Feeling My Way and New Work in Progress

Finding the Feeling Place

Tangled Web #1 (in progress) (c) 2010 Ayn Hanna (24" x 24") Textile Painting (cotton canvas, hand-dyed cotton, fabric paint, paint sticks)

Time is flying by and it’s been awhile since my last post.  I have been busy with multiple tasks – the day job, starting some new artwork and contemplating my creative career path, de-cluttering and making space at home – preparing for my life partner to move here in Aug, and trying to keep on a regular exercise schedule.   It can be a bit overwhelming sometimes – just re-reading that last sentence gets my adrenaline going!

I’ve got lots going on in my mind-many, many thoughts, and very exhaustive, vivid dreams.  There are lots of really good things happening and I’ve got some goals and plans defined.  But in many ways, things are very unclear for me right now, and even though that is an uncomfortable place for me to be, I know it’s exactly where I need to be.  I am smack dab in the middle of “It”, figuring “It” out, day by day.

I have some great tools, resources, and helpful guides, all of which I am calling upon to help me figure this path out.  Some days it seems clear, and others, not so much.  There’s a part of me that would love to be able to see (and articulate) my career plan for the next 5, or 10 years, but I’m just not there right now.   So, I’m doing a lot of contemplating, asking lots of questions, and tuning into my feelings, finding what feels good and visioning more of that in my life.  The rest will come eventually.  This is a new approach for me, slowing down instead of speeding up, when I’m not sure of my next move, so the process is just as new and uncomfortable right now as not knowing the path.  This is a grand journey!

Speaking of what feels good….  My “Wall Drawing” textile painting was selected for the “Evolutions 2010” show at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, Aug 3 – Oct 30 with an opening reception on Aug 6.  If you live near Golden, CO, I hope you will drop by to see the show.   While completing this piece, I got some new ideas for more work with this subject matter/forms, so I’ve now started planning the next textile painting in this series.  I’m excited to see how this will evolve.

New Work in Progress – Tangled Webs

While I’m planning my next piece in the Wall Drawing series, above and below are some new pieces that I already have in progress.

Tangled Web #2 (in progress) (c) 2010 Ayn Hanna (24" x 24") Textile Painting (cotton canvas, hand-dyed cotton, fabric paint, paint sticks)

I started these a few months ago.  They emerged as I was doodling and day dreaming and they have been another exploration of techniques – resists, fabric paints, and paint sticks.   I created the “webbed” imagery through application of multiple layers of resists (both painted on and physical objects laid on) and fabric paints as well as paint sticks.  I didn’t take any in-process photos as I was too wrapped up in “the doing” and forgot to, but I think I’ll have more opportunity to do so in the future because this technique seemed so natural to me, I’m sure I’ll be doing more with it.  I like the contrast of the rich textured dark painted/resisted web drawings with the subtle light valued, airy border fabric which are pieces of my own hand-dyed fabric.

Tangled Web #3 (in progress) (c) Ayn Hanna (24" x 24") Textile Painting (cotton canvas, hand-dyed cotton, fabric paint, paint sticks)

With these pieces especially, I am discovering that the imagery and “feel” or idea I have of my emerging subject matter seems to drive the techniques for realization of the finished work.  Each piece becomes what it needs to be. These are all works in progress, and I’m not really ready to talk much about them yet (I’m still working through my own understanding of them), but they are very intriguing to me, and have some importance.  I guess they are in some ways a parallel to what I’m feeling with my career right now too.  I have many questions that I am contemplating right now and I am feeling my way to discovering my next self.