Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Back to the Black Box

I tell my coworkers that I do my best thinking when I'm not thinking.  The left-brained bean counters look at me cross-eyed, but the design engineers totally get it. There's lots of evidence that the subconscious really gets going when the conscious mind shuts down for one reason or another (fatigue, almost asleep, or during a monotonous task). The conscious mind is a kind of built-in critic. When it's otherwise engaged, the subconscious ideas get a chance to take over, so to speak.

So it was after my class on Saturday. I was totally exhausted, totally wiped out, but I don't often get the opportunity to shop at QT (since it's a 40 minute drive from my house), so I wanted to check out the luscious fabrics. I was looking around, not for anything in particular, when this lovely dark presented itself. 

I had originally conceived the Black box as being lit by a spotlight, with the top part of the quilt in the dark.  But I set that idea aside because I wasn't sure how I could get a transition from dark to light to "work." I didn't like what I had come up with, so when my subconscious said, MAKE IT DARK, I was in no position to argue.

Regular readers will know of my long-standing disdain for the color brown. But I've made quilts with white backgrounds, and quilts with black backgrounds. Been there done that.  Besides, this brown batik has some lovely colored bits I thought would set off the lighter, "Before you can think" words.  So I bought some.

Last night, although I should have been doing the dishes and a bit of grocery shopping, or folding the laundry or (gasp!) balancing the checkbook... I went into the studio and did a bit of sewing.

When my students asked me, on Saturday, "How do you do it? How do you have a full time job, make quilts, write a blog and teach?" My answer was, "The housework goes straight to hell."

I guess it's gonna be there for a while.

9 comments:

Judy in Michigan said...

Beautiful fabric and the letters shine like neon. More, please!

Susan said...

"The housework goes straight to hell." Ain't that the truth? Housework is being moved to the top of my list today...no sewing related activities until this house is clean!

Quiltdivajulie said...

I do believe you are ON TO SOMETHING with this combination . . . and while the batik does contain "brown" it also contains tons of nuances and has great movement. Can't wait to see where you go with this version!

Lori R. said...

Ha Ha Ha ... our house hasn't been thoroughly cleaned since we bought our quilt shop seven years ago!

Camp Stanhope Happenings said...

I HATE housework, too--especially the fur from our 5 'furry kids'!!! So I do a little housework, then treat myself to reading or sewing.... some of it gets done, at least!!!

Queenie Believe said...

I really like the brown fabric of this block. Its yummy! I encourage you to embrace the warmth and magesty of brown. I think of it as fine finished wood which often complements and is best friends with other colors more so than black. Black can be like hard plastic showing imperfection in piecing execution with other colors due to it's high contrast. Gollies! I guess I'm a brown advocate -lol- :o) My personal color dislike is yellow with grey... We all have our color misfits :o)
Have a great day.
Always, Queenie

Cyndi loves to stitch said...

What is this word "housework"? My activities and vocabulary usually only hang around in my right brain and involve creative words and things, lol!!!

Not into batiks all that much, I do buy a few pretty ones here and there, but that brown is rich, a great background for before. GREAT find!

Sharon said...

You are so right about the conscious/subconscious brain thing. I get my best ideas when I'm half-awake or in the shower or something like that. And I've learned not to argue with or ignore my subconscious!

I think this brown batik is pretty cool! Lots of bright spots and other colors in there. I'm not that wild about brown either, but the new browns coming out now are really nice. They remind me of chocolate! We all love chocolate, right?

Housework? I try to avoid it as much as possible. It's not at the top of my "to-do" list anymore. Sometimes it can't be avoided, but I'd much rather play with fabric or on the computer.

Quilter Kathy said...

No housework going on at my house either...and that's the way it should be!!!