Sluggy progress on Salish Sea Mandala #1

This last week, I got a new sink in my studio.  Huzzah!  Now I can paint, dye and silkscreen without running into the house and around the corner to the kitchen sink every time I need fresh water.  That meant moving around all the shelves on that wall, and adding a couple over the sink, so my progress on Salish Sea Mandala #1 was less than I had hoped for.  However, I still made the milestone of completing the top which is now ready for stitching.

I like the wavy edges on the different sections and I know what kind of stitching I want to do around the salmon stream and the fish themselves.  I think I'll wait until I have that stitching in place to try and decide if I want to make the piece smaller or add another circle around the center.  I also think I need to paint the white patches in the fabric around the globe as right now those patches compete with the globe for attention.  Fortunately I have a smallish scrap of that fabric left so I can do some painting trials before working on the actual piece.

It's good to see that even with frequent rest breaks, I can make noticeable progress when I focus on just one thing. 

Salish Sea Mandala series or transitioning from Energizer Bunny to Slug

Fall is here in the PNW as signified by rain, clouds and the start of crowds of kids on corners in the morning.  This is one of those times of year when I stop and take a look at how I'm doing overall.  As part of that look this year, I realized I need to accept that this sudden and severe change in energy may be permanent.  I've gone from being an Energizer Bunny to being a Slug.  Despite the sadness that realization brings, I'm also realizing that slugs get where they're going by persisting.  And having one goal.  So, I'm doing one thing at a time now and the big goal for this next year is creating a body of work with the working title "Salish Sea Mandalas".

I started this first piece by pulling the 3 salmon out of the "in progress" drawer.  Then I picked fabrics, and started cutting and fusing.  This process was going well until I started to add the background fabric and discovered I had seriously miscalculated how much I needed. 

So here's the center motif without the background.  As for my slugginess, I am discovering that I can work about 2-3 hours a day for 3-4 days a week.  This time gets split between making things in the studio and doing the computer work that goes along with the making.   As I recalibrate my  expectations, I will be blogging weekly about where I am so I can measure my progress.  I'm not yet to the point of putting a slug as my profile pic, but I'm getting more comfortable with my pace and I'm working to embrace my inner slug.