Joanna's Blog

This image started out as a photo taken in Florence of a restaurant window, with layers of very loose  painterly renderings of flowers in digital art programs and a little digital graffiti to tie it all together.  Printed on fabric, this could be part of an art quilt or a background to an illustration.

Wow!  Is it too late to say Happy New Year!?  It was a quiet Christmas and New Year's and a time to soak in family time, lots of good food (too much good food), music, and new books (lots of great books).  A time to forget about schedules, but…….it's also nice to get back to a "new" normal. 

Some of my time was spent re-organizing my studio and workspaces and list the things I'd like to pursue this year, usually based on what was successful from the preceding year.  I take advantage of the clean slate the new year provides by auditioning some new projects.  I'm feeling a tiny bit guilty about straying too far from my painting but on the other hand feel I should pay attention to the little sparks (like fireflies) going on in my brain. 

Painting.....forever and always will be painting.  A continuation of the small format paintings is a sure thing but I have some larger formats I'd like to work on again this year.  

Art quilts however are one of those little sparks that I may have to make time for.  I have a weakness for fabrics and have been steadily building a collection of silks and organzas to play with.  Now I guess I have to justify those purchases (hehe). The quilts I have in mind are more painterly and definitely more contemporary than my paintings.   Having this quieter time has enabled me to settle on a design I'd like to pursue which makes it easier to assemble fabrics and audition techniques.

Illustration…..(I'm trying to learn Adobe Illustrator by myself??)  Watercolor and digital collage snuck into my painting time the latter part of 2011 and I have this burning desire to learn how to do more vector work.   An interesting note is that the digital explorations will be an important part of the fabric used in the art quilts.  So we'll see what 2012 brings.  Focus will be an important word for me this year.

Jewellery is not a separate category for me.  It is simply another art form like miniature sculptures.  An on going journey to reach a comfort level with acquired skills.  I love the learning aspect.  (Enamelling this year!)

Focus is what I did not want to do this month of January (the rest of the year definitely).  It was meant to be a month of play, experiments and uninhibited creativity.  I have assembled my reference material, re-arranged my studio, shopped for fabrics to alter to my hearts content and practiced with many fun free apps available for digital manipulation until I decided on which ones to pursue.

Here's to 2012....a new creative journey begins!