Welcome to the incarnation of my Creativity Newsletter! Although I am a newbie at this blog experience…my motivation is to be in touch with you , sharing the creative ideas and and projects that are growing out of my creative process. Some of you (who signed up for my newsletter last spring) probably though I was on a world journey…exploring new terrain somewhere  out of computer reach. To confess, I was overwhelmed with one more computer process keeping me away from the work I am most passionate about-so I put it on the back burner. I am so excited to be back! At the beginning of my new, more spontaneous  frontier: blogging!

We have so much to get caught up about…..I have a new studio in the Ashland Art Center here in Ashland, Oregon where I live. I can’t wait to share photos of my work in  progress there. It is wonderful to be in a community of other artists there as the Art Center grows into its own.  I am working on a spring workshop schedule which I will post on my site soon. If you are in the area, I will be hosting a Celebration Cloth workshop Jan. 8th and 9th, in downtown Ashland. There is more information available on  the workshop page of my website.

On the left, is one of my Celebration Cloth pieces: It is 25″ high and made out of fabrics that went through the flood with me and my children (in ‘95). Making this piece was about working through this life-changing experience and helped me to find my grounding again.

I have started writing a column in the magazine section of our local papers each month. The theme is around how cloth holds some of the most important  memories in our lives, and ways to create and live with some of those pieces as we move into the future. I am  offering some simple hands-on project ideas in some of the issues to get even a novice sewer into the process. Here is the link to the first article:

http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091029/HOMELIFE/910290356

Winter is often the perfect time for some of those projects that are in the ‘To do pile just for me’. Working on the Celebration Cloth articles and workshop are reminding me  how pivotal and precious these kinds of  projects are.They remind me to celebrate and appreciate the meaning of working with my hands and staying in touch with my heart.

Happy Almost New Year, stay tuned for lots of photos in future blogs! Diane

Here I am -at work in my studio space in the Ashland Art Center. I'll give you a tour on my next blog!