Still working on a series

Good morning everyone. I hope everyone enjoyed the series of posts on working on a series. I’ve been travelling and I’m back and ready to go back on the road again, but even while I was away, vessels, vases and pots caught my attention at every turn.

If you follow along on Instagram and Facebook, you may have seen me post some of the ones I saw while in Portugal. In places like Vila Viçosa, Évora, Lisbon, and others. Small vases as decorative borders, medium vessels to hold flowers and plants, and huge, very old vessels used for wine and olive oil, literally thousands of years old.

So I took pictures, and dreamt at night of work to be done when I got back and had the time to engage my creativity once again. Someone saw me taking some photos of clay pots while walking around and asked me what I found so interesting about a “clay pot”, that I wanted to photograph them from every angle. So I explained why they fascinate me: look at the colours on the third one for instance: the blacks and greens, grays, oranges and reds. The textures, lines and shapes. The tile work on the sidewalk where it was resting appealed to me, too. Small pieces of tile arranged around the base of it. The contrast of the colour of the pot and the colour of the sidewalk. Moss and mold and old age …

Travelling in the countryside, seeing small towns and villages with castles atop hills; ruins and old walls. Brown against green. Stork nests on high voltage lines like condos for birds. History mixed with pride. Every single thing you see, smell and hear informs work. Lists of ideas abound on how to incorporate the sights and sounds of a country into my work.

With deadlines for articles looming and teaching, my work on the series has taken a step back. But the nice thing about creativity is that it is always there, waiting for us when the moment is right.

A short post today, as it’s been busy times. But I wanted to touch base with you and say hi. I wonder if you have considered working on a series? Have you ever done any series work? If you’ve made three pieces around the same idea, then the answer is yes! Share below as I’d love to know what you think about the idea.

Until I write again, stay creative and keep stitching. Enjoy Spring,

Ana