The bird is flying

the face and headdress, probably finished today

Good progress working on Plumage today. I feel the work is more than half finished now. I finally got to that pleasing stage where it no longer feels like the discipline of "work"  -  as in, that place where you have to keep plugging away and have no certainty that the idea will succeed aesthetically. I took the textile I had been creating for the lower part of the body a few days ago and cut it up into leaf shaped fragments and then machine appliqued the pieces to the canvas leaving large areas of the background showing through. These pieces will be integrated with more stitching and painting in a similar way to how the headdress has been embellished today. One of the important things I have learned as an artist is to persevere with the struggle and uncertainty when you start a new work and to keep going until it segues past the ugly and awkward beginning stages. It doesn't always work out, of course, as sometimes there are failures, and its equally important to come to terms with those and to learn the confidence when to abandon them before they take up too much valuable time and before you become mired in frustration and doubts about your ability. I think I have about every 4-5th work end up in a blind alley and have to set them aside and turn to some other idea.

the whole canvas

close up, face, headdress textile and stitching

Rodney is away in Melbourne tonight....hello, beloved husband! He is staying with a dear old friend whose wife passed away a few days ago to support and assist him during the secular commemoration gatherings of family and friends.