Category: Textured Fiber Paintings

(Feeling) Enlightened – New Work!

New work! I completed (Feeling) Enlightened recently so today’s post will be short and sweet to focus on the photos.

(As I always do, I’ve written a poem that goes with this piece. To read it, please visit my poetry website – www.piningforpoetry.com.)

© 2020, Hilary Clark, “Enlightened”, Fiber, 34-½” x 23”
Image credit: Hilary Clark

(Feeling) Enlightened…

I promised to keep the words brief but do want to share this. I chose to create Enlightened to help the viewer understand enlightenment isn’t something you need to struggle to achieve.

Moments of enlightenment happen all the time. Every time you have an AHA! moment, you’re enlightened. Every time you look up at the clock to discover hours have passed, you’ve been in a state of enlightenment.

Feeling enlightened is feeling those bright sparks of genius we all experience. It’s a lightness of being that comes from the heart to suspend you outside time and space as you watch the answers appear with ease.

I just want you to know you don’t have to chase enlightenment. It’s already inside you. All you need to do to feel it is pay attention.

Detail views…

“Enlightened” – raw edge fused applique, machine stitched – detail view
Image credit: Hilary Clark
“Enlightened” – raw edge fused applique, machine stitched – detail view
Image credit: Hilary Clark
“Enlightened” – raw edge fused applique, machine stitched – detail view
Image credit: Hilary Clark
“Enlightened” – raw edge fused applique, machine stitched – detail view
Image credit: Hilary Clark

Exit through the gift shop…

Enlightened is available for purchase for $2500 and would look fantastic on the wall of your home or office (or home office 🙂 ) or in your meditation space. If you’d like to own this piece, you have two options:

1) Contact me directly and let me know you’d like to buy Enlightened.
2) Visit my Etsy shop and purchase it there.

If you’re ready for a private (virtual) showing of my art, you can schedule an appointment here.

To discuss commissioning me to make a textured fiber painting specifically for you or someone you love, please schedule an exploratory commissioning conversation and we’ll see what we can create together.

If you liked what you read (or watched if you chose the video), please share with the one person you absolutely know would like it too!

Showcase Piece: Inquisitive

In today’s article, I’m showcasing another piece from my portfolio – Inquisitive, the second piece made as part of my Feelings series.

Please keep reading to learn more about why I chose the colors and shapes I did to make this textured fiber painting. If you’re rather watch and listen, jump to the video at the end.

(c) Hilary Clark, “Inquisitive”, Fiber, 18″ x 23″
Image credit: Hilary Clark

Inquisitive was an experiment…

Inquisitive is one of the smaller pieces in the Feelings series, measuring 18” x 23”. There are two eyelet hangers stitched on the back, allowing it to hang on the wall with the use of a couple of small nails.

This piece doesn’t have the same dense stitching as the first in the series, or many that followed. I was experimenting with how much stitching I wanted to include and this piece, with its more representational shapes, seemed to call for a wider stitch pattern.

Why I chose yellow…

I chose yellow for the canvas because this color symbolizes curiosity and inquisitiveness to me. I tend to think and feel in color so when I’m choosing the canvas color for one of my textured fiber painted feelings, I go inside and ask my intuition what color best represents the feeling. When I did that for Inquisitive, yellow’s what rose out of my subconscious.

As with all of the Feelings series, the canvas is made up of different shades of the canvas color. I create a tissue paper pattern following the full outline of the piece, then divide that pattern into individual segments along abstract, flowing curves. Each segment uses a different shade of yellow in this piece, mostly solids, but occasionally I’ll use patterned fabric as I did here.

The “why” behind the design…

Once the canvas is created, I overlay the design elements on top. For Inquisitive, I chose question marks because to be inquisitive is to question. They symbolize the curious aspect of being inquisitive as you seek answers.

In addition to the slightly wider stitching, roughly ½” between each stitch line as opposed to my usual ¼” to ⅛” distance, this piece also uses more defined, real shapes with the question marks and the eyes overlaying each mark. I was still exploring how I wanted to best create feelings out of fiber and this piece, when compared with the rest of the series, is a bit of a departure. However, it is still an abstract with bright, bold colors and so it fits into the series in that way.

Inquisitive – detail views
Image credit: Hilary Clark

There’s always a poem…

The majority of my work includes a poem on the back. Each poem is inspired by the textured fiber painting and so each piece includes a copy of its poem fused to the backing as the label. I thought I’d share Inquisitive’s poem with you.

