top portion done
missed one teeny line on one of the figures, so will have to fix that and then on to the final stretching on canvas. Started on Feb 2 and finishing tomorrow. Fastest project in hand embroidery ever in this stoodio!
Author: arlee
I am a Canadian textile artist in Calgary, Alberta. As textile artists, we connect and are connected to communities larger than our Selves, or our immediate environs. We encapsulate culture, technique, history and innovation every time we touch cloth.
a clamour of colour
“They” say the more often you have sex, the more often you will *want* sex. 🙂 I’m thinking it may be the same with colour!
(The two blue machined lines are basting only.)
The pictures i previously posted were taken early AM, so below is a better shot in late afternoon that shows the textures better:
I started this bright piece Feb 3 and figure it will probably be done this coming week. Not bad for someone who was resisting using colour again! I’ve even been digging through the more saturated threads and pulling aside possible colour combinations, not for this one, but for other “Maybe’s”.
Now lest anyone think that i am ONLY going to the Bright Side, my sketch/notebook is fast filling with ideas for my beloved neutrals and naturals. The little Prima Vera figures especially have lots of potential on a larger scale and in a slightly different treatment. With a lot of free association going on as well in my vasty head, i have also decided finally on work that will reflect the Leighton piece that drew my attention last year, and that is to be in an exhibition at the Leighton Art Centre. I do still want to finish “Body of Water” as a companion piece though, again with intention from recent thinking and diagramming 😉
Crayons full speed ahead!
colour prompts
We can all agree that usually FB is a colossal waste of time, gets our blood boiling with some postings, or makes us want to puke with the schmaltzy canigetanamendreaminspirethislittlegirlwillamazeyouhavethepowerchangetheuniverseyouarethequeenoftheuniverse memes, but i do find it handy as a prompt also! I think of the old history programs, when FB kindly reminds me that “on this day, you posted this” and shows you what happened each year on that date–assuming anything did happen 😉
On Feb 8 of 2009 i posted this:
WOWZERS, look at that colour saturation and look at that texture! Now WHY am i not still doing this? I have the tulle, i have the metal (remember those stacks of things in the stoodio that rarely get used???)–what am i saving them for? (I’m NOT getting rid of stuff like this i admit, in the interests of honesty and Purge.) And you know what else? I COULD, CAN, WILL do this with the naturals and neutrals too.
The recent lessons with Jane Dunnewold’s Creative Strength Training class are paying dividends: colour, new designs, deep thinking, writing exercises, i’m getting it all.
A playful piece, the colour of this is rich and saturated. There are ideas here that will go into more “serious” work. I still can’t merge fun and “serious work” from those labels, these colours and techniques……Working on it! I DO believe you can do serious concepty work and still have fun—pleasure is subjective (metaphorically maybe!)
And there is still scissor work slated for this one.
a surprise publication
Had a bit of a surprise this morning when i opened my inbox: tagged in one of FB’s groups, i discovered a photo of work submitted in September of last year had been accepted. I used to drool over the pages during college in the 90’s, the first time i saw any art magazine even remotely related to textiles. Who knew 20+ years later, my work would be in Australia’s magnificent “Textile Fibre Forum” magazine?
I don’t have a copy, so if anyone out there is willing to either snap up a copy for me, or wants to get rid of theirs? It’s issue 120, which i assume is the fall issue of 2015.
pukey week, with colour
On the weekend, we had our car’s driver side window smashed, so that the vandal could steal a whole dollar and Greyman’s driving cushion. Monday morning my computer was invaded by something and crashed badly, losing years worth of files which can’t be found anywhere, and necessitating the reloading of all software. Yesterday i started feeling sick, possibly/probably with the flu–in Valentine’s week, which has my boss AND ME, freaked about time and pressure at the fffFlower Mines. I was supposed to see Karin last night who i miss desperately, but that didn’t happen with all the puking, heaving, snarfling and whining. I’m scared to face another gallon of lemongingerhoney tea.
(Sideways because of viewability! Right is actually the top.)
I hesitate to label this post as a JamDay because of all the shit that has/is happened/happening, but at least there’s colour. Now to take the scissors to it.
a glass brightly half full
Posting photos of work in progress can be boring, i admit, *I* can see what’s been done, you may think “sheesh another inch? whoopee….”
Actually this is almost half done! This is the top 9.5X11″ of the whole 23ish, and i am at the point of considering what the next “layer” will be.
I have several options, all of which would work (and i could do more like this to accommodate each), so the next step will be to choose either a figure, botanicals or body parts (!).
spring pointillism
It doesn’t look to you like much has been done, but *i* know it has 🙂
All variations on backstitch, there’s some lovely crunchy texture happening again. I didn’t set a rule that this stitch was the only one to be used, but i’m finding it enhances, blends and delineates the colour well enough without being intrusive, that i may just stick to it for the entire piece. (10×24-ish?) I do plan however on adding another layer of stitch on top of the whole, so keeping the background minimal (except for the juicy colour) is the best approach.
Since Calgary is mostly brown right now with only a few dots of snow (LOVE those Chinooks!), this work is welcome to my eyes at the end of the days.
Every day i work with flowers at the day job, and most of them are heavy on lots of colour and texture. When i come home though, this is what i like: simple, small, clustery, ornithogalums and tulips, in a terra cotta frosted glass “belly” vase.
Simple. Keeping it simple.
bee sweet colour
Loving how the edges are melded with the threads, pointillism of a sort.
