What's in a distraction?

9/13/2016

detail: Rough Copy, the comic

Fatal Distraction drawn for for Tapestry Topics, the newsletter for the American Tapestry Alliance ©Sarah C. Swett

But what does work look like?
And how can you identify a distraction when you meet it?

Stripes II (detail); Needlepoint comic wool/ cotton/ natural dyes ©Sarah C. Swett

What are distractions anyway, if not the first tiny steps -

Rough Copy, the comic (detail)

in pursuit of a dream?

Where they begin

and where they go

Stripes III (detail). Needlepoint comic - wool/ cotton/ natural dye ©Sarah C. Swett

(if anywhere at all)

is the great mystery.

Adult Beginners.... ©Sarah C. Swett 2014

But the only way to find out, is to begin.

Cathy Gillis

9/13/2016 01:20:54 pm

Fabulous illustrations. The fabric you stitch is such a wonderful medium to show the stillness, and the movement, of your inspiration. Wow!

Lynn

9/13/2016 04:22:14 pm

Your mind is fascinating.

Nancy Trissel

9/13/2016 05:52:33 pm

I love that your comics led you to express them in needlepoint. Fantastic.

Janet Kovach

9/14/2016 05:49:16 am

9.14.2016 Hmmmmmmmmm from the East Coast......maybe my distraction is to figure out what you are really saying here......my favorites of this post are the 2 illustrations in color----the one of the woman employing a dropspindle (don't know who is in the picture frame) and the one of the woman looking out to sea holding the red striped sock......were these painted on some type of handmade or commercially made canvas? If we were to travel inside your computer brain, I think we would find folders trying to find headings and eventually giving up....Creativity resists being sorted and labelled.....your artistry protests against being flung into different cartoons and you finally stuff it under your seat while weaving, knowing it will escape again......Are you fighting the urge to write a novel (I would recco the Gotham school in NYC---I have taken several excellent courses there) or do you want to write a weaving textbook with handmade samples taped in with the jagged piece of tape in your cartoon?...Somehow letters and words and language seem to infiltrate your blank woven canvases.

Sarah

9/15/2016 12:19:56 pm

What a fabulous response to a post, Janet! As fun to read as I hope it was to write. In answer to your question, the two pieces you liked best are details from a large three-panel stitched graphic story (each panel about 60" x 40"). The brown fabric you see is the needlepoint canvas and the images are stitched into it with wool. I call them needlepoint comics.

Thanks for the info about the Gotham Writer's workshops. Their offerings look most compelling -- esp as one can take some of them from across the country! Words sometimes do get really bossy, so we shall see if the words and images continue to infiltrate the blank woven canvases or insist, at some point, on pieces of paper...

Leonie link

9/27/2016 08:31:08 pm

This after all, is the shitty first draft! OMG so true and often the better for not being overworked. Distracting myself catching up on your recent posts and laughing out loud in recognition. Than you!

Comments are closed.

What's in a distraction?

Sarah C Swett
tells stories
with
and about
hand spun yarn.

Categories

Archives

What's in a distraction?

​Sarah C Swett tells storieswith​ and about hand spun yarn.

Categories

Archives

Sarah C Swett
tells stories
with
and about
hand spun yarn.