Work In Progress

So this is a week of First Evers.  I'm going to start sharing my creative process and pieces I'm working on.  If you have any questions please leave me comments, and I'll do my best to be prompt in answering.
So... without further adieu, Welcome to the inside of my brain!

I'm currently working on a body of work which will encompas most of the processes I love to work with.  When it's done, there will be a dress, quilt, sweater, vessel series, and soft sculpture - all relating to the same theme but illustrating different experiences within it.

Pieces have FINALLY started coming together, but I'm going to go back in time and start off by showing the beginning of my process. 

Those of you who know me, know I'm not the strongest sketcher, so ideas usually start forming as words in my mind.  When these words start taking shape as form I find it really useful to write down their descriptions, with small sketches that probably only I can understand, in order to work out the kinks.  Mind mapping (starting with the idea and then taking 10 minutes or so to write down any words that come to mind regarding it, without judgement) is also a huge aid for me, as well as writing down journal entries.  It's only in writing these journal entries and mind maps that I figure out how I really feel about a subject, and then what direction I want it to take - what I want it to be saying.  It's like having a conversation with the hidden parts of my brain.

This sketch and mind map are the beginning stages of my first piece this semester.  It will be a sweater in progress which combines many symbolic fibers to create a metaphor.