Living a Creative Life

Virginia Woolf says that a woman needs a room of her own and an independent income if she is to become a writer, or for that matter, a creator of any kind. My room is a large spare bedroom in the basement of the house I share with my husband, Alan, and our noisy Siamese cat. Some women are fortunate enough to work in custom made studios, but most of us carve out whatever space we can, from a closet under the stairs to a kitchen table that's been cleared off temporarily. What matters is that for the purpose of creation, it is a private and sacred space. Here's a photo of my basement studio:

As you can see, I'm a textile artist. I dye all my own fabric which I then cut up to make into quilts, most of which hang on a wall. Mostly, I use procion MX dyes which give me bright and varied colors, as you can see from the pieces pinned to the left end of the wall. Recently I've been dyeing with natural plants, producing the lovely soft pinks, yellows and browns in the middle of the board. On the right, is some eco-dyeing with leaves on raw silk.