Fabric ~ An Artful Medium

Yes. I am an artist. Well, I used to be - I did pen & ink drawings... some of them were amazing and I'm not too shy to say so here. It has been 10 years since I picked up a pen & ink pen, however. Sometimes, I wish I had the desire to draw again... especially to illustrate my children, but thankfully I've taken enough photos so that when their little-ness is gone, I will be able to still capture it in artform. That medium is on the back burner - for now.

Nonetheless, God has made me realize another artistic talent and I am really beginning to ponder on it more and more. Garments or sewn creations (i.e. quilts, crafts, etc...) are my canvas and fabric is my medium. I've always loved colors. Even in the art stores I would look at all the colors of paint (even though I can paint, I didn't really ever use paint as a medium) and admire them, read their color names and be fascinated by the different hues, tints and shades. Even as a child, I can remember being fascinated by the color crayon "color names" like 'Burnt Sienna' or 'Red-Orange' (didn't like) versus 'Orange-Red' (liked better); and then Green-Blue (didn't like) versus Blue-Green (liked)- my favorites, though, were 'Carnation Pink' and 'Sky Blue'. Heaven on earth for me was a box of 64 Crayola color crayons. Sometimes I would even color from the wrong end of the crayon, so that the tops would stay all pretty and nice.

Admittedly, I still look at fabrics and notions and define them with color-names, too... and love it when I can make a perfect match with a button or rick rack trim. I've been told that the average person retains the same color in their memory for 20 minutes. Mixing colors has always been a fun challenge for me, too.... I can usually tell what the underlying colors are/were used to make up a color; whether its warm or cool toned, or whether it's tinted or hued.

Having this fascination with color has transferred its artistic form into my world of sewing. Well... and among other things of my personality, I enjoy having all color choices before me so that I can pick. the. very. best. one. (but still have enough for another project - just in case I might need that exact shade of color for another choice later)

Colors make me happy. I like them. Is it weird to look at fabrics really, really close to see the fibers and how they printed all those colors so perfectly, so beautifully? I would thoroughly enjoy going to a fabric mill. I am a bit anal about color, I'll admit. I like things to coordinate. I can appreciate those who are gifted to be more eclectic in style, but I tend to go the more refined way of matching things... although, I can be swayed (sometimes).

I really have no idea why I posted all of this. I suppose to make the point that I like fabric. I like colors. And, I like the colors of the fabric prints, patterns, and the like that comprise the artful way of putting it all together.

An early 1900's Printing Room of a Cotton Mill . . . I would totally love to visit this place!