{WUW} Art Belies Beauty

3/1/2017

Image credit: "Unsettling Doll" by cerulean5000 (Flickr)

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. ~ Confucius

We all know the axiom, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". It speaks to the very personal interpretation of what you find attractive, but also our approach to the subject from a cultural perspective. From a scientific perspective we tend to find things that are symmetrical more attractive. I can think of several reasons why this might be the case, such as it denoting health and being free from imperfections. But beauty comes in so many forms and applications. And getting comfortable and secure in your tastes, especially when they differ from those of others, is a journey in and of itself.

Beauty's Myths

Venus Retrograde (3/4, 5:05 am EST). Venus, planet of love, beauty, and the things we hold dear to us is taking a break from her forward motion for the next few weeks. Retrogrades are always a time to re-evaluate your energy in a particular area of your life. It's a good time to think about & evaluate your idea of beauty now & how you interact with the concept in your life on a daily basis. Do you have any less than ideal thoughts about beauty you need to shed now?

Vesta direct (3/7, 4:32 am EST). Detail oriented Vesta turns her motion forward now finally. Her energy allows you to untangle hiccups better with focus & clarity. If you've had any projects that have been stumping you lately, re-visit them now with your renewed energy. What's a project that could use a bit more of your focus?

Holding Strong

I finally got to take my heart monitor off. I will be waiting a little while yet to see what the results are, but at least that one part is done. Meanwhile, my creativity & insomnia are still threatening to gang up on me. Between ideas and the late night surge in my energy it's a struggle to not just give in to the temptation.

Collaborative Conditions

Nation of Islam flag samples for K. Muhammad

I am finally winding up my study in colorwork. It feels like I have been working on this much longer than two weeks. I learned several things in the process of this design which I'm excited to apply in future designs.

My foray back into needle tatting, along with teaching myself to shuttle tat, is also leading off in exciting directions. During a scope by colleague & friend, Yolonda Jordan of My Pretty Brown Doll, I have gotten yet another idea. And speaking of possible collaborations, I might find myself doing another design collaboration this time with Lori-Ann Thompson of This Homespun Life.

With my pattern template finally updated I feel much more confident about releasing more. First I will be updating older patterns to reflect the new format, then I will move on to putting out my new patterns.

For the rest of my queue I'll be putting everything else aside for awhile. I am making my focus planning (which I still haven't finished for this year) & wrapping up those things that are really close to done, for once.

Artistic Considerations

Last week, among my usual topics, I talked about art as a political statement in the various ways that can be acted upon.

As I write this to you I'm considering the balance of creativity...doing (creating) & dreaming (designing). Much like the juxtaposition of neat & messy, a lot of assumptions can come into play there. It's easy to think that an artist, especially if it's not something you do professionally, does nothing but create all day. A fact of my own situation is that I spend most of my time doing anything but creating physical objects. There's blogging, marketing, photography, copywriting, pricing, among other things. Then there's the design process. This can refer to merely the planning part, as well as troubleshooting. Both are fraught with waiting & re-working the process as well. It's rare for me that I initially get my ideas just so as well, a fact many gloss over because the process & mistakes involved are often overlooked.

Staci Jordan Shelton

Amy Walsh

Another conversation that came up recently in a group I'm in was that of the "messy creative". We, Staci Jordan Shelton, Amy Walsh, and others, discussed our relation to "being neat" as artists and the realities of our actual creative process. For me, while I greatly appreciate order & tidiness, my creative process is often anything but. This can lead into trouble when it comes time to end the work for the day. Often when I work myself towards exhaustion, the lack of winding down leaves me not wanting to put anything away and instead just go off to bed immediately...or when my insomnia is acting up, not go to bed at all. It's a constant battle for me, to mind the ebb & flow, to not do anything to excess, yet still honor my natural tendencies.

Right Now

Eyelet Bow Pattern

After releasing my first pattern I found several areas I wanted to update and change to make the pattern better, because that's how it always happens right, lol. You can find the new & improved Eyelet Bow pattern available in my Ravelry shop.

Paisley Princess

This week I'm working on my Paisley Princess listing. I finally got around to sharing something ahead of time (before it's listed) on my Instagram so people there could get a jump on adding to their collection.

My most popular post on Instagram this week was last #WIPWedneday's Periscope announcement.