I wish i could say who the photographer was in this one, because it blows me away: the colours, that sweet bee, the whole feeling it gives me. If you know who took the pic, please let me know, as you know i’m a bitch stalwart about attribution–found on FB, i did an image search and all it says is “found on FB”!!
Of course i had a thought to slap some bees on this one as well, but maybe not–might be a “signature” of mine in a sense, but with layers planned on top of the initial embroidery, it may not fit with the idea. Progress will tell.
Time to dig out the seed catalogues, garden planner and diagrams!
deliberation
I’ve been immersed in lessons and trying things out from Jane Dunnewold’s “Creative Strength Training” classes. I can’t share what i’m doing really, except in the vaguest of terms, but looking at shape and colour has been quite invigorating. The exercises have me looking again at old work, refiguring how i did things, how i illustrated and interpreted concepts, developed ideas. That’s a good boot in the bazotski.
I have also re-realized (!) that my biggest obstacle to getting in there and DOING something is my ever present mess. No matter how many times i tidy, i can’t find what i’m looking for. It’s time to get mean and clean out the debris. There are things in that chaos that are never going to get used. It takes up work space, storage space and head space. There’s a BIG BIG BIG purge coming. EDIT: when this was written, i hadn’t gone through the bins and drawers yet–now you can reap 😉 But i did dredge out fabrics i had forgotten about and the colour is juicy, so why not?
Cleaning out also means cleaning out thoughts that say “you can’t do that, because it’s too pretty, too common, a compromise.” I’m not talking about following trends, making the same things others are, toeing the line with fitting in (forget THAT) –let’s just do those things that seem counter-intuitive to what i have been doing, and see what happens. A test if you will, to see what i can do that is still me. It’s NOT going to kill me after all. This might be a year of just, well, just “screwing around”. As much as i want to be taken seriously, make serious work, maybe it’s not going to happen for me. Am i trying too hard? Maybe that is the problem.
Then again, maybe there can be TWO of me. I think of a certain friend who is known for her gorgeous hand stitched, very colourful nature/floral work–who secretly used to make the most amazing quirky monstery looking rude dolls, with few realizing the two very different approaches were from the same person. As she posted: “With these creatures, i explore the darker side of my creativity.” Maybe i need to do the brighter side!
Colour. Colour. Colour. We all react different ways to certain hues. I’m afraid i’m afraid of it lately. Deliberately then, i have thrown this together.
It’s an “abstract”, something else i’m not terribly fond of, but it may become story-ish. BUT it doesn’t have to be “story-ish” either, BUT i don’t want to just do 11tybajillion pieces of running stitch attached boro ripped frayed edge cloth….. but let’s see where it will go. 😦 😉 🙂
Tacked:
I made an oopsie with the flannelette i always use for depth and stability, but most of it is not visible anyways! (Usually when there’s a print, i put the white side against the fabric.)
And the thread choices. I tried not to be too matchy-matchy, but i don’t want to be contrasting harshly either. The purple bothers me but i’ll just have to work with it. I don’t want splotches that draw the eye, but i think i have figured out a way to prevent that, or at least make it integrate. I LIKE the purple in the fabric, but the thread choice is a bit problematic, as i’m not sure which shade will work. Will probably do that last then so i have time to think about it and see what happens with everything else.
Since this is an exercise in colour for me, rather than just shape, its working title is “Meet Me In the Middle”. Part of the goal is to add “layers”, not in the sense of applying more fabrics to the top, but to build them with different thread treatments and pattern. Complex cloth, slow cloth, whatever it is, it will be as it is.
I can always cut it up or incorporate it later in something else! Nothing is set in stone right now, just “Screwing Around With Intent”. 🙂
*my* purge pack :)
Well, hell, i can’t get rid of ALL of it 🙂 Most of it i DO want gone, but there were some treasures i had totally forgotten about. Some will become cushion covers, pillow cases, and summer wear, and some will get into the art business.
Shades of Porcella! Yvonne was famous for adding black and white geometrics to her work, but i think i like it better below.
Maybe bits of these too:
A friend recently posted a photo on FB of her gorgeous Tibetan Folkwear vest, and that has inspired me also to make another one for myself. Seeing the photos again of my old blue one that was lost in the flood, it looked rather ungainly: lumpy and mishapen (but then so am i now…), so i’ll pay more attention to marrying weights of fabric. I was an excited neophyte then, and the thrill of it was in making it fast (despite all the handwork) with whatever i had. That poor thing incorporated everything from cotton velveteen, to rayon muumuu material, sleazy lining fabric and thin cheap cotton, but i loved it to death, layering it over a big fat sweater and many scarves because i couldn’t afford a real winter coat. I actually found a piece of the blue flowered cloth from the first one, so i’ll have to incorporate it! I doubt however that a new one will be finished as fast as the first one!
I also found the red velvet appliqued coat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’ll re-photograph it, but i think it may end up being cannabalized, quite honestly. It doesn’t fit me, and i doubt anyone else would want it.
Cleaning out these bins has been a rejuvenation of sorts for colour. Mixing and matching for Purge Packs was fun (lots more to come!), and i pulled a few pieces to use in current ***JamDay efforts.
I have NO idea why i bought the flower fairy fabric, but the gerbs are useful for adding to, or as applique. The top fabric will become summer pants–if i can fit into the expanse available when the time comes….
*** JamDay: “Jam yesterday, and jam tomorrow, but never jam today”–a lament from Alice in Wonderland. HAVE a Jamday then!!!!!!!!!!
albedo too 
You must be logged in to post a comment.