Great fun! I was given some cloth by my friend Heather, and in amongst it were some fussycut cats and dogs...so hence, the quiltlet above you, Archie the Quilt Pet. Why Archie? Well, somehow he looks like an Archie...though I did toy with the idea of calling him Alf, instead. Then I realised that there's another little dog pic that does look like an Alf, so lo and behold, a series!
Am I going to make frivolous work for the rest of my life? Well, no, probably not. There's plenty of serious stuff, exploratory stuff, ready for me to make, or in the process of being made. It's just that I've spent most of my life being serious, lots of it struggling with the demon depression, and recently, that struggle has lessened significantly. Part of that is because I've been working with a really good therapist. Part of it is because I've changed the way I look at myself and my life. I used to see my life purpose as the creation of meaning. I still do, but much more so, I see my life purpose as the creation of joy. So if making Archie and his friends brings joy to me, and joy to others, then that's exactly what I'm going to do. So there!
And, if you'll forgive a bit of blatant self promotion, I've added Archie to my Etsy shop. Etsy is taking up a fair amount of time, all told. I've sold some things, which I think in the first month, is quite exciting... I'm enjoying having an outlet for all the bits and pieces that I'm doing; they mount up over time! I need the space!
Tomorrow, I go and take down my part of the exhibition at Watton (and Heather's too...lucky Heather is off to Houston...). It's a good bet that something that took a good half hour to hang will take a good two minutes to take down again! I'd like to say that was because I'd sold stuff, but it seems unlikely...sigh. And in truth, that's not the point. For me, all of this is about getting the work out, having it seen, hearing what people think about it, how they feel. That's the real reward.
