younger. One thing that I realized is that I’m a visual learner. I did pretty well in grade school, but I entered college and grad school I definitely felt more challenged with certain topics. Things like statistics and calculus sent me seeking tutors. I majored in science so there were a lot of those classes. In grad school, I took an ornithology class (study of birds) and struggled remembering the scientific names of birds. Geez, my thesis was about birds…surely, I would need to know these words. Why was it so hard? I just accepted it all and continued on the best I could and earned my degree.

Fast forward a few decades and here I am realizing I am a visual learner. I noticed that when I tried to remember something, if I could visualize it, I could remember it. For example, tell me a phone number and I’ll forget it. Write down a phone number and I’ll remember. Because, I can go back into my memory and visualize the numbers I saw written on paper. Why didn’t I ever notice this before? Instead, I stuck with rote memorization – repeating things over and over and over…hoping they would stick.

This may sound like a random thing to be posting today. However, I realize that this is part of who I am as an artist. When I think about a new project, I first visualize it. It is like I have a fuzzy photo in my mind that I can pull up when I need to reference my design idea.

I’m grateful for the convenience of cell phones, so I snap lots of photos of things that catch my attention. When I scroll through my images, I love stumbling on the photos that I took that might inspire a new creation. The mushroom above was taken for that reason. If I didn’t take the photo, I would eventually forget about this interesting specimen that popped into my yard this year. I haven’t decided what exactly to do with it…but finding it re-inspired me.

I wish it hadn’t taken so long to discover my learning style. But, I’m sharing it with you to consider for yourself. Are you a visual, analytical, visceral learner or something else? How does this impact your creative inspiration? When you start a new project, what do you see?

~Nanette

There are always things pulling at us. How do you juggle them all and set boundaries to stay on task? Its a challenge.

It seems a bit crazy when I think of how many projects I have started. But then, in the last couple weeks, I was reminded of the many things I created and are gone. A lot of things I created now belong to other people. It is rewarding to see them continue to have meaning to someone. Then, there are other things I remember destroying, so their gone.

Reflecting on my life’s journey I can’t help compare it to my artistic journey, it is just another extension of my lives. As we grow as artists, our skills grow. We start like infants, not knowing how to do anything. We grow and learn, and may frequently change course requiring us to start at the beginning again. We continue to move forwards, just like life.

~ Nanette