Naturally the first step is to get everything ready and then do everything except start!
During the pandemic I started doodling. Its a great way to start the day. Life gets in the way sometimes, changes happen, my focus gets pulled in too many directions.
A couple of weeks ago I woke up on a Saturday morning and it was the only thing I could think about. Coffee was made, CBC morning with Bill Roache was on my mind and my journal called.
I always start with a micon PN black fine tip pen to draw the outline of what I'm going to colour in. Then I use my Staedtler fine tip markers to colour. Just to challenge myself I decided to put the markers on a table beside me and I made a rule. I wasn't allowed to choose the next colour. I couldn't look when I went to pick it up. I wanted to see how my doodle would turn out. Especially with colours that might not match being used beside each other.
When I looked at the end piece and considered what I set out to achieve, it made me think of quilts (I know)!Sometimes the parts that can make up the whole when viewed only on their own, can look ugly, not appeal to us, and we wouldn't normally think to add them into whatever we're working on.
Here's what I saw though. Even the colours I wouldn't normally use, when included in the whole piece, enhanced the overall impact.
Here comes the metaphor ...
When looking at certain events, memories of things that happen in life, maybe not wanting to include them, we might be robbing ourselves of the very things that helped create the beautiful beings we became.
Anyhow, its Sunday now, the sun is shining, windows are opening and my curiosity is calling. I have no idea how this is going to turn out. I want to take my doodle and use fabric to reproduce something I love, just because of how it makes me feel.
Beth Mckay is a fibre artist currently residing in Dartmouth, NS. She can be found at bethmckay.com or on IG @thecraftedpath
