WIP: X Stitch Animation

I'm in Atlanta for the third time in three weeks to work on an amazing cross stitch animation project with Aubrey Longley-Cook. Life is chaotic with all of this travel, but I'm crazily inspired by this this collaborative art process.

Frame 11, WIP, on the bus.

More to come when life settles a bit, but the quick details...

Aubrey leads a discussion about the collaboration.
WonderRoot Studio, Atlanta. 

Aubrey (one of the only artists I know who combines textile art/stitching with animation) has collected over 30 artists and friends to each stitch an animation frame. He will shoot and loop the stitched frames into a video artwork. It will be shown at the Barbara Archer Gallery in a show this September.

WIP: Frame 11.

Each artist selected his or her own color palettes. I chose bright, juicy colors. Others are using pastels and still others are stitching in a virtual grayscale. I can not wait to see how the frames fit together to create a gorgeous kaleidoscope of color and stitching.

My frame! 

This is my first foray into cross stitch. Jamie Chalmers, a.k.a., Mr X Stitch (for whom I blog) has teased me about my cross stitch virginity. I'm embarrassed to admit that I've not been compelled by cross stitch before. My own style of work with freehand embroidery, creating images by building it with stitches, has always been vastly more appealing to me than stitching row after row of tiny xs in a grid.

But this experience has opened my eyes to what the little pixels of stitches can create. And it is harder to be neat in my stitching than I ever realized! I am humbled!

Riding the bus to Atlanta has been wild and inspiring in its own way.

On a personal note (and for me, my art and my personal life are intimately entwined -- so much so that I sometimes feel sorry for my friends, family and boyfriend) I've been having some serious anemia problems that should be resolved soon with an iron infusion tomorrow.

Shooting the breeze with fellow travelers back in Durham.

But, I haven't had my normal energy to tackle my artwork. I hope to be returning to my normal hale and hearty self soon!

Durham bus depot in the early morning.

I head back to Durham today on a Greyhound (all the driving got to me -- with the anemia, I was having trouble staying awake) which has been a wild experience. I live tweeted the bus ride to Atlanta yesterday. (I'm @olisacorcoran on Twitter.)

Today I will just quietly stitch. Ahhh... sounds lovely.