Friday Inspiration - First Quarter Fiber Art Challenge

If you've been following this blog through the autumn and early winter months, you know I decided to push myself and participate in several bead/jewelry challenges each month.  I can't emphasize how much this has helped me get out of my usual box of how I approach my art work.  I wrote some about it here.  

When I was in art school, the ideas seemed to flow!  Every semester there were new assignments to work on, new techniques to push my art abilities, and people to share art making with.  People who were also working on the same assignments and with the same new techniques - and who showed me ways of approaching problems I'd never even considered.  I was scared to death of critiques when I first went back to school.  This is the culmination of each assignment where you present the piece you worked on and, hopefully, completed.  Everyone then talks about it - what went right, what went wrong, how they interpret what you've created.  These quickly became the classes I looked forward to most!  Sharing what I'd made and seeing what others created with the same parameters was not just educational, it was also lots of fun!

With all these things in mind, I've been looking for fiber art challenges.  I've found several that are specific to certain types of fiber art - such as quilting challenges.  I've found ones that are actually entering your artwork into shows.  What I would really like is a challenge that can be done with any type of fiber art, because I'm all over the board on what I like to work with.  And one that I don't feel the pressure of actually entering a show or gallery presentation.  Just something to work on that I'll be able to share with others who worked on the same challenge, talk about what we did, look at everyone's interpretations and inspirations .... have fun!

So I've decided to host fiber art challenges on this blog.  There are a LOT of people who read this blog - you can check out the always changing number of followers at the left.  And my analytics tell me that every month there are 20,000 to 30,000 page views.  I really, really, really hope that some of you out there will want to give it a try!

I'm going to try four a year.  There will be a photograph, painting, or piece of art that is not fiber art to work with.  Use any technique that is associated with fiber art - there's a lot to work with!  Make it big, small, somewhere in between.  Create something in a few hours or take all three months to work on it.  This can be the first time you've ever used this technique or something you've spent your life practicing.

At the end of March, I'll put up a link you can use to post a photo of your work and a link (if you wish) to a blog, Facebook page, or anywhere else you'd like to talk about what you created.  The rest of us can make positive comments about what we like best.  

Are you in??!!!  Great!!!  Let's get started with the first challenge!

The first quarter's challenge is a photograph I took on a frosty morning on our farm.  We get a lot of fog here and it often "freezes out" covering everything in sparkling diamonds.  I've been inspired by these wonderland creations for years and have always meant to create something based on them.  

Any way your inspiration leads you, go with it!  You might chose to work with the colors, or the theme of frost or winter, or something else that others would never even think of.  You might chose to copy the photo with fibers.  I'll post updates on my piece and cheer everyone on.  On your mark, get set, go!!

Happy Creating!  Deborah