Rest...

My blog seems to be getting quite heavy with photography posts of late, but I hope you'll hang in there for yet another one.  I've just finished week one of an online workshop, Digital Layers taught by Susan Tuttle, and I'm excited to share what I'm learning.

This photo was from the project called, 'Combining Multiple Photographs' and was the most difficult for me, by far.  The goal was to layer three textures on top of our subject photo and I kept choosing the wrong textures.  It takes awhile of playing around to find just the ones that seem to fit.  Did you know (because I didn't) there is a whole world of free, downloadable "textures" out there?  Yes, free.  What generous souls, they who must spend hours putting these things out there for our use!  

All three textures I used came from ShadowHouse Creations, hosted by Jerry Jones, also known on Flickr as skeletalmess.  If you like to play around with Photoshop, Jerry has some amazing images on offer.  For this piece I used an image of rusty lace, an ethereal atmospheric shot and a sky with birds flying.  


Adding each layer reminded me so much of weaving, like weaving with light, because as you play with the various blending modes, areas of your image fade in and out of each other, providing many surprises until your tapestry is complete...

And now, time to rest.  Wishing everyone a relaxing, holiday weekend and I hope to see you here again soon.

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Capturing the moment...

Where I live, we must take a ferry to travel back & forth to the mainland, the primary  transport across our watery highway, Puget Sound.  The ride is about forty minutes long - a good chunk of time for reading, doing a bit of stitching & beadwork, daydreaming, quality petting time for dawg, snoozing...you get the idea.

Every now & then, I feel like I strike it rich.  The ferry worker directs my jeep straight down the middle aisle to the very front of the boat.  Front & center, I call it.  On this particular evening, I was lucky indeed.  A rain storm was moving out and *god beams* started to appear.  Briefly, ever so briefly.

Not having my camera with me, I grabbed for my phone (ahh, technology). I'd recently uploaded an app called Hipstamatic which provides vintage film effects like the plastic cameras of days gone by.  I remember running around as a kid with my plastic wonder, shooting this, that and the everything - now that was pure joy!   

Here is a joyful moment, a good many years later...

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Wind...

...it came in slowly this afternoon and has been building steadily.  It's often like that on our little island.  A still day begins, a joy for working in the garden, then comes that first gust.  And soon another.  The frequency increases until I'll find myself looking up at the tall conifers that surround our property, watching their tops swing to and fro, and I'll be certain - windy hours ahead!

Time to batten down the hatches.  No more gardening for today...

I grew up in an area of California known for its hot, dry winds.  Called Santanas or Santa Anas, devil winds (translated from the Spanish) were known for their heat because they originated out of the desert.  We always dreaded them - they meant fire season. They'd arrive at the end of summer, at the driest time of the year when all the vegetation was like kindling.  A lot of myth surrounded these winds.  Some said they could make you crazy - something to do with all the negative ions being removed from the atmosphere which makes humans (and animals) unstable.  Myth making, indeed.  But they were parching.  They howled.  And they could continue for several days. Unsettling to me, without a doubt.

Much like the winds here.  Not hot and certainly not dry, but oh, the sound...

It's odd what sticks from childhood.

So I was thinking about how to turn this wind thing around.  I'm inspired by this artist who plays with wind and this artist who stitches wind magic. And this masterful photographer who often captures the wind through extremely long time exposures.  Ah, if I could only wait in the wind like that...

So tell me, what do you feel about the wind...?

'Windflowers', 1903

painting by John William Waterhouse 

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Mingled yarn...

"The web of our life is of a mingled yarn,

good and ill together."

William Shakespere,  from All's Well that Ends Well

Just something I'm thinking about today...the way lives are knit together...how friends become friends, stay friends...or sometimes not...yet once there was a web between, binding, interwoven, unique.  Thinking too, how sometimes that web remains and sometimes it's blown away on the next season's wind.  Like loved ones who are with us for awhile...and then gone.

I took these photographs in early February.  One morning the entire hedgerow behind our pond was filled with these (seemingly) overnight creations.  I don't know which spider spins these webs, but aren't they the most marvelous constructions?  They suit my mood today as I look at them and wonder about "good and ill together."  Threads.  Mingled yarn.  Lives intertwined.

Today is my mother's birthday.  If she was still with me, she would be 88.  I can't imagine her that old.  But I like to imagine that one of those webs in the hedgerow is hers, next to mine, along with all the others we've known and loved...and have yet to know and love.  

Just something I'm thinking about today...

       

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Slow Felt: upcoming workshop with Chad Alice Hagen!

Felting and dyeing and beading and stitching, oh my!

Resist Dyeing and Bookbinding

~  with Chad Alice Hagen ~

June 17, 18 and 19, 2010

Lopez Island, Washington

I had my first experience attending a felting workshop with Chad Alice Hagen last summer and WOW, was it ever wonderful (see my blog post, Resist * Stitch * Bead.)  So I was thrilled beyond belief when my good friend Jan S., was able to "convince" Chad to come out to our little corner of the world - the beautiful San Juan Islands - and have a vacation lead one of her awesome workshops right here!  This post is to let you all know that there are a few spaces available...hint, hint...

