IDEAS ARE NOTHING; DOING IS EVERYTHING Blog#7

IDEAS ARE NOTHING; DOING IS EVERYTHING*
*credited to Ji Lee, a creative director at Facebook and Instagram
Blog #7
Jan. 16, 2021

By Emily Stehle

I subscribe to an online newsletter called “Fast Company.” Every so often, an article catches my eye, and I read it in its entirety. I “borrowed” the title of an  article about Mr. Lee for this blog post as it’s a truth. The article centered me.

I’d been contemplating entering Florida CraftArt’s upcoming members show a few weeks, but then forgot about it. Then realized that I could still make the late deadline. I had two baskets ready to submit and could finish another,  an unadorned basket, by attaching hundreds of beads. It would take time, but it was doable if I beaded non-stop.

All my life, I’ve had ideas. Some of them came to fruition. Some are still percolating, waiting for the right moment to come out. I have to constantly remind myself that ideas are like dreaming. I’m the only one who is aware of them. Unless I can manifest them…make them happen.

So, I focused on what Mr. Lee says about doing. So, I thought about it and decided not to submit an entry as the idea was clogging my brain. Typically, I would have tried to do it all, stress myself and work non-stop to completion. I gave myself a break.

GOOGLE MEETING
Yesterday (Friday) afternoon was a scheduled Google Meet with Mentor Gabriel Ramos. Kind of excited because I’d sent him a diagram of my planned exhibit space. Or what I hope will be my exhibit space!

My crude drawing shows the Main Gallery floor and what I’m envisioning as a pathway past two separate hanging exhibits spanning the length of 15 ft.  We talked about the plan and how it was laid out. One side is comprised of five groupings of random woven bird nests, Covid-19 comfort baskets. The other is three hanging weavings (calling them panels at this time) of various lengths; one in red, one in blue, one in black. I’ll determine the lengths in a few weeks, after I’ve completed enough of the the blue panel. The panels will most likely hang from wood dowels, painted white, and attached to the ceiling with wired fishing line (fluorocarbon, super strong and nearly invisible).

I walked Gabriel through the drawing. I feel confident this walkway layout works. We talked…enough that I’m feeling I’m on the right path. I think Gabriel is almost as excited about my contribution to the Emerging Artists Show as me!

COLOR AND THE BLUES
Thinking about the Blues

More discussion about color, Mark Rothko, what I’d been doing the past few weeks, how I had scheduled my work time and my work plan/actions for the next two weeks and to the end of February. All good.

I will be documenting what I do in my notebook.

1. Covid-19 baskets: 30 baskets made. Need to complete the 11 “songs of comfort” baskets. Next, determine what embellishments (beads, aluminum can tabs, plastic bottle caps and beads, aluminum wine bottle “caps” and beads, zip ties?), if any, to add to any of the other 31 baskets. (Measure out placement on fishing line. Buy three 4 ft. long wood dowels. Paint. Drill holes.
2. Triptych panels: Been shredding “blue” paper. Gluing into strips of different lengths. Sketching design of color concentrations by shades and shapes.
   Buy three 4 ft. long wood dowels. Paint. Drill holes.
   Weave samples. Experiment simple over-and-under weaving, inserting pieces of weaving (call them “appliques”) either above or below the weaving, weaving 2 x 2 ft. sections and then adding them into the main “fabric.” Taking a tip from quilters: Weave a “sleeve” at the top of the panel. Dowel slides into the sleeve. Wires attached to dowels.AM I BLUE? NO.
   …I thought I would run out of blue paper

   Love my new shredder. The strips are a tad shorter in width to strips I’ve cut with my basic and second-hand shredder. This machine is a monster,  efficient and a pleasure to use. I’m calling it Frank (as in Frankenstein). Frank has been busy chewing through boxes of blue/green stuff.  A little bit goes a long way. There’s still more…

   I’ve a lot of blue/green color  material, much of it from my work at The Pier Aquarium, some of it from 10 years ago. There are pieces of NOAA’s (National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration) 200th anniversary brochure and every out-of-date business rack card and invitation from programs, summer camp and events such as Fish Head Balls, Spa Beach Splash, The Pier Aquarium’s 20th birthday and special fundraisers salvaged from the storage room before I left that job.

   The strips are now sorted and organized. I can now easily pick out strips to piece into the weaving by specific color and size.

   

   

   Next week I hope to show some sample weavings and the “main” blue fabric piece!