Being patient with myself in January
8:31 PM Posted In Architecture , round ruins plans , Take it Further Challenge Edit This 2 Comments »
Well, here we are halfway and more through January and when I look around myself, I feel that I've not accomplished a single thing. If you were to come to my house you would probably think that we had some sort of minor disaster this month. Dirty dishes are piled high in the kitchen, clean laundry is escaping from the Pack-n-Play in the study because the main closet is messy and the laundry baskets are full, general chaos reigns in the Living Room, the stairway really needs to be swept . . . Unless you fail to keep house the way that I fail to keep house, you probably can't begin to imagine the mess.
But my studio is still clean! And I taught a beading class this week; a feat that included 15 hours of writing instructions and illustrations. And I've completed my initial sketch for my take it Further Challenge project. And my toddler is finally getting ready to potty train (maybe). And we are catching up with our home school schedule.
All of this in a week where I suffered from lack of sleep, associated headaches and the major disappointment of breaking my camera.
I am posting here and on Flickr my plans for the Take it Further Challenge. I borrowed a book a few months ago from our Arts Council "Library" titled Embroidery and Architecture by Jan Messent. The book was published in 1985, before color printing became affordable for arts and crafts books but the book is by no means boring for lack of color. Jan Messent includes historical information about how architecture has been used as design fodder for embroiderers and textile artists for centuries and then goes on to explore specific architectural elements from ground plans to doors and windows and how they can be incorporated in embroidered art work. She includes many many amazing and beautiful drawings and photos of both architectural elements and embroidered textile works using these themes. On page 38 of the book is an aerial view of a ruined castle that caught my attention the first time I picked the book up. I scanned this illustration, enlarged it and played around with adding some colored pencil in the colors from January's challenge. My plan is to embroider the wall sections with satin stitch and then use some dimensional stitches, like French knots for the ground areas. Since this is one of the first embroidery projects I've taken on in a planned out way, I'm going in with very low expectations and a willingness to experiment and have fun with the design. Who knows if the finished piece will look anything like I'm imagining it will? Who cares?
Well, here are the photos and the Flickr challenge pool site so interested parties may take a look at what everyone else is doing for this challenge. Unfortunately, the threads I have chosen do not show well in the scan. I really miss my camera and anxiously await its return from the repair center.
But my studio is still clean! And I taught a beading class this week; a feat that included 15 hours of writing instructions and illustrations. And I've completed my initial sketch for my take it Further Challenge project. And my toddler is finally getting ready to potty train (maybe). And we are catching up with our home school schedule.
All of this in a week where I suffered from lack of sleep, associated headaches and the major disappointment of breaking my camera.
I am posting here and on Flickr my plans for the Take it Further Challenge. I borrowed a book a few months ago from our Arts Council "Library" titled Embroidery and Architecture by Jan Messent. The book was published in 1985, before color printing became affordable for arts and crafts books but the book is by no means boring for lack of color. Jan Messent includes historical information about how architecture has been used as design fodder for embroiderers and textile artists for centuries and then goes on to explore specific architectural elements from ground plans to doors and windows and how they can be incorporated in embroidered art work. She includes many many amazing and beautiful drawings and photos of both architectural elements and embroidered textile works using these themes. On page 38 of the book is an aerial view of a ruined castle that caught my attention the first time I picked the book up. I scanned this illustration, enlarged it and played around with adding some colored pencil in the colors from January's challenge. My plan is to embroider the wall sections with satin stitch and then use some dimensional stitches, like French knots for the ground areas. Since this is one of the first embroidery projects I've taken on in a planned out way, I'm going in with very low expectations and a willingness to experiment and have fun with the design. Who knows if the finished piece will look anything like I'm imagining it will? Who cares?
Well, here are the photos and the Flickr challenge pool site so interested parties may take a look at what everyone else is doing for this challenge. Unfortunately, the threads I have chosen do not show well in the scan. I really miss my camera and anxiously await its return from the repair center.
2 comments:
So many possibilities in this illustration!
So you keep repeating "patience IS a virtue, Patience is a Virtue, patience IS a virtue..." ? I love the beginnings of your January TIF - architecture, especially ruins, can be very evocative.
You asked about using transfer paints, and I have to admit, mostly what I do is experiment freely. I have the Beaney and Littlejohn book, but it doesn't go as far as I want, and reading it too closely tends to channel my expectation of what I can (or want to) do. So I started just messing about, and when I saw the feather, and remembered the pressed QA Lace, it was a natural extension to wonder if they'd work.
Looking back over my posts you'll also see some less than successful trials! Pinecones wouldn't work the way I thought, nor did pine needles.
lee
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