There’s a definite air of autumn in the air, but it’s terribly sunny. This is really my favourite time of year in Toronto: still warm, but change is happening! This month, I thought I’d share a short story about my creative practice with you.
Like a lot of people, I love art. I never thought I liked much modern art, but then I realised I had a very narrow definition of what that meant, and that it was much larger than I realised (there is alot written about this, one place you can see more information is here).
One artist whose work draws me is Piet Mondrian. I’m not sure I’d say I like his work per se, but I really appreciate the geometric nature and the bright colours of his works. They’ve very distinctive, even if you don’t know his name, you’ve probably seen his work before:
taken from needpix
Part of why I’m drawn to his work is because it really speaks to one of my other crafty pursuits- quilting. I’ve been a member of the Modern Quilt Guild for about seven years. Mondrian’s bold lines and colour blocks really espouse some of the main characteristics of modern quilting.
taken from: wikimedia
This year, with my local group, I decided to participate in the “President’s challenge”. I got two aspects of modern quilting to use however I wanted in any format (minimalism and negative space). I chose a miniquilt, and was inspired to piece a Mondrian-type design, using a charcoal background and matchstick quilting to define the blocks and bring texture to the piece.
I was pretty pleased with how it turned out!
Since I was having so much fun with it, it started making me think about what I would do if I wanted to make a piece of jewellery. My favourite was this minimalist brooch, similar to the aspects of the quilt, made with colour enamel panels, wire and different levels.
Not sure if I’ll actually make it, unless someone expressed interest in it, but I enjoyed thinking about it, and thinking about how to add my own personal twist to it. How about you? What do you do to stay creative?
In any case, I hope you’re all enjoying the autumn weather! Don’t forget to come visit us in the studio-we’re all covid safe, and we love seeing you all again!
Happy Saturday!