ImagePlay - January

So Amanda and I wanted a year long collaborative project to work on together.  We talked about all different ideas, but finally decided on ImagePlay.  It’s a spinoff of the Wordplay idea that I had followed on House On Hill Roads blog some years back, and just really enjoyed the idea of.  While they were working with words, each month Amanda and I will have a single image to work with and be creatively inspired by to create our own work.  We will either have someone choose an image for us, or pick one ourselves or for each other.  We will have one image to work from and will have to create something – it doesn’t matter what or with what medium, the idea is to push ourselves to create.  I am really looking forward to do this. 

For January our good friend Jeni picked our image (above, but with my notes) and she chose a great piece by Anna Niestroj (aka Blink Blink).  Before seeing this image I knew nothing about her or her design, so this was a great way to learn more about an artist that is new to me.  She has a fantastic blog and her photos are very inspiring; I just want to start creating when I see them.  So when I first looked at this image I was immediately drawn to the three triangles in the center.  I thought that would make a great mini quilt.  But then I thought, that is just too literal of a translation.  I am always so literal in my translations.  I wanted to step back a little.  There were so many avenues to pursue, but I didn’t want to exactly replicate the patterns.

Something that really drew me in was all the different lines you see between the patterns.  I like how they all seemed to fit together like a puzzle.  On the left you see the bigger sections and then on the right all the subdivisions within the sections.  I knew I would enjoy cutting strips of scrapbook paper, an old map, vellum and washi tape.  Placing them all together and having to fill in with other pieces until it all fit together was a challenge and a great creative exercise.  I began by placing a few pieces along the outer edges and then worked in until it was filled.  Sometimes  I’d work in a section for awhile, other times I’d bounce around to the other sections.

My final piece is something I really enjoy.  I was able to work with a medium I love and work with so little, and I played creatively just for the fun of it.  I don’t know what I’ll do with this piece, it doesn’t really matter, it was just an excuse to play and be creative for no other purpose than that.  There is so little of that around here these days.  For now, this will stay taped up on my white board, but I think eventually I’d like to see it in a frame.  It’s so bright and cheerful and visually appealing with all the pattern.  I guess in a way it was a literal translation, but it doesn’t really matter, now does it.

And of course had to share a photo of these two fluffy boys.  Newman decided it was time for Norman to have a bath.  Normally Newman is not very good about reciprocating and cleaning Norman (Norman is the white one being mauled).