Boris and I spent a few days away on Bowen Island at his parents place over the holidays, and it was the winteriest Christmas I’ve experienced in eight years. It’s been way colder than is normal this season and the snow has been sticking when it falls, which is not at all typical for Vancouver. I’m enjoying it though, and continue with my walking habit no matter the weather.

I feel recharged after the hibernation time on Bowen. Before I get started on new work I’m getting the studio sorted out, and preparing for a sale on older artwork in a few weeks. Stay tuned!

I gave a little hint about this clothing upcycling project when I was getting started at the beginning of December, but I had to wait until now to share it because it was a gift for Boris. We picked up this sports jacket from Value Village a few months ago with the idea I would decorate it with stitching, and I decided to get it finished in time for Christmas.

The jacket is 100% wool and I created the design through freehand embroidery with thick cotton floss. The most elaborate stitching is on the two lapels, with two tiny motifs in the corners on the upper collar.

I skipped the breast pocket and added embroidered designs to the edges of the lower pockets. I figured the pockets could be more understated than the lapels.

The finished jacket looks fabulous and I’m happy to see Boris looking so good in it.

It’s always good for me to do a year end review in twelve photos at the end of a year, because it gives me the opportunity to reflect on the work I’ve done over the past twelve months. I’ve been feeling like my paper work was stuck in a rut this year, but the photos clearly demonstrate I was experimenting with different shapes and colours. I made lovely wearable pieces from paper, completed another tyvek installation, and stitching projects took a prominent place in the mix.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Who knows what the new year will bring. I have been cleaning and sorting through my studio in anticipation of a productive 2017.

As the guiding principle for what I wanted to express in my artist talk last weekend for the Talking Art speaker series I posed the question, “What are the stories you tell yourself?”.

There are stories we tell ourselves about what we can and cannot do, and these are the things that keep us from reaching our full potential. For the longest time I thought I wasn’t capable of creative work other than photography. When I gave myself permission to step outside of the little box I’d put myself into it’s led me to be good at many things I had wrongly assumed I could never do.

The key for me has been learning by doing. If I want to know how to do something or understand a material or process, then I go figure it out. This means doing hands-on research, reading books, looking at information on the internet, talking with other artists, or taking a workshop. But it’s all centred around exploring with my hands that thing I want to know. Explore, experiment, and learn. Making leads to more making because all of our skills are interconnected.

Paper cutting opened the doors to other process for me because it refined my fine motor skills. For years I’d told myself the story that I couldn’t draw, but paper cutting helped me relearn the ability. I’ve always wanted to learn needle work and embroidery, and told myself the story that it was beyond me. But here I am finally learning those things I’ve long wanted to know and creating beautiful work in the process.

We are all capable of so much more than we allow ourselves to believe. It’s up to us to change the story we tell ourselves. Maybe the time has come to tell yourself a new one.

I am moving more towards upcycing, repairing, and redoing my clothing, and the latest tool I can use to do this is dyeing. I recently purchased the sleeveless top pictured here from Value Village but felt the original pink colour didn’t suit me. I decided to try dyeing it red to make it more suitable, and also to see what could happen. The results are good, and I love this new shirt. The embroidered pattern details didn’t take the dye, but they look terrific against the red.

On the same evening I put a faded pair of capri jeans through a blue dye bath. I recently did a sashiko stitch repair to one of the legs, which is what led to wanting to improve the colour as well. I’ve had these pants for years, and held onto them hoping I could wear them again because they were once a favourite pair. They are back in rotation in my wardrobe after years of neglect.

A video posted by Paper artist (@rachael_ashe) on Aug 22, 2016 at 7:41pm PDT

I shot the video as I was working on the red dye bath. It needs constant agitation to make sure the entire piece of clothing dyes evenly. I found it mesmerizing to watch the garments swirl around the red water, and decided to share it.