The thing is, I learned that I need to look, need to look more carefully.
I no longer bother myself with whether I can be understood when it comes to this stuff. Whether or not anyone thinks about this stuff in this way.
But I think about it. I realized that it has a lot to do with what I often missed about the creative work of others. Especially for me as a a teacher and a presence for so long in this stitching community. I (maybe you too?) have a tendency to look and say, is that new? Been there, done that. Really? Didn't I think of that first?
I am ashamed sometimes to admit my negative feelings of being copied or competing for attention. We all know this. It is more destructive not to admit it. But then, I have risen above this in recent years. I solved the issue by looking closer and focusing on the newness. It is always there. And it should be celebrated, a great achievement to give your thoughts form.
And an even bigger achievement to see the newness that others have offered up. However small, it is another piece of the liquid puzzle that surrounds us. A raft. An offering. And an escape from the rising tide of selfishness.
The blur of what is new confuses me so often. With others and even myself. Appreciating how your sun (and you) float above it all.
It is so often cimes in the form of energy and we are not so used to reading that.
Floating is a new focus.
Thank you for your sharing, it encourages me not to give up.
I thank you for saying this.
Your unique method of quilting and stitching is a walk and a talk that, I think, a lot of people wish they could do (and master) because you evoke something so many of us are missing. You’ve taught so many how to walk this walk, and to manifest what they’re feeling and seeing so much better than they could before.
I love that this could be true. The feeling I get is such a good feeling, I would want it for everyone
oh my stars & whiskers, your B&W nine dot radiating star thought being symbol is brilliant
Thank you Mo, brilliant can have many meanings here…
Two sayings come to mind here:
There is nothing new under the sun and
Imitation is the greatest form of complement
I am a very symmetrical person so my 9 patches are mostly even and traditional but in reality they can be any size and quite uneven just as long as there are 9 parts. I’ve had fun playing around with that. Exercising my left brain or whatever…
Love that watchful eye!
Nothing new yes.
Imitation, not sure that is always the objective, maybe it is about learning but I will think more.
symmetrical is about balance, and there are many more ways.
Perhaps inspiration would be a better word to use than imitation. That’s where the learning and creativity comes in.
I understand your concerns about being copied, Jude. I sometimes worry about whether or not I am actually copying what someone else has done when I have been influenced to . . . well, copy what they have done, even if I put my own spin on it. As an example, I have always been entranced by the moon and eyes, but I almost feel as though they now belong to you because you feature them so distinctly in your work and I know I can’t do them any better so why try? SO, I guess the thing to do is concentrate on the spin if I want to be original.
Actually, I am no longer concerned. I think it is not possible. The process contains the person, thinking, and that means somewhere in there, there is newness.
how the path from thought to form is often circular or a spiral thru time… we may see the familiar again ‘n again, yet see it in new ways. what if we choose to see ourselves as “one” being? all parts of a larger “body”, choosing to pool our thoughts together for the good of the whole. the idea of “copying” becomes hilarious. ha!
yes, ha!
Everything returns, yet is different.
I find comfort, and joy in that.
I love this sun!
it is very deep. the difference.
I love your thoughts today and how they appear into your creations! Thought provoking for me.
provoking works wonders to draw things out.
Love the belly button! I know for myself (and am sure this is true for others) that the desire to making something that is “new” holds me back and sometimes keeps me from trying. It’s a hard thing to push past even when I know we all have something new to offer as we make.
Yes, this is so big. Are we looking for something that is there but we can’t see it? I think newness is tricky. It is not initially recognizable. It evolves and takes form though going. And it must begin with what we already recognize. Time, it takes time and also persistence. I think about kids and parenting and how we recognize these starts in children…encourage them and help them recognize them. ( or not, eeek) But then we forget to do the same for ourselves. By the time we grow up, well sometimes we are just taught to choose something to follow or imitate and we forget we are all different.
Deb and Jude, You’ve reminded me of this old poem that was used a lot in my very first ECE classes in the late 1970’s. Such a good reminder.
https://littlestarslearning.blogspot.com/2012/05/red-flower-children-creativity-and.html
thank you so much for this
I’ve never seen this poem, unfortunately it’s still an issue out there….
Yes time and persistence are part of it. I am reminding myself to appreciate the time I have and just keep going. 🙂
what is new to me when you create is a kind of purity of curiosity and the absence of clutter ( maybe it has to do with agenda) but it make what you do take on a different form. There is a freshness.
This makes sense… Curiosity is such an important quality. It’s why I love working with young children, still so much a part of who they are.
Thank you for so many things, and today particularly for the idea of “Purity of curiosity and the absence of clutter” .
Always newness springing from mind, heart, hand into that “liquid puzzle.” Beautiful! Love the symbol of newness. Reminds me of beaded snowflakes from long ago. That floating sun! Oh, she is marvelous with all different tendrils of light and warmth.
she feels happy because there is another day…
Yes…it’s that never ending newness..the delight of that…which seems to gift a form something so powerful, so quiet, so true and sometimes just so…:)
Copies somehow as good as they perhaps maybe , aren’t quite able to gift…unless they too suddenly find a path to newness.
To see how you take a shape and draw it out into a form…watching that ..very simply delights. It’s always a new experience 🙂 Just
The fun of it:)
I do think there is newness even in imitation. I have learned to spot it, and always hope it will grow beyond that which inspired it.
Been thinking about how thought finds form…
Your work has helped me increase my visual vocabulary and to explore drawing to express this..faltering steps to finding more words… and learning to get a hold of a wisp of thought and slowly turning it into a form. It’s like learning to read more and more as vocabulary and expressions grow.
What an incredible teacher you are:)
This is great to hear, that a path to self discovery has opened.
Perhaps careful observation is the key. My walks to the Woods and Lake I never tire of…the plant life, the wild life, changing and yet not! In the book I am currently writing, the main character stands at the threshold of her door, overlooking the Great Marsh at sunrise, never tiring of the view. This begins multiple chapters! Your Celestial Being is wonderfully uplifting, Jude!
I admire anyone that can write a book.
Nancy, I love that you are capturing that daily sameness/differentness in your book. That’s what our lives (or my life anyway) are like. I don’t think we often see that portrayed, though. It sounds refreshing!
So glad to hear that the book is still in progress, Nancy. I just reread your first one, “Imagination Prymm,” and look forward to the next one.
Nancy, This is how I feel about my visits to the Bridge time and time again…thinking that it will be the same and it never is, because I’m always looking!
I am just testing something here, there were some issues with publishing and comment settings this morning. What else is new? ha,
Yes, I left a response to Nancy D, which disappeared. I think this happened the other day too. sigh.
What I basically said was that sameness, but not…I feel that when I go to the Bridge so often. Close looking makes it never the same.
Jude, I have often thought about why I keep making my Medicine Bags the same, use the little loom the same, without much experimentation. Then I warp the loom and make another bag. Perhaps there is a sameness there that is really about comfort, bringing comfort…and they are never really the same, because I use different colors/fibers every time. And maybe that is enough new for me.
I love this sun in her beauty (and my love of sun), but on my last look…I thought about the contradiction of a snow person with a sun head…would she not self-destruct? Wouldn’t she be in constant conflict with herself?
This made me chuckle at the thought of it!
repetition can be a reassurance I think, of newness, because it isn’t the same. The journey is indeed different and the result contains that.
Yes the sun head is floating off with different purpose… head and body here clearly two separate selves in a way.
I like to know and imagine you chuckling.