#wip wednesday: introducing my index-card-a-day collection . . .

(my #wip: #icad2015 . . . . what are you working on??? xxx)

card#1: breakfast al fresca  _ pen and ink #icad

this week I am on the road to the chicago area to check-in with my parents, so I am away from my studio and my endless access to all things art supplies.  But it is all good because I am using this time to play catch-up with an exciting endeavor that I learned about last month:

The 2015 Index-Card-a-Day Challenge June 1 to July 31, 2015

hosted by Yellow Daisy.  

For anyone who knows me and/or follows me you know that I am a daily challenge junkie!! Love the idea of producing art everyday and sharing it.  I love this idea because it removes that 'precious' element of the end product, because you are just making art!!!  And this idea is one of the main points in my current reading book,

  "Show Your Work" by Austin Kleon.

I thoroughly enjoyed Austin's book,

Steal Like an Artist, and so far I'm loving 'show your work'

Both books are inspirational is their message to just WORK!!! 

stop getting in your way, stop being stymied by do's and dont's 

(or at least the message that I get)

work!! work!! work!!

card#2  thank you Vincent  _ pen and ink, marker #icad

and now he speaks of sharing;

 I LOVE sharing!!

share, share, share!!!

this is my banner for my dailydress intentions group on FB  

Reading this book has been quite encouraging in that it champions the practice of sharing!!! and I can NOT tell you how many times I am writing a dailydress inspiration blog post, or editing an instagram post and I get thrown into a tornado of inner nay-sayers criticizing my uses of my time and question the validity of sharing. 

card#3 tray table still life  _ pen and ink #icad

Though Austin Kleon does caution:

"of course, don't let sharing your work take precedence over actually doing your work."

and for those of us that seem to get sucked into the wonders of the internet, he suggests: 

"If you are having a hard time balancing the two, just set a timer for 30 minutes.  Once the timer goes off, kick yourself off the internet and get back to work."

And with that suggestion in mind I am going to wrap up today's post.  

card#4: breakfast remnants   _ pen and ink #icad

Just want to share the few cards that I have done for #icad2015.  

This is a perfect project for me right now, 

as I am doing a lot of talking and waiting on phones and waiting in waiting rooms.    

card#5: lunch on the patio with mom and dad  _ pen and ink #icad

In fact this challenge reminds me of my dailydressjournal from 2011 and my subscriptioncard series, both of these series were results of the demands of life keeping me out of my studio, however I used whatever I could to create - the scraps of everyday life andor the endless supply of subscription cards found in every waiting room.

card#7: long day . . . pencil #icad

so introducing the start of my #icad2015 collection.  I will be sharing more here but you can also find my #icad cards on Instagram and on my Virginia Fitzgerald, art and design FB feed, on a more regular basis.

card#7 prompt14: salt and pepper  _ pen and ink #icad

Happy Wednesday!!

what are you working on???

peace and thanks for visiting, va

#wip wednesday: mending, meandering, meditating with a needle and thread.

'meditation one . . . '

Now that my 'tree of life' mural is finished and installed, my schedule has opened up a bit . . . 

As crazy as a deadline can be, it does give me some boundaries and the luxury of tunnel vision; for the past months it has been 'go to studio, paint the mural' 24/7 and I loved it.  

'meditation two . . . '

As is typical for this post-project period, I tend to founder, as I have much to do but not sure where to focus my attention.  Also I have oodles of pent-up creative ideas and energies which were not sated by working on the mural.  Meaning that I have started many projects while also dealing with my graphic design assignments and social media obligations.  One of these projects which is currently 'in progress' is my series of 'mediations . . . '.

'meditation three . . .'

Started a few weeks ago in response to some difficult personal events, I just began to embroider on anything I could find! I had no set design, idea or vision, I just wanted to/needed to sew.  

Sewing is meditative and for me it is healing, literally mending torn parts.  So here are photos of the 3 mediations that I'm working on.

detail of 'meditation one . . . '

I feel there are more to come and believe this could be a beautiful series.  only thing is that I have NO idea how to display works like these?!?! If anyone has suggestions I would love to hear them.  But for now I am just going to keep on mending, meandering, meditating with my needle and thread.

backside of 'meditation one . . . '

detail of 'meditation two . . . '

peace, va

#wip wednesday ( a-k-a what i'm working on)

since I have a looming, pending, do or die deadline this post must be brief!! in fact it will be mostly pictures of what I'm working on this week : my 'tree of life' mural for the Common Street Spiritual Center, Natick.

As I have mentioned before it has a life of its own . . .as much as I want to finish the piece it seems as though the tree has other plans . . . it is all good, as I believe some of the details that have emerged from the days/weeks of working and reworking areas are really successful, but that said there is a due date, dead line, scheduled unveiling, March 14th, 2-4pm, Common Street Spiritual Center!!! 

peace, va