Inspiration Thursdays

I've been feeling the need to blog about more that just my work. There are so many great  artists out there, especially embroidery artists. I can be a gathering of resources, ideas and inspirations. I'm always stumbling upon great people and ideas, but I don't really have a way to organize. I'm going to try and make Inspiration Thursday a weekly thing to get those juices flowing for the weekend.

Who/What did I find this week? Well, if you haven't visited Mr. X Stitch already, I highly recommend it. It's one of my favorite blogs of all time. The shear quantity of contemporary embroiderers and their fantastic work is mind boggling, but they also do posts on the history (which really gets my noodle going). Art historian here, always looking for the historical reference and context.

The artist that I teased out of Mr. X Stitch this week is Donna Sharrett. By the By, These are all pictures from her website. If you would like to read the little write up of her work that Mr. X Stitch did click here. But the gist is that she uses lots of very different materials, from beads to synthetic hair to blue jeans to make splendidly intricate mandalas. Donna's work struck me for two reasons. The first being that I art-gasms for anything that is small, pretty and delicate. I love having to get really up close to some this to see all the fine details. Maybe that is why I'm attracted to stitchery, it's a lot of small, intricate, up close and personal work. Plus, I love small and intricate because it's so much easier to lug around with me on my many moves, and I've moved a lot. The things that I've managed to hang on to are the small light things. It's a medieval art concept that always made sense to me. Make things small, intricate, useful, and easy to grab if the vikings come. Needless to say I'm in love with Donna's work and I'm going to have to buck up and buy beading needles so that I can add bling to my pieces.

 Now that I have a new apartment, I immediately start thinking about feng shui-ing and decorating. The light fixture in the dining room is hideous. I asked the landlord before I signed the lease if I could change it. Luckily, he agreed, and now I'm on the hunt for a better chandelier. Google had an interesting furniture designer's work for it's logo today. I had never heard of Josef Frank, but I am an immediate fan. So, if I can't find a better chandelier then I will make funky shade covers like his. Because, that is what the dining room light fixture looks like, except for browner and more eighties. Which is another rant that I'm going to write about later. There is not enough articles written on how to furnish a basement apartment! Some good, stylish  people live in basements, so why isn't there more out there on how to work with - no light, little air circulation, and bad carpet jobs. Like I said, that is a rant for another time.