I can't wait to learn how to make one of these!

This three day intensive workshop will combine felt-making, resist dyeing AND book making.  Let me quote directly from the workshop description:

The first day's focus will be the dye kitchen where we will not

only learn the basics for setting up a safe at-home dye area

and the use of Lanaset and WF acid dyeing, but will transform

our fine Australian Merino needle punched prefelts into dozens

of brilliant resist dyed samples through the magical use of hundreds

of odd but interesting resist tools and up to 15 dyebaths.

The next days will be filled with stitching and beading those beautiful

dyed surfaces and transforming them into small, exquisite books.  The

class will learn two different bookbinding stitches and two types of book

covers.  With many demonstrations and hands on learning, we will finish

at least two books - a wrapped sketchbook and a wonderful Coptic

bound journal.

The stitching, beading and binding of books is a thoughtful, slow process

so be prepared for delightful hours surrounded by color and texture

and the company of like-minded folk.  The instructor will bring lots of

samples of her books and will lead discussions on design ideas and

variations for using handmade felt in books.

Click here for the pdf which has the complete workshop description, cost, instructor details, and contact info.

Let me tempt you just a bit further - go to Flickr (here) and have a peek at some more examples of Chad's handmade books.  And while you're at it, you may not want to miss her fabulous felted and beaded brooches and ooooh, the Art Pages.  

edge detail on handmade book

The photos above can be viewed larger and in greater detail on Chad's blog - which btw, is also a hoot to read and will provide you with lots more info about her work, studio, travels, sense of humor, and the overall general state of her artistic life living with two demanding cats.  You might want to check out her website, too, chadalicehagen.com.  There's a wonderful photo of Chad passed out on the work table, surrounded by oodles of resist dyed felts.  Ah heck, here it is (hope she won't mind).

This workshop is being hosted and organized by Jan S.  If you have any questions (really, any at all) or would like to inquire about reserving a spot around the dye pots, please contact Jan directly via her website.

Won't you join us...it's going to be a BLAST?!  I'll be there and I would so love to see you!

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Manipulating digital photos...

I've spoken before about my love/hate relationship with digital photography.  It's no secret.

When I stopped doing traditional black & white darkroom work, I sat on the digital fence for a long, long

time,

not happy on it, not happy off of it.

It feels really good not to be working with those chemicals anymore.  I wouldn't want to bring them into the new environment where I live anyway. I no longer throw away mountains of film & slides (and mountains of money on same)...I simply push the *delete* button.  But the flip side to these things is that I no longer have the same relationship with picture making and well, "the thrill is gone, gone away for good."  Or so I thought.

I knew I needed to bring the FUN back into my camera toting life so I thought I'd post a little recap of a workshop that gave me just that.  It was all I had hoped for and more.

I can't remember where I first read about Susan Tuttle's online workshop, "Digital Photomanipulation."  I surf through a lot of blogs - I think someone mentioned having taken this course, and loved it, so I probably clicked on a link and off I went.  Am I glad I did!  Visual Poetry (I really liked the sound of that) is the name of Susan's website for this art workshop series and many examples of her FUN and beautiful work can be seen on her Flicker page here.  Oh my gosh, isn't this the most deliciously *manipulated* cupcake?

Photo courtesy of Susan Tuttle

All rights reserved

The month long workshop was divided into weekly assignments where we learned three new techniques each week.  We could work at our own pace, trying all three, or only one, whatever suited us.  We could jump ahead or lag behind, even work on one photo over & over until we made it sing.  Like this singing cupcake that makes me crave frosting.  I think Susan's photo is actually an Operetta to Baked Goods  :>]  

The technique was called 'Retro Technique 1'.  Here's my attempt:

Below is the "before" shot:

The software we used was Photoshop Elements 6.0 (or later versions, 7.0 or 8.0).  Some people worked in Photoshop, for which Susan supplied supplemental written instructions. I chose to work in Elements since Adobe provides a free 30-day trial of their latest version.  I liked it very much. Other "perks" to the workshop were Video Tutorials for each assignment (these were incredibly helpful - thanks, Susan!), a Forum where we could post whatever questions we had while working, Texture Goodys to play around with and our very own Flicker group for posting our results.  I was amazed at how much I learned by viewing the creative solutions of the other members.

Here I had fun with 'Faux Midnight' where I turned a frosty morning into midnight by moonlight...

...'Retro Technique 2' with some grittiness from a Texture Goody...

'Tinted Grayscale' was about removing all the color then adding back a tint...a favorite subject here...

Oh, and that photo at the top...that's a 'Landscape Atmosphere' technique...

here's the before comparison:

I have a really long way to go, there is so much to learn, so many endless possibilities of how to manipulate my images, get them to say what I want them to say. But I will definitely take another workshop from Susan...and maybe even another one after that!  And I've pre-ordered this:  

Yes, I am definitely having some FUN now and for that I am very grateful.

