A year of Morning Make.
Each day, before tea and clothes and the news and my phone, I make. In 2023 I spent all the time making and remaking myself. Mostly figuratively, but the process required a lot of self reflection. It can’t not when you spend a portion of your day staring at yourself, stitching and making. Truth be told, I’m kind of sick of myself at this point!
Clockwise from top left:
Embroidered line drawing, based off a painting I did of myself based off a pic from the beach in San Diego last March.
Skiing selfie done in Tina Tarr’s Stitched Mosaic technique.
Raw Edge Applique on a crumb background - this one feels the most me in terms of a quilt.
First one I did, based off of the headshot here on my blog using Melissa Averinos’ Making Faces in Fabric book and her process.
Cubist applique. Saw a video about a cubist artist and felt inspired. Just freehand cut shapes and stitched.
Based off a selfie I took on winter hike, this time I adapted Tina Tarr’s technique for improv piecing versus applique. Hand stitched the whole thing to quilt it.
Another one using the Melissa Averinos’ technique, but playing with a black and white photo. Nailed the values, but boy do I look dead!
Here and there over the year I would draw and paint too. Nothing to share there, just experimenting and exploring. Always self portraits.
It was a great exercise in self reflection. Not only did I fall in love with the dimple I never really noticed before, but I learned to look at myself without criticism. Not necessarily with love, but without criticism.
All of this was a personal exploration. I did nothing in the way of classes or lessons. Where it was someone else’s technique for the quilts I used a book or online class. What I did not do is actually learn how to draw or look at people. I also had a number of ideas for different kind of quilt techniques for portraits. That’s why I am continuing this portrait exploration this year as well. There is a still so much to do!
Only now, I feel somewhat strong enough to at least sketch some other people. Let’s see where 2024 takes me.