Inspiration – Melanie Testa

artful reboot

For a long while, perhaps a year or more, I have been having a hard time artistically. I needed to get a part time job, and I did. Its a good job, I like it. As in most things I do, I jumped fully into the job, started taking more hours, I began volunteering forContinue reading “artful reboot”

The sun will come out tomorrow.

I am walking the city, doing my thing, enjoying myself as I go. I prepare for a full day of Playful Fabric Printing. My dyes are mixed, my stamps, stencils and TFax screens are ready. I will begin printing as soon as I get there. In the meantime, it is Thursday and I like toContinue reading “The sun will come out tomorrow.”

Being inspired.

Sometimes I love nothing better than to open my eyes, and create the ability to see. What I mean by that is, when I go for a walk, I hope to see things the average ho-hum day might not reveal. I try to see peripherally, as if my sight was a one hundred and eighty degreeContinue reading “Being inspired.”

Listening to quiet.

Stitching is a quiet and soothing activity. It is meditative in nature, the world becomes each stitch. The needle emerges, gets a small tug, and then is pushed back through, again and again. It is a slow and steady activity. Expressing ideas with needle and thread is rewarding. Lines become images, small stitches becomeContinue reading “Listening to quiet. “

Paint, sand, paint.

I have been feeling creatively stifled, lately. And when I think about what might help move the energy and spark change, painting with acrylics keeps coming up. I don’t really ‘know’ how to paint with acrylics, which is good, it means the playing field is wide open and I get to make theContinue reading “Paint, sand, paint.”

Dots, Patterns, Quilts and Inspiration

I have been seeing pattern and dots everywhere. I love them. It started because I bought a copy of Victoria Findlay Wolfe‘s book 15 minutes of Play, and I fell in love with one of the quilts displayed in her book. The quilt is called Dot Calm, and was made by Karen Griska. I have beenContinue reading “Dots, Patterns, Quilts and Inspiration”

Two Years

Two years ago today, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. What a roller coaster this has been. Diagnosed, book contract, chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, making art, writing about it, Switzerland, Dreaming from the Journal Page, getting used to being a flat chested woman. Oh, did I mention the love and care that I was showeredContinue reading “Two Years”

Breath of Fresh Air

Last week I took myself out for a much needed day on the town. I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where I stumbled upon what is probably the smallest exhibit there, Gems of European Lace. It took me about 5 minutes of trying to locate room 599 before asking a guard where the roomContinue reading “Breath of Fresh Air”

Please don’t feed the hipsters.

Once a week my Man and I walk up to our favorite coffee joint and help open it. And now, as the weather improves, I have begun to walk afterward. I love walking. I walk fast enough that you might call it running, I can’t slow it down. But when I bring my camera, thatContinue reading “Please don’t feed the hipsters.”

Finding Inspiration

Textile Design and its history is fascinating to me. I would love to gather more books on the topic, but in the meantime, I would like to share a few books with you just in case you haven’t heard of them before. Textile Designs: Two Hundred Years of European and American Patterns Organized by Motif,Continue reading “Finding Inspiration”