October 29, 2021
Dear Friends,
November arrives in just a few days. This is a month where days shrink, plants come into the house, the leaves will fall off trees, and I put on a sweater most days. November is a month of closure and the start of imagining new possibilities.
Last November the promise of a vaccine opened the door of hope after months of isolation. During the year I had learned new skills by publishing online courses and doing online lectures, but I dreamed of connecting face to face. It was during November I started seeing my daily sketchbook practice blossom. My social media activity on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram became my virtual gallery.
2020 was an ideal year to check off “write a book from” my bucket list. I participated in a competitive world wide project to write 50,000 words during the month of November. Participants set personal goals. Mine was 1500 words a day. The book was a hot mess. I lost track of characters and couldn’t get the geography to work. Now when I pick up a book, I have a new appreciation for the author. There was a gift in this experience. It led me to writing articles, which I enjoy.
This November I am heading to beautiful Lake Tahoe for a week. I am going to be using this week to break out from some of the confines of the “art quilt” and open up to being an artist in the art world. I want to keep a foot in the communities that have brought me this far without limiting my growth to those communities.
Next year I am looking forward to exhibiting with painters and mixed media artists. I am learning as I engage with the art community online and at local venues, the word quilt is problematic. I spend more time undoing preconceptions when I define my work as an art quilt than if I define my work as figurative on a soft canvas.
A local art director encouraged me to reconsider the word quilt. I was open to the idea because I felt it would allow me to expand into a larger art community. My website now has a new artist statement which does not contain the word quilt. I believe the enemy of the creative process is limitation.
“Neither tools nor rules hinder me from making what I envision. My art is not restricted by any single genre, medium, school or process. It is an authentic expression of who I am, my beliefs, and my view of the larger world.”
Join me this November to take the time to reflect.
Being grateful and hopeful is a good formula for a happy life.
I will be dreaming up new ideas and letting go of what no longer serves me.
Until next time…
Margaret
SEND THIS LETTER TO MY INBOX MONTHLY!
Margaret Abramshe – Studio Artist