(Feeling) Inquisitive

What is the meaning of
life? Is it purpose,children,
love,or just living?

Why is the sky
blue, the grass green,
my hair turning grey? Are
these childish questions?

Who is God? Have you
met Him? On the other hand, is it 
Her? Is it both? What does 
God looks like?

When will the world
end? Have you wondered?
Do you care?

How do we know when
chicken is cooked or 
black currants are
ripe? Will you ask Google?

Where do the rabbits in my
backyard make their
nest? Are they happy?

I wonder…are you as
inquisitive as I am?

Exit through the gift shop…

If you’re interested in owning Inquisitive, it can be purchased for $750 through my Etsy shop, HilaryClarkStudios. Or reach out to me directly and we can make arrangements to get this piece into your home.

If you’re ready for a private (virtual) showing of my art, you can schedule an appointment here.

To discuss commissioning me to make a textured fiber painting specifically for you or someone you love, please schedule an exploratory commissioning conversation and we’ll see what we can create together.

If you liked what you read (or watched if you chose the video), please share with the one person you absolutely know would like it too!

Full Reveal – New Work: (Feeling) Connected

It’s time to pull back the curtain for the full reveal of (Feeling) Connected! I finished this piece and it’s ready to share. I hope you enjoy it!

Please keep going to read about the inspiration behind this piece and more. If you’re rather watch and listen, jump to the video at the end.

Connected: art quilt, textured fiber painting
(c) 2020, Hilary Clark, “Connected”, Fiber, 34-1/4″ x 23-1/4″, $2500
Image credit: Hilary Clark

The inspiration…

As always with my Feelings series, most of my inspiration comes from my empathetic nature. This holds true for Connected as well.

When we first moved to Florida in late March, I knew there were two pieces I wanted to make. The first was Isolated, which I completed in May. The second is this piece – Connected. I couldn’t make one without making the other. The two pieces mirror each other and each includes squares as design elements, but there the similarity ends.

Using the slider, you can see a side by side comparison of Connected and Isolated, shown to demonstrate the mirror imaging in overall shape and the contrast in design
Image credit: Hilary Clark

While Isolated was inspired by a cross-country move in the middle of a pandemic, Connected was inspired by its polarity to isolation. Even before the rising tide of the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, I knew I’d make Connected. I had to. It represents the connection we all have to each other, black or white, due to the irrefutable fact of our humanness.

I feel this connection, constantly. I sometimes see it, as strands of sparkling light, connecting me to everyone and everything, ala the Matrix. That doesn’t mean I don’t have loads to learn; it just means I feel the connection and so I choose to do what strengthens it, rather than what weakens it.

My color choices…

For Connected, I chose the canvas palette colors of black and white because, in my mind, connection is that straight-forward. There’s no grey to the connection that exists between all of humanity.

The black and white squares represent individuals, houses, neighborhoods, countries. Some are mostly black, some are mostly white (and of course some are mostly brown – I just don’t possess any brown fabric and that fabric choice didn’t play well with the contrast I was trying to achieve).

Connected: Detail views
Image credit: Hilary Clark

The connecting design elements – the waves of varying colors – represent the rainbow of uniqueness and individuality that exists for all of us. We are at once completely different from each other and yet remarkably the same, with flesh and blood and bone.

What this piece symbolizes…

Each square is linked to the others through the colored wave elements, a network of connection that can’t be broken, no matter how hard we might try.

The connection is ultimately a spiritual one, regardless of the form your belief system takes. We are all made of magical star stuff, coming from Spirit, choosing this human experience to learn and grow and love.

(Feeling) Connected is meant to symbolize the connection of universal love. I felt that connection as I was making this piece. In your viewing of it, I hope you can feel it too.

(To read the poem that accompanies this piece, you can do so here.)

Exit through the gift shop…

Connected is available for purchase and is listed at $2500. If you’d like to own this densely stitched, fused raw edge appliqué textured fiber painting, please get in touch.

If you’re ready for a private (virtual) showing of my art, you can schedule an appointment here.

To discuss commissioning me to make a textured fiber painting specifically for you or someone you love, please schedule an exploratory commissioning conversation and we’ll see what we can create together.

If you liked what you read (or watched if you chose the video), please share with the one person you absolutely know would like it too!

