stuck in place

I'm stuck. Well, mired down. Mostly over a couple of big pieces I've been working on...

© 2010 BJ Parady

These are parts of the largest piece I've tried to make in a while...it's a piece I have targeted for submission to Quilt National--which is the reason this is all you'll ever see of it (until after I get my rejection that is). I have the vision, just don't know how I want to realize it. I have 3 or 4 ideas in mind, but if one of them really felt like the right one, I'd probably be doing it instead of staring at the pieces on my wall.

And then there's a piece I'm trying to make about the Gulf Oil Spill...it's coming along, and I want it to be political in the sense of depicting the despair I feel about the situation. But. I'm having trouble making the leap between worrying about composition and value and technique to message. Maybe the message isn't resolved enough in my head yet...

So I putter around doing other things. I'm making small pieces to give Etsy another go--mostly 8x10 pieces that will sell for around $100. I had to move a bunch of stuff in my studio to make way for a repairman, then move it back. I weed. I do household chores.

© 2010 BJ Parady

But always, just at the back of my mind, are the nudging prospects for these two pieces--when will I just jump in and finish them however? Maybe the details don't matter as much as I think they do. Maybe this will be the year I get accepted at QN. Maybe.

In the meantime, I need to watch the stink horns grow under my maple tree.