The Colourguru: Handwork

WELCOME

hi there, thanks for visiting .......
greetings from my creative space to yours....... having been creative my whole life (whether I am cooking, planting a garden, sewing or painting) - thoughts & images here range from art & creativity, techniques, photography, show & tell to family & baby news & travel.. I am keen to share with you BOTH my art successes & failures because I am not putting myself forward as anyone special - just a work in progress - like most of us........
Grab yourself a cuppa, of whatever you like to drink & have a look around.

BELOW is a list of catagories which house archives, each of my previous posts, that have been allocated to one subject or another. So that's the place to click if you'd like to look at one particular type of work. 2008 was a year of 'curve balls' for our family & as a result my life has taken some unexpected turns. I am now 'accomodating' some physical challenges I hadn't anticipated this young & am studying Visual Arts in an attempt to regain my equilibrium.

I will retain this blog as my art blog & keep things here up to date with my art, however as my life is starting to head off on it's own 'altered journey', some places not suited to my audience or content of this blog - some my daily musings are on my new blog:

uRBan dRiFTwooD'

IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT EVERYTHING THAT I POST ON THIS SITE IS COPYWRITED. I UNDERSTAND HOW YOU CAN BE INSPIRED BY EXPOSURE TO VARIOUS ARTISTS, & I certainly appreciate you commenting & us discussing various aspects of my work. This is why I photograph my processes & explain techniques I use - BUT PLEASE, FOR YOUR OWN ARTISTIC GROWTH & CREATIVITY DO NOT STEAL MY WORK.

THE HOW'S & WHY'S OF SWAPPING ART

WHY SWAP ART
Sometimes, the progression from percieving your self as some one who is a 'crafter' to someone who is an 'artist' is all about the process & the passage of time. Often times, regardless of the outcome, the process is the most important thing! Sometime toward the end of 2005 an online friend from another art group related a story from the book 'Art and Fear' to me (via the online group we were both a part of) & it has literally changed my approach to 'arting'. It goes something like this............. In one of my favorite books about the process of art (Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland) there is a study cited that is interesting. A ceramics class is told by the professor that they can either be judged by the quantity of work turned in over the semester or the quality of one piece. The students who chose "quantity" would turn in their pieces at the end of the term. The pieces would be weighed and they would recieve a grade based on the total weight. The students who chose "quality" would turn in one piece, and be graded on that one piece. The students who chose "quality" spent most of their time planning, plodding, incubating, and designing their one perfect piece. The quantity students just kept turning stuff out. The surprising outcome was that the very best work came from the "quantity"students. moral of the story? Just do it! Skills, techniques & creativity is honed in the caudron of practise:- I have used it as an 'art ethos' ever since.................joining swaps & projects when the topic interests me, which stretches me, keeps me creating & gives me a starting point to create. I learn new things, discover & develop new processes and get help from my friends along the way. NOT every piece of art that you create will become a Mona Lisa HOWEVER, I do not believe that during the time that Leonardo Da Vinci was painting her, he realised what he was creating....He had to create the piece - then put it out there in the world to be critiqued - you need to work through the process everytime.... I believe this to be the single most valuable thing you can do to develop your art skills - take the Nike approach - JUST DO IT!!!!! My addition to that - JUST DO IT - everyday - no matter how minor or how busy you are, art a little everyday, even if it is only organizing your supplies, as it will keep you present with your art.
HOW DO I JOIN IN A SWAP?
The easiest way to join into a swap is to join one of the many online Yahoo groups, that regularly swap art. Paper Traders is a group that I am involved in (link below) & is one such group, but there are lots of others, each with their own flavour, some specializing in particular mediums or formats. Simply type in yahoo groups in your search engine & the home page will come up. You will need to register an 'identity' (it's best that this is a recognizable word & relevant to you as this is what all your messages come up as). IF you would like to do a 'blind' swap with me, ie you send me an ATC & I send you one back, send me an email using the link above.
ONLINE CHALLENGES
Another fun & perhaps a little less stressful way (because your art is for yourself, though you usually post pics of it to show others what you have created) of participating & giving yourself a little nudge is to participate in one of the many online challenge sites. I have a whole list of them here - check them out, I am sure that there will be something that will pique your interest..... Have fun!!!

Tuesday, 07 August 2007

Nest Builder

This atc is the next one for my online workshop. It is a combination of machine & hand stitching. It represents a significant amount of work because of the detailing, some of which is lost in the final embellishing. I started with a piece of raw (washed) calico which I had dyed blue (& have the hands to prove it!). Then I used a piece of cotton lace, dipped in bleach & pressed it on the calico & brayered over it. This bleached the lace pattern onto the dark fabric. Unfortunately, I got a bit zealous with the zig zag & alot of this detailing is lost. I used a zigzag stitch on my machine, first in grey (for the background) & creamy white for the 'nest' section. After that, I hand stitched some shredded string on & did some random stitching with linen thread & used the same thread to sew on the buttons for eggs. Next, I used 3mm silk ribbon & embroidered long & short, random blanket stitches. I tried out a few ways to add a bird & resorted to paper in the end, but it probably isn't that suited to a fabric ATC. Last of all, I added a little bullion stitch bee & some more shreaded string. It was a bit of fun to do some free hand embriodery again.............it is literally years since I have done any, though I used to do it prolifically, & teach others as well. A nice little project to break me in again!! LOL!!

Posted on Tuesday, 07 August 2007 at 11:39 PM in Art with a NEEDLE, ATC's, Handwork | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

Saturday, 30 June 2007

Life in a Hurry

A LITTLE PRINCESS IS TURNING ONE T HIS WEEK.............That year has gone in a blink! We called her 'Princess Teeny Weeny' 'cos she was SOOO little! I have been creating this week for princess Eleanor Grace .......flock velvet overalls, a little pinny for my budding art pal & a little knitted teddy I called Nelson as 'Mum' specifically requested a 'useable gift' not a precious present......all for a little princess who now lives life in a hurry & is about to turn ONE.......ONE?????? Where did THAT year of my life go???? You will notice that ALL of these pics are blurry..........she lives life in a flurry, walking & waving & clapping & dancing........in the 60 shots I have taken in three different settings today, this was the best of them, they are all blurry............it is how life has been the last couple of days. I am unexpectedly off interstate for about 10 days.......I hope to be able to post remotely, but that didn't work at Christmas when I went to Tassie, so we'll see how that goes. I am hoping to catch up with the lovely Judy from Red Velvet & touch base with her about our respective new projects. I can't take much with me in the way of art materials (I am flying) I have - watercolours & sketching with me & some research for 9/11 so I expect it won't be an overly artful week, but a great time regardless.