Is there an Angel of Procrastination?

A wise woman (who is 20 years my junior, imagine that?) asked me once how I could work on so many projects as once – the answer is, when I’m trying to avoid a difficult project.

Hey, I can distract myself with a million other shiny things to make when I’m frozen with indecision.

Now that the deadline is bearing down, I finally decided to start working on my contribution for the Eastman Angel display due November 1.

Here she is in all her glory at Crown Hill Cemetery:Isn’t she amazing?  Let’s look at that face again:I stumbled across a series of wonderful posts by Lyric Kinard on taking baby steps to becoming more creative.  Here is the first of her series of posts that go through September.

In the interest of moving off dead center, I took Lyric’s advice and have been doing a few things every day or so to shake loose some inspiration (because obviously, sitting around and stewing about it hasn’t worked.)

My sketchbook has gotten cobwebs so I loosened up with some doodles and I tried to sketch her – no judging, let’s just get something on the paper.

So, I sketched her:over:and over:and over and over and over but really just couldn’t feel the connection (although the last sketch isn’t too bad.)

So, I tried a little thread sketching (sewing machine, free-motion quilting with black thread) using the full body photo and a piece of splotchy painted fabric:They may look fine, but I’m not yet making the connection with her that I wanted.  There’s just something that isn’t clicking.

I set up my makeshift light table this morning.  (It ain’t pretty, but it works.)I use my plexiglas sewing extension between my sewing table and side table and balance a small Ott light on a set of plastic drawers under the plexiglas and traced her face onto a piece of muslin.  Here is my traced image again:

Even tracing has it’s lessons.  I started the muscle memory with the sketching, and the tracing is helping me with shading and line.

Right now it is just SOMETHING  – one step closer to figuring out what I want to do.

I may want to paint her, or use her in a larger collage.  Also I can’t quite let go of an image that I’ve read about that appears in European, and especially Scottish cemeteries – that of the “green man.”  I keep thinking he would make a nice contrast to the angel – maybe as a leafy border.  (I’ve not seen many images of the “green man” in the cemeteries I’ve visited here in the US- here’s a link to a fabulous blog by Frieda Oxenham, another cemetery-loving quilter that lives in the U.K.)

I think I’m getting somewhere but I’m not sure where I’m headed yet.  Well, back to my distractions.  Taking another baby step a little later today-

All the best -

Chris