Embrace the Suck

I recently read a book that had a big influence on my creativity. It is "It's Great to Suck at Something," by Karen Rinaldi. I highly recommend it. The title might be off-puting, because of the word suck. The author's proviso is that we ought not suck at important things, such as our jobs. But hobbies, that is different. Her main hobby is surfing, which she started at age 40. She loves to surf, and invests a lot of time and money into her hobby. By starting in mid life, she doubts she'll be a great surfer, but she is mostly ok with that. The book goes on to share Buddist philosophies, and to talk about not being a perfectionist. Perfectionists are annoying. As one of my friends said, the only thing I'm perfect at is annoying myself. hahaha. Two of m daughters are involved in SCA events. SCA is a historical reenacting group. They are very involved, making their own historically accurate garments, camping out and having festivals, and teaching each other historical skills. Diane has been chosen as the barroness for the upcoming year, starting the end of August. Her emblem is a bear, with a group of garlic flowers over it's head.

Her new gown will be purple silk, made in a historical middle ages design. It will be embellished with amethysts. I decided to make her a banner like her emblem, in flag size out of rip stop nylon. I had left over supplies from a recent garden flag, and as synchronicity would have it, her bear became purple. I printed off the emblem, and drew graph lines to hep me enlarge it with free hand drawing. This is where the suck came in. I nearly froze when I started to draw a bear on a 3 foot scale. But I told myself, it's great to suck ata drawing, and went for it. After feeling discouraged at my bear, I googled line drawings of bears. They are a wide range, and really anything goes. The nose and the narrow eyes are the key. The next tricky part was then cutting into the purple rip stop nylon. I didn't have extra to spare. But I laid the paper on the fabric and got brave. Once I let go of trying to make it good, it got fun and it turned out great. Diane's bear looks fierce. My bear looks like she is ready to tear into a log for bugs and honey. Even with the eyebrow she is more cuddly than fierce. That is ok.

I foundAnd, here is my some fancy fringe for the bottom of the banner. I did some thread painting to add details.