Art, Entropy and Frugality

More than a year has passed since I last undertook an artistic endeavor, but with strong pain-free wrists I was ready to start another wall hanging in the "Streets of Delft" series. I wanted to do a fabric interpretation of a stained glass window in a Delft church, based on a photo taken from inside the building. Cleo asked to see the photo.

I asked if she thought it important to include the arch. She said I should and asked, "Will you include the tree shadows?"

My first thought was, "No way!" My second thought was how could I do that? I was hooked.

I knew the shadows had to be behind the window and the only way to achieve that is to use sheer fabrics overlaid on a background with trees. Every night I fell asleep imagining how this could be done. Many experiments followed. I modified the window size and the number of panes in each window section, not wanting to spend the rest of my life on this project. Thanks to Cleo my aging brain got a good workout.

Finally I have finished making the panels and this morning I squared them up to prepare them for sewing  to black dividers.

Entropy in action, the trimmings began to pile up. They began to draw my attention. They began to look like art themselves.

Here's where frugality comes in: I was tempted to save the trimmings for a collage. Thread wads have great appeal to me. Dozens of little boxes in my studio are filled with entropic bits I've saved for just such purposes. "Waste not, want not," is too much engrained in my being. If not kept in check I'd be using ever-smaller pieces and working under a microscope. I threw these trimmings away, but kept a photo record of them.

Now I must figure out how to make the arch.