This year I have finally surrendered to the fact that December is a period of limited hands-on studio work. There are just too many holiday details and business-related organizational tasks that need to get done so, rather than beating myself up over lack of production, I’m going to embrace that approach and actually write it into my plan for 2019.

For one who straddles left brain/right brain thinking rather than falling solidly into either camp, I’m actively working to accept the reality of December in a positive way — not least for the comfortable element of rhythm it contributes to the year’s end. Among many other things, this final week of the year caps off thirty-one days of reflection about the past eleven months – what worked and what didn’t, and of course plenty of excitement as I look ahead.

Mulling over 2018, here are the “10 Best” that I either found or was introduced to this year:

Stonehenge paper – This reasonably-priced workhorse is acid-free, 100% cotton, and comes in sheets or pads. It accepts a variety of media, wet and dry. I like its smooth surface and solid weight.
Saral Transfer paper – As I wrote in my March 8th post, I learned about this product from Michelle Kingdom’s interview on textileartist.org. It’s a great option for transferring an image to fabric. Because it’s available in both light and dark colors, it is possible to use with either dark or light fabrics. The only con is that it is extremely fugitive (a good thing in the long run), so you have to handle the transferred image very gingerly so as not to rub it off too early.
I learned about jazz musician Tommy Flanagan from one of my life drawing mates. Find him on Pandora or Spotify for hours of fabulous background music for drawing, writing, or just plain thinking!
What would I do without podcasts to listen to throughout long stretches of stitching? Here are three that have become my new “go-to’s”:
- But That’s Another Story with Will Schwalbe. Asking the question ‘can one story change the course of your life?’ these one-on-one discussions cover the moments and the books that most affected each creative interviewee (mostly writers).
- Just The Right Book! with Roxanne Coady. As a bookseller with an online book subscription service by the same name, Coady caters to individual tastes. Her podcast is a series of in-depth discussions with authors that are much more than a mere recap of their writings. Try this fascinating episode with author/historian Joseph Ellis: What the Founding Fathers Would Say About America Today
- Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell. If you’ve read any of Gladwell’s books you will appreciate his penchant for above-and-beyond research. This series reinterprets something from the past: a person, event or idea…something, as Gladwell puts it, overlooked or misunderstood.
My Modern Met – A feast of art and design
Sun Star Delde Slide Pen Pouch – This little number is compact, yet I can fit 36 colored pencils in it — and then some. It has a water-resistant lining with a pocket, and the best feature is it doubles as a mobile stand-up holder.
HAND/EYE Magazine – Yes, I’m biased because they recently published my article Paying Attention, but I hadn’t heard of HAND/EYE before the editor contacted me, so I had no idea what I was missing. Because of the brevity of the articles, it’s perfect for dipping into for a quick read and it’s a tremendous resource for learning about the wide scope of though-provoking work currently being made.
The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit – This was the first book I read in 2018 and, aside from art books, it is the only one of the many that followed it that I expect to return to in 2019. It is beautiful literary non-fiction that balances feeling both personal and universally resonate in the connections it draws between us all. I plan to reread it slowly and considerately.

As a parting shot, should you need a boost as you deliberate how to manifest your creative aspirations next year, read Vermont painter Susan Abbott’s inspiring post ‘Choices’.

Best wishes for your creative and productive 2019!

During Season1, Episode 7 of his Revisionist History podcast, Malcolm Gladwell discusses an interesting theory about the way that artists produce work. For some, ideas tend to materialize instantaneously, practically fully-formed. Their work succeeds when the artist is very young, and they often remark that it flowed out from them as though it was just “there” — ripe for the picking. Others labor over their art for years, needing time and space to make the many, many finely-tuned adjustments that eventually bring it to the point where they can comfortably say it is complete.

I figure it took me around 10 hours to complete all this pre-dye stitching. If you’re wondering how I have time to listen to all the podcasts I recommend, now you know.

The idea behind this theory originated with David Galenson, a University of Chicago economist who posited that there are two completely different camps of art-makers. The first group, the Conceptual Innovators, are youthful stand-outs. They create quickly, with easy articulation, achieving revolutionary breakthroughs from an early age. Picasso is a prime example.

The stitching becomes obvious once the piece is dyed.

The second group Galenson identifies as Creative Innovators. These artists often take years to develop their work through arduous trial and error, never having a clear-cut trajectory in their efforts to figure out what exactly they want to say. They tend to never be satisfied as they work their way through endless drafts. He tags Cezanne as illustrating this category of artist.

I made an effort to saturate one side with deeper color than the other, hoping for some interesting variations.

Galenson points out that this theory isn’t unique to the visual arts, and it is fascinating to note icons who easily fall within one of the two categories. Conceptual Innovators include Herman Melville who wrote Moby Dick in his early 30s, Orson Welles who made Citizen Kane when he was 26, and Lorde, whose musical prowess in her teens earned her a spot as the youngest person on Forbes’ 2014 “30 under 30” list of “young people who are changing our world”. He cites Mark Twain and Alfred Hitchcock as two Creative Innovators who didn’t reach a peak until they were in their 50s.

©2018 Elizabeth Fram , 28 x 28 inches, Stitched-resist dye on Silk All told, it only took about two hours to dye and carefully pick out all the stitching. I absolutely love this part of the process because it’s always so exciting as the details are revealed – and you can’t know until the very end how the overall piece with appear.

The majority of Gladwell’s podcast centers on the layers of exploration and experimentation laid out in the writing of two songs, one by Elvis Costello and the other by Leonard Cohen. I found it fascinating to learn the specifics of the years of reworking and painstaking evolution required by each. If you have a soft spot for Cohen’s iconic song Hallelujah, which took more than 15 years (with contributions by other musical artists) to achieve the level of recognition that came with the late Jeff Buckley’s beautiful version, that in itself will make the 40 minute podcast worth your time.

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If you’re interested in this subject, I’ve discovered that Galenson has written a book: Old Masters and Young Geniuses: The Two Life Cycles of Artistic Creativity.

Elizabeth Fram

Eye of the Needle

Tag Archives: Malcolm Gladwell

10 Best Finds From 2018

Are You a Cezanne or a Picasso?

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