Stitches, Sketches, and a Wandering Muse

Well, I'm still in a slump that I can't seem to get out of. Doing a lot of TV watching and sleeping. Can't want to do anything, even the things I love to do. My muse is nowhere to be seen, or my want to either! Worsening cataracts and shaky hands isn't helping either. 😕 

I did manage to finish machine stitching the six foot long fabric roll (around the stitch meditations that were already hand stitched on) last week after I shared the beginning of it in a previous post. Not easy!

Now ready for buttons and a pretty lining fabric to cover the back!

You have to look close, but here's a close up of the machine stitching.

Earlier this week I played at sketching faces from TV on the smooth page with a gel pen and a face from Pinterest with a stabilo pencil on the textured page of my sketchbook. Sometimes, I think I just get worse all the time instead of better..., but at least I"m still trying, even if my heart isn't in it right now.

Yesterday morning, this Conte pastel pencil was laying handy, so I picked it up on the way to the kitchen to make coffee and did a quick sketch, from imagination, in my Wandering Muse Journal from Jeanne Oliver's class. It's on a thickly applied gessoed raw canvas page, which I used a brush end to texture, before letting it dry. This page, and the journal, are still very much works in progress. 

To all of you who are struggling, as I am, even a little bit of creativity is better than none. Let's not give up! OK? 😊