Sometimes you just need to change things up to make things more interesting again. I was on vacation last week in the Northwoods. This means that I take my daily square on the road and do some hand sewing. I had to go out of my comfort zone in photographing the daily squares. When I normally post a photo of my daily square, I iron it super smooth. I use special color-correct Ott lighting. I crop the photo to fill the full photo frame. Well, I could not do that on vacation. So I stepped out of my comfort zone and decided to utilize the beautiful birch tree right in front of our cabin. I pinned the daily fabric art square on the birch tree. Then I took a photo of the square in the natural light including the surrounding woods in all their splendid greenness.
It was a different approach for me. I like the natural light. I like the contrast of the green and the purple against the bark of the birch tree. It makes me open to the idea of changing things up when I photograph my daily squares in the future.
Good things can come from going outside of your comfort zone. As I was thinking about this birch tree, I came up with a new series idea. I could use white, tan, gray, and black fabric with hints of green for lichen and blue for the sky. The design would be horizontal trending imitating the horizontal lines of the birchbark. I don't know when I will make the series, but I will add it to my Evernote book of design and color ideas.
What are some ways that you could get out of your comfort zone? I am not talking about changing to a different media like all of a sudden starting to take up oil painting. But secretly, I do kind of want to try oil painting. I am talking about things like, if you always knit scarves maybe push yourself to try to knit a sweater. If you were a scrapbooker and you have only been scrapbooking family vacations, push yourself to try a new thing like all black and white photos from your family's past or something like a scrapbook of all your favorite doors. Maybe that last one sounds a little weird, but I have a lot of photos from our trip to Europe of really cool doors. Let's say you are a big reader but you always read detective mystery books. Maybe try a book from the New York Times bestseller list. Or ask a friend what was their favorite book last year. These "outside your comfort zone" things may be a big flop. But they may lead you to another idea that leads you to another idea that you love.
Curiosity makes life interesting.
Upper left: Zipper Upper right: Blue Skies Lower left: Chaos Lower right: Horizons
Speaking of getting way out of my comfort zone, I have decided to start selling my art. I create so much art with my daily square and 25 day series that I have no more wall space or room in my studio. So I am testing the waters of the best way to start selling.
I am currently posting one fabric art piece for sale every Saturday this summer on my Instagram account. These pieces are from my “10 Blues” series and are wrapped around a 10 inch square stretched canvas. For you special people who read Studio Notes, I'm opening up the whole lot. Here's a photo of the 4 remaining pieces. Each one is $75 with free shipping to the USA. If you're interested just email me.
Like what you see but interested in something a little bit different, email me and let's talk. I'm available for commission work.
Find my Green and Purple series playlist on Spotify HERE.