Transference

The last few days have been about more work in progress, mostly using tracing paper and Sulky transfer pens to transfer my drawings onto a fabric collage background.  I love this technique.  It's so versatile and allows me to get the image in just the right spot.  When I sketch directly onto the fabric, there's not much room for error.  With the tracing paper, I can move the design around until I'm satisfied with it.

This piece is a collage of typical embroidery motifs, reinterpreted by me.  The theme I'm working with is theft, so "borrowing" and/or reinterpreting makes a kind of sense to me.

Ellis got into the game, too.  He's a little rough with the pens, in my opinion, but he did end up with a lovely piece.

On the emotional side, I am struggling a lot with doing art when there's parenting to be done.  I feel so guilty letting Sarah solo parent while I'm right there, just playing around and drawing.  I mean, how lazy is that?  At the same time, I know I need to do something besides parent.  So there's this tug-of-war going on inside me nearly all the time.  When the work isn't going well, I feel even worse.  I spent time away from my family to make this ugly thing?  How dare I?

I know most (all?) moms struggle with finding balance.  I imagine this will be an ongoing journey.