Embroidered Collage

I would do it differently, if I could go again.  I would choose a class, not by how much it seemed like it would directly help my artwork, but by how much it looked like it would challenge me.  I would use the week as a time to deliberately step outside of what I know and do something else.  I wanted to stretch myself, and it just didn't really happen that way this time.  I learned a couple new things, of course, and am glad of them, but it wasn't quite what I was hoping for.

Another odd and disturbing thing was that I got tired of doing art.  I had NEVER just created all day and certainly not multiple days in a row.  I got restless and actually a little bored.  I wanted to get up and do something else.  I wanted to channel part of the energy I had into marketing or writing or some such.  If I'd been in a groove, it could have been different, but I have trouble imagining being one of the artists who barely took time to eat during the week, constantly returning to the studio areas at odd hours.

Was it worth it?  Definitely.  I enjoyed the entire experience, although parts of it more so looking back than I did at the time...  Talking with other artists and seeing their work develop in such different ways than mine is always something I enjoy and getting to see work presented in exhibits and slideshows was great.  QSDS was worth the money and vacation time and even the ten hour drive.  But I don't need to go again next year, although I would like to do something similar in another three or five.  What I need to do is create more.

I hope you've enjoyed this series of posts, both text and visual about the experience of attending QSDS and the art I made while I was there.