In her late 80’s, my mother is a whirlwind of activity. She is a Master quilter. Not exaggerating. This woman creates some of the most beautiful pieces I’ve ever seen. She belongs to three different quilting groups and her house is filled with gorgeous samples of her work.
But every once in a while she’ll get sick of quilting and phone me up and tell me about an art project she wants to do and asks me if I want to come along for the ride.
The variety of projects is nuts: ice dying shirts and material to quilt or wear, cyanotypes, mixed media collage, acrylic painting, pour painting and more.
The vibe in her converted garage studio is, for the most part, very chill. We play. We are not expecting our finished products to be hanging in the Louvre. When our projects turn out we are pleasantly surprised and proud of ourselves.
When a project doesn’t work out and we get frustrated my mom will stop what she’s doing and play the organ which is jammed in the corner of the studio. It helps her think clearly.
I tend to fill the air with interesting language, and huff and puff about stupid materials. Then I take a deep breath and have a pet therapy session with the resident pugs who are the epitome of chill.
And then of course we regroup, work through the issues and get back at it.
Stay chill and have fun with your art!
Roberta
Roberta Anderson 
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