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ACA, ACA assignment2, fix-me

A2: Proj3 Stage 3 Recording colours accurately – exercise 1

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Assignment 2: Stage 3 Recording colours accurately – exercise 1

This exercise involved mixing colours—from page 62 of class notes:

You can dilute colours with white to obtain paler tints.

 

  • You can mix colours with black, which will take the light out of them and make them
    much duller.
  • You can mix colours with grey which will make them less intense.
  • You can mix pure colours with their complementary colour to make all the darker,
    duller tones of a particular colour. It is often better to mix these darker in-between colours in this way rather than using black. Black seems to deaden colour, whereas colours toned down by their complementary seem to have much more life about them.mixing colours — watercolours
    I spent a while on this exercise.

    initially I used watercolours as this is all I had available to me at the time.

     

     

     

    mixing colours — guache
    then, later I repeated the exercise with gouche paints.

     

     

    for some of them I mixed the colours directly onto the paper:

 

ACA, ACA assignment1, fix-me

Using thread and yarns to create textures

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A Creative Approach — Project 2 Developing your marks — Stage 6 — Using thread and yarns to create textures

In this exercise we had to use different threads and yarns to create textures.

front side:

rear side:

I tried another – with different layers of fabric, different stitches and different/multiple threads of varying weights.

close ups:

 

 

rear side:

I had made some small sketches (finding I like the A5 size, small but handy to carry around), so the stitching above is based on some of the shapes in these sketches.

 

Reflection:

• Can you begin to see the relationship between stitching and drawing?
yes, definitely. I can see it more and more since working on these exercises. I think I have even started to draw/sketch with stitching in mind.

• Were you able to choose stitches which expressed the marks and lines of your drawings?
yes, I learnt a few stitches including running stitch, back stitch, blanket stitch, stem stitch, chain stitch, cretan stitch, satin stitch and was able to adapt some of these to match the marks in some of my sketches.

• Did you choose the right source material to work from?
I think I chose the correct sketches to work from. though they were new sketches that I’d drawn after doing some of the embroidery exercises previously. I’m not sure that most of my previous source material (mark making exercises) were suited to stitching — I can see how some of them might work well as stitched pieces, but not all of them.

• Do you think your sample works well irrespective of the drawing? Or is your sample
merely a good interpretation of your drawing?
yes, I like my sample as a standalone piece even if it wasn’t based on some of the shapes in the mark making sketches. I think it has interesting shapes and styles. I tried a few different stitches and threads of varying weights and colours which I think adds interest to the piece and makes a person look more closely at it to see the detail and to see the mistakes/hand made properties of it.

• Which did you prefer – working with stitch to create textures or working with yarns
to make textures? Which worked best for you and why?
I preferred working with stitches to create textures as I could layer the stitches and combine them in different shapes and patterns. I only had limited materials/threads with me (whilst traveling) so I felt my combinations of different yarn types was more limiting. also, some of the couching using gold foil paper was so delicate that the foil ripped easily which made it harder to work with.

• Make some comments on individual techniques and sample pieces. Did you
experiment enough? Did you feel inhibited in any way? Fix them into your sketchbook
if you want to or start a separate book of sample references.
my favourite technique was using blanket stitch in circles (based on Junko Oki’s work — though mine ended up looking different to hers). it was fun to stitch circles and change the direction of the stitch rows slightly so they were more organically aligned. I think I experimented with a few new stitches (new to me), but I probably could have tried more materials and threads. it’s just I was enjoying making the circles so much I didn’t worry too much about trying more threads (plus, the limited supply of them in my travel case).

• Do you prefer to work from a drawing or by playing with materials and yarns to
create effects? Which method produced the most interesting work?
I prefer to play with the materials, yarns and stitches and see what they lead me to rather than doing a sketch first. I think my casual experimentation worked best.

• Are there other techniques you would like to try? Are there any samples you would
like to do in a different way?
I’d like to try more Japanese darning and creating netting. with the samples, I’d make them similar again, though I would try having some as they are and others with more overlapping layers. I didn’t add too many layers to the samples at this stage because I liked how they turned out. but this means that I missed out on seeing how they would look with layered stitches on top of each other.

• Is there anything you would like to change in your work? If so, make notes for future
reference.
yes, add more layers, and try different sized circles. I’d like to try some netting also. and also a portrait, or image from a photo where I convert to greyscale/black&white and then enhance the outlines and try stitch that. ie something more realistic.

ACA, fix-me, musings, playing

circle stitching

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well, I was trying a knit-a-year project but since I don’t have much yarn here (on overseas trips) and have been more interested in stitching and embroidery lately, I’ve decided to shift to a stitch-a-day project instead. I might use my other blog for another project so will relocate the articles here (or add to the previous post).

my first attempt – I’ve been totally inspired by the work of Junko Oki and since attempting to stitch circles in a modified blanket stitch, I can see more clearly just how fine and free her beautiful stitching is. mine feels large and clumsy in comparison, so I will need to practice more to create smaller stitches. also, I need to bring more fabric to use as a background as on this trip I only have some calico, and a couple of coloured threads.

there’s lots of circles & other textures in the hotel room. the carpet has concentric circles – a bit like the Maori koru shape. I like the red crushed velvet lounge chair in the room too – it has some nice lines and shapes in the shadows

 

06/10 update:
I stitched some more circles and other shapes this weekend

ACA, fix-me, musings, playing, textiles

Junko Oki – stitching circles

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tonight I’ve been taking a look at embroidery by Junko Oki – she has some beautiful pieces. I love her use of circles and lines.

