The girl with the red socks.  She’s the one who kept me from writing last week.  She kept beckoning me to come work on her.  Make my wings!  Put-on my socks!  So, other than the writing that I did in class last week, I chose to focus my creative energies on my girl.

I started this project, The Girl with the Red Socks, last Spring.  Had my girl painted along with a plain blue background and then summer came and it sat on a shelf up until a few weeks ago.  I was so excited to get back into this project because once all the groundwork is laid, things pick-up momentum, ideas start churning, and things really start getting fun.  While I had one idea for making wings, one from a book I had been studying, my art teacher suggested making paper mache wings and boy did they turn-out great!  The process of combining tissue paper, feathers, and glue was quite satisfying…I don’t think I could ever be one who only paints, as I love pulling-in different mediums and watching the texture grow.

The red socks are significant to me as they represent that “wild hair” in me that just wants to color outside the lines sometimes.  While many admire my seemingly serene, relaxed presence, I enjoy knowing that there is more to me than meets the eye.  Yes, I am an introvert, but I do have a lot to say, I just don’t share it with everyone, especially if I have to compete to get a word in edgewise.  That said, I scored this great red wool sweater for $2.oo at the Goodwill, felted it in my washer and dryer and could not wait to put the finishing touches on my girl!

After taking oodles of photos, trying to capture the essence of this project, I realized that my camera lens was on manual focus for a good 3/4 of the photos (I thought things were a bit cloudy!), but I ran-out of time before heading-out to lunch with a girlfriend and did not have the chance to retake them.  I considered retaking them this week so that things would be in better focus, but since I am still in the midst of my “Six Weeks of Raw Writing,” I am excited to share my imperfect work with you…Just in case you can’t read the words on her dress, they say, “Be Yourself!”

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