Crossroads and Gladioli

Not that crossroads and Gladioli have anything in common but both have been on my mind of late. The gladioli because they are now dying back and it reminded me I hadn't posted to show you the lovely richness of the purples against the green stalks. They are a little light here and don't show the deep rich velvetyness of the purple petals as well as I would have liked but you take what light you can for photographs at the moment!

The richness of colour combinations always makes me want to dye some yarn or fabric - play a little with colour. And I still mean to get round to it at some point this month, along with making presents for christmas. But there are very few people I know that would appreciate dyed yarn as a present - only my mum! Something knitted up with that dyed yarn would be a different matter, I suspect! But I'm taking a hiatus on the knitting for a bit to clear my head and give me space to think about direction.

I've always loved to learn new things. Weaving, spinning, knitting, embroidery, collage, painting.... I've always avoided putting myself in a category. I trained in Textiles but I love the conceptual aspects of art too. I love print, collagraphy as well as the humble potato print. I love collage, mixed media, balancing a composition. I love the subtleties and contrasts of colour, texture and fonts. The more I discover, the more I want to explore. And although I enjoy knitting, it doesn't let me address all these facets of myself that I feel need to be taken out and looked at with a fresh eye.

But confidence and time have a lot to do with artistic development - or not. Not having had the time for a long while to discover who and what I am and where I want to go, I am now in the position where I have a little breathing space to try and find out exactly that. But being creative requires positivity and a confidence in yourself and your work. So how to rediscover that?

I'm going to work small, start experimenting and explore materials and mediums and see what happens. I may not post every day what I'm working on but I'm going to try and produce some small outcome every day - even if it is only worthy of the bin or being cut up for collage. I need to get inspired!