I have begun to start painting again. I don't know about you but when I engage in an idea, I love to research it. So I began thinking about calico, tiny florals and tone on tone fabrics. Little did I know that the term calico refers to plain woven cloth and not small floral prints, as I had thought. hmmm.

It dawned on me that I am trained in Textile/Surface Design and that I love decorative art. So that makes me think it would be great to embrace the decorative elements of textile design in my art. Why didn't this occur to me before?

So yesterday I sat and cut a small floral stencil. Now I can use this ditty again and again and in so many ways. Yippee.

When I first graduated from The Fashion Institute, I got a job working with fine artists. We started talking about decorative art and I got the impression that decorative art is frowned upon, self indulgent and has no real place in the world of art. Fooey. I love cloth, I am trained in the creation of it, I have been learning to draw and paint in light of my training at F.I.T and I love to sew. I no longer need that old, judgmental and confining idea in my mental toolbox. I dedicate these next few months to exploring decorative elements in my painting, sewing and art. I can't fight it and why should I?