New beginnings

Today’s the first day I’m “broadcasting” from my combined business, where I’ve pulled my Harmony Coaching work under my Hilary Clark Studios umbrella. Thank you to everyone who subscribes to these posts. I truly appreciate it!

For those who’ve been following along with Harmony Coaching, the weekly articles with video will continue on topics related to developing, growing, and maintaining a creative practice. They’ll just come from Hilary Clark Studios now.

For those who’ve been following Hilary Clark Studios, you’ll start receiving the weekly posts I mentioned above. The monthly studio update will be one of those posts, so there’ll still be photos of my work in progress and/or full reveals of finished work. Yay!

Creativity is our greatest gift but many either take it for granted or, worse, believe they’re not creative. I’m working to change that – to help the secret rebel inside us all reconnect to his or her innate creativity so the child who still lives inside can come out and play. If that sounds like you, you’re in the right place!

Even if you believe you have some creative spark within you, you may not see how you could apply that creativity to everything you do, including your job. Or you’re not making time to do creative things because it feels foolish. Or you feel like whatever you make has to be perfect, otherwise, it’s just not worth your time.

These are the topics I’ll address in the weekly articles. I hope you’ll stick around.

What’s stopping you from being creative? Share in the comments or DM me. If you’d like to talk about how you could start, get in touch and we’ll set up time to talk.

If you liked what you read, please share – someone else might like it too!

Studio Update: April 2020

I missed a studio update in March but I had a great reason.  At the end of February, my partner received a job offer that required relocation from Chicago, Illinois to West Palm Beach, Florida.  March was spent preparing for and executing the move.  Thankfully, his new employer included payment for this relocation as part of his job offer so we purged and someone else packed, loaded, and shipped.  We’ve settled into our new home (renting for a while) and he’s going to work daily.  He works in construction, which is an essential business during the corona virus pandemic.

View from the back porch at the old house. Brrr!

View from the back porch at the new house. Yay!

I already worked from home for myself as a Leadership Trainer and Coach, so I just shifted to a new room in a new house.  However, the cross country move in the middle of a shelter-in-place pandemic also shifted my thinking about that business.  The whole reason I wanted to work for myself was to have the freedom to make more art.  And yet, building a business requires a great deal of time.  Art making didn’t go up.  And that hurt my heart.  I’m processing what it is I really want to do with my training and coaching business.  In the meantime, I’m upping my creative making time and I’m back in the studio.

When I’m not in the studio working on my latest textured fiber painting and not working on my coaching business, I’m mapping out a plan to build an art business, as opposed to or in addition to, the coaching business (that’s part of what I’m processing).  I’ve started writing a novel.  I’m developing digital wall art using messages I receive from my meditations.  I’m considering creating wall art from my poetry and from famous poets.  I may offer embroidered pieces with inspirational statements.  I’m absolutely going to create a guided journal to help inspire personal growth.  I’m brainstorming a LOT of art ideas and I’m thinking about how and where I want to offer them for sale.  I’ll keep you posted here and on social media (if we’re not connected on Facebook or Instagram, let’s fix that, OK?)  Links to each are here:

Facebook (Personal)
Facebook (Art Page – Hilary Clark Studios)
Instagram

For now, my big project is my latest textured fiber painting, (Feeling) Isolated.  The other day, I realized my textured fiber painting Feeling series has been built off the empathy hits I get from the Global Human Collective when it’s time to choose a feeling for the next piece.  For example, I made Grief in the first couple months of this year; a feeling that was sitting deep inside the Collective and which has risen to prominence during these #quarantimes.  Now I’m making Isolated (which is a pretty obvious connection 😊).

Isolated – Canvas
(c) Hilary Clark

Isolated – Mono Print
(c) Hilary Clark

Isolated – Progress
(c) Hilary Clark

Watch this space for news about my art business decisions, updates on new work, and musings on living a creative life.

Next up: I’ll continue work on Isolated.  Full reveal expected in May.  And I’ll continue to brainstorm and create other offerings.

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Info about my Feelings series: I interpret my random abstract doodles as emotions.  The guiding point is the outer boundary of the doodle.  The boundary evokes the feeling and is based on the empathetic connection I feel to the Global Human Collective.  From there, I contemplate how to bring that particular feeling alive in fiber to reflect the emotion most prevalent within the Collective at the time the feeling is chosen.

~

My art is my work and the majority is for sale.  Please visit my Gallery to view the items for sale.  If you’re interested in purchasing any of my creations, please contact me via this site.

Thanks for visiting my studio!