The Art of Language...

or should that be, the language of art. Either way, I find myself thinking along those lines today. It's interesting how textile artists, and perhaps all visual arts, borrow the language of writing. For instance, we talk about a 'stitch vocabulary', equating our stitches with words. Yet, for me, stitch is quite different to word. Words come with meanings pre attached...a chair is, well, a chair. A stitch is, well, a stitch...regardless of its form. I might associate cross stitch with tedium, for example (and I'm afraid I do, with apologies to anyone offended by this), but it is a personal association, not one that is likely to be shared by a cross stitch enthusiast, for instance, or someone who knows nothing about needlework in its various forms.

So what would be a good collective name for stitches? A collection? Boring. Compendium? Ditto. Needleful? Ummm. Doesn't do it for me. Sampler? Historically quite good...but perhaps its literal meaning is too strong for us to talk about a sampler of stitches. Sampling, maybe? What do you think?

My friend Helen Howes very kindly pointed out, incidentally, that a picture made of letters is called a logogram. I might have known that the work in my sketchbook I showed you wasn't original...except to me! 'There is nothing new under the sun' (except maybe lutradur!); no matter how inventive you think you've been, someone has usually already been there, done that. Isn't that wonderful...I can stop trying to be innovative, and instead concentrate on being myself. Unique. Just like you.