I emailed her to order a copy of her new book, “Culte a la Carte” (I think her first book has sold out), and mentioned I was doing a textiles course and had been enjoying embroidery. I asked if hers was all stitched by hand or mixed with machine embroidery too. she responded,

“I’m glad to you interested in my work.
My work is stitched by hand all.
I do not have that you have to study about embroidery .
I have the feeling produced in like writing a picture.”

the circles are intricate rows of fine blanket stitch, with lines in running stitch and some feather stitch. lots of “sun” themes. I’m really loving it. the imperfections and textures created by the stitching mixed with the choice of textures and colours of the fabrics as the backgrounds. I’m looking forward to the book arriving so I can see more of her work.

I love some of the backside stitches, ie via February 2012:

 

from Dee’s Hall from October 2012 – a lovely portrait of a woman’s profile.

& a closeup of the spheres from April 2013

I love this one, with the stripey, business shirt or crisp new bed linen / sheets type pleats, darts, gathers & smocking to create movement and shape in 3D, and how the stitched parts of the fabric are chaotic and textured with layers of white and black threads, and complemented with the reddish-brown layer – they draw the eye in and let you explore the stitches as well as the joins of the different fabrics, and edges of the fabric. I love the ripped / torn edges on the lower part of the piece. there’s a range of sewing techniques shown around the edges of the stitching, and decorated & highlighted by the stitches. the top of the photo shows order and crispness with a starch ironed feel which reminds me of work / business shirts, whilst the bottom of the photo shows more flowing, free & lighter fabrics for holidays and home wear. to me it feels like it’s a mix of the fabrics of a life, and the phases of our lives.

rainy today from october 2012 also.

ACA, fix-me, musings, playing

classwork whilst away

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I’ve been away from my class materials since working on this new work project. which means I haven’t had as much fabric, paints, threads, the sewing machine etc to work with. I found an app called art set on the itunes app store and tried it out on the flight home last week. it’s pretty good. it has a large range of colours, and background “paper” with different textures and colours and weights – actually more than I have at home. plus multiple pens, pencils, felt pens, paints, crayons, sponges, erasers, water for smudging edges, and the app is really easy to use. it’s not the same as using the materials by hand of course, but I think it does replicate the styles / effects the materials have quite well. and it was only 99cents. wish I’d known about this prior to spending a couple of hundred dollars on a much smaller range of pens and paints! I tried a few simple mark making exercises, then I took a photo from the front airplane camera (was my first time on an A380 & it has camera views on the tv/entertainment system – a view from the front of the plane, below near the wings, and looking towards the tail of the plane) and made a drawing of the view.

fix-me, musings, playing

knit a year

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I’m going to try the knit a year project after hearing about it from Michelle from Reef Knot (& recently 107 projects). the aim is to knit a minimum of 2 rows each day, using a different colour to reflect my mood for the day & leaving a thread at the edge of the piece to show the start of each day

http://knitayear.ning.com

knitrageous has written a great post about the project – she travels also so has similar issues to me, ie not having your yarn stash with you all the time.
I think it’ll be an exploration in colour and texture – perhaps I’ll add some embroidery over the yarn, or try some weaving also.

as I’m traveling at the moment, I don’t have my yarn stash available so I brought some multi-coloured sock yarn with me and will use different colours from this whilst away. it means cutting up the yarn and thereby ruining the skein but this should be OK – I can always join threads if needs be.

I cast on 23 stitches, which is different to the instructions, but 23 has a bit of maybe logic flavour to it. I think I’ll leave tails on both sides too
traveling yarn stash

day1: I chose the blue for day 1 as I’d woken at 3:15am to catch a 6:30am flight to Auckland, and had napped briefly on the flight but was surprisingly still awake when I began. though due to the hypnotic, relaxing state of knitting the rows, I was nodding off before the end of row 2, so it was a slow start to the project!
day1 – knit a year

day2: I chose a dark, muted green coloured yarn as I was so tired – the whole day was spent in a fog. it felt like the world was muted for me.

day3: I had really good news today – finding out that my friend is pregnant so I chose the brightest, happiest colour I have here – gold. after I’d done a few rows the gold started to become more brown than gold so I stopped early.
days1-3

day4: today was a mixed day, I woke to the news of friend posting on facebook that his mother – who suffered from cancer had passed away. a good day at work. my friend’s birthday. another couple of friends’ 21st wedding anniversary. so I started with blue, but the yarn changed to a purple/grey colour.
during week2

fix-me, musings, playing

hotel room patterns

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I’ve been staying in the same hotel for the past few weeks in Auckland, in different rooms each trip. I have been noticing the different patterns in the furnishings and textiles in the room. the room I’m in now has a mixture of lines and circles – none of them perfectly shaped. they have a nice feel about them, and match the nearby building’s outer surfaces too. the carpet lines in the corridors flow through to match the blanket on the bed which has similar curves stitched onto the ends of the blanket.