Location Taken: Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland
Time Taken: July 2012
I’ve spent much of the last day just sitting at my computer, watching some anime, and working on a cross-stitch pattern. And before you ask, yes, the anime is in Japanese with English Subtitles, no, I don’t know more than basic sentences in Japanese, and yes, I can read fast enough to keep up with the show and work on my project at the same time.
I’ve done cross-stitch as a hobby for many years, on and off. Every so often I’ll get the urge to pick up needle and thread again and will go the the craft store, pick out a pattern, and get stitching. I’ve only finished a handful of projects. I have none on display. But I still enjoy it.
There’s something very compelling about working on creating artwork very slowly, assembling it piece by piece as you go. There’s a real sense of accomplishment that comes from looking at a piece and knowing how many tens or hundreds of hours went into it. It’s a big contrast with how I do most of my other art, putting it together in only a few hours, or with my photos, a couple seconds at most.
And yet, I struggle with my “true” art, making a piece here and there at very sporadic intervals, never returning to half-finished projects. But I keep stitching away on this piece, perhaps taking months-long breaks here and there, but well, I’m still working on it, aren’t I?
