Entry #1

"I am an artist." There. I said it. Actually, I've said it to myself many times and in recent years I've come to believe it more strongly than ever before. To write and create are the reasons I was put on this earth. Now, how do I use those gifts effectively?

As part of my commitment to nurture my creative self, I have decided to accept the challenge of creating art every day. For the most part, I have succeeded. I am in my fourth 30-day block of making hearts. Each 30 days I use a different medium or process for creating hearts.

Back in August, I began with wool felt hearts. I love felting old sweaters from the thrift shop. There's something warm and comforting about the texture and muted colors of the wool. Each small wool heart was stitched onto a 3" wool felt square. Each completed "tile" is unique with various colors of embroidery floss, various shapes, buttons and beads. This has been the most satisfying unit to date (hence the name for this blog), so I plan to have another 30-days of felt hearts later in the year.

My second unit was "wild hearts" and was intended to encourage me to play with colors and techniques. Each heart was fabric and attached to a 6 1/2 inch fabric square. The hearts and squares were sometimes embellished. I found I didn't go as "wild" as I had predicted, so I'll have to attempt more wild hearts later.

The third group of hearts were created on 9" x 12" paper. Most of these were created on watercolor paper, but some on recycled cleaning mats from the offset press at work. I found I really preferred the cleaning sheets because they offered an initial wash of color and texture instead of a blank white ground. Hearts were drawn, painted or collaged onto the background paper. Some days I was pleased with my experiments, but some days I wanted to crumple them up! However, the goal is to experiment and try new things. Each "failure" is part of the learning process - I learned that from Thomas Edison!

Today I completed #5 in my series of "constructed" hearts. Today I used felt to make a heart-shaped purse. It is couched with yarn, sports a braided yarn handle and has a few beads to embellish (they look "lost" and random, but I was too tired to add more to keep them company). The inside has a nice oriental brocade and I successfully added a magnetic closure.

I'll add photos as I can. Comments are welcome.