A lesson in letting go
I am forcing myself to be looser with my art, not worry about symmetry or perfection.
I had a wonderful time constructing this art piece,
deconstructing a t-shirt that spoke to me,
and letting the piece evolve with no preconceived plan.
Since it was recycled and repurposed, I entered it in a call-for-art at
Art & Antique Studio’s annual “Recycled” exhibit in Eau Gallie, Florida.
And I was totally surprised when it received the First Place award!
My favorite happy hunting ground for
recyclables is the rummage side of the Goodwill.
It was there that the shirt
jumped out at me, a plethora of patchwork,
embroidery and printed images.
Alas, it was too small to wear!
I took a deep breath and began cutting
it apart,
retaining as much of it as possible to hand-stitch into pockets,
which I then free-motion machine sewed onto a felt background.
I topstitched and burned the felt
with a heat gun to get the lacy background effect, a technique I learned in a workshop with Susan Lenz.
I used almost the entire shirt, with only a handful of the fabric leftover.
The moral of the story (for me, at least!) is to let go, let it flow, and make art for myself....sometimes it works out that others like it as much as I do!