Hope everyone is having a happy Spring Break, till next time...

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A rose by any other name...

This is my year of the garden,

the year I finally will begin planting the garden I've been dreaming about...  

It has been a long time coming this garden of mine...oh, such a very long time coming.  All those plant lists I've made, those inspirational pictures torn out of magazines (some saved for years), all the gardening books with post-it notes tabbing the pages, those stockpiled seed packets and innumerable links to gardening related websites...all coming together now and I pinch myself to believe its true.  I'm humming with anticipation like a kid waiting for Christmas!

This week has been all about roses.  What fun to walk the nursery aisles and look at all those picture tags hanging from bare, thorny sticks.  Who amongst us has not been wooed by those fabulous petal portraits?   I fall for them like I fall for wine labels - I may not know the product but I've gotta bring it home.  This is one I fell for - isn't she GORGEOUS...

'Crown Princess Margareta'

Honestly, would you be able to resist this rose?

..."exquisite, apricot-orange rosettes with a strong,

deliciously fruity fragrance."  And it is repeat-flowering!

I am particularly fond of old-fashioned roses and most of them have a delicious scent as well.  The U.K. rose breeder, David Austin, has been producing English varieties that do extremely well here in our Pacific Northwest climate. I'm giving a few of them a try.  This pale pink one is almost thornless so I'll be growing it as a shrub in an open area where dawg loves to hang out...

'Heritage'

Another one I couldn't resist is a climber with this description, "...one of the largest-flowered and most magnificent...full-petalled cups...wonderful fruit fragrance, with hints of citrus or lychee."  sigh.  Oh look, it jumped onto my cart.

'Golden Celebration'

It was the peachy-pink color that got to me on the next one. Another one with few thorns, it grows to five feet tall by four feet wide with "strong, arching stems" and should make a most excellent shrub.  Ever been to Shropshire?  Well, I never saw a lad there as good looking as this...

'A Shropshire Lad'

Thanks for stopping by to smell the roses with me!

Painting above, "The Soul of the Rose"

by John William Waterhouse, 1908

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Bead Journal Project for January...

Wishing on a Blue Moon

This year, rather than working from a theme, I am journaling about whatever feels important to me in each particular month. The month of January began with the occurrence of a "blue moon" on New Year's Eve. This moon seemed to effect quite a few of us in some sort of profound way or another. An airline pilot friend wrote an amazing story about his flight that night. It seemed I really had no other choice in the matter - I too, must journal about this event.

What does it mean to witness such a phenomenon? Why does it effect us so? I stood in the dark for a long time on that eve.  It was icy cold.  Trees and shrubs had dropped all their leaves and seed pods hung in silhouette from stark, dormant branches. I have always been in love with the dark, never having fear, not even as a child so for me, this night sky was a velvet cloak, a large comfortable mantle of stars.  And I let it cover me while that giant blue moon took all my wishes right up to the heavens...  

The piece is about 7 1/2" square, give or take. I'm going to attach each page to an 8" square backing (as yet to be determined.)  I've chosen a square format this year for a couple of reasons.  One is to purposely break my attachment to rectangles and two, is to force myself to deconstruct the resist dyed Merino felts in order to reassemble them into something entirely different. Some background on the felts I'll be using can be found here. This piece is a combination of two felts cut & sewn together.  You can click on any photo to view it a bit larger.

Aside from figuring out how to combine a mix of textiles, one of my biggest challenges was deciding how much of the felt should show and how much I could cover up with beads & stitches while still maintaining a feeling of balance. I wrestled with that A LOT.  I have decided to hold onto the mantra "it doesn't have to be perfect" while I continue to figure that one out.

New things I'm discovering this time around:

how much I like rough edges, selvages, and my preference for piecing together irregular shapes

while keeping all those uneven edges...

...how much fun it is to try combining different textiles

 and then add stitching...

...how rewarding it is to learn from others,

like how I learned from Jude at Spirit Cloth

about turning down a corner to reveal its better side...

...and then there's just how far sheer determination can take you

when you've got your mind set on using that teal-colored wool vest!

A couple other notes: the piecing together was hugely difficult for me, so constructing the base on which to bead took the most amount of time - oodles of time. I never thought I'd be able to say that the beading was the easy part! In addition, I totally enjoyed learning to needle felt, couching yarn and I really, really loved stitching, way more than I would have imagined.

So there it is - finished at last!

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Bead woven treasures...

I was delighted yesterday when I saw the subject line, A Treasure Bracelet, over on Kaite's blog.  I knew just what her post was going to be about and I couldn't wait to read it...  

Kaite, who is way over the Big Puddle from me in Australia, found her inspiration for making one (or two) of these bracelets from Robin Atkin's book, Beaded Treasures - Finger Woven Bracelets, Necklaces, Tassels and Straps.  Since I also learned this technique from Robin, I wrote to Kaite right away and offered to blog about my own experience.  I just lovelovelove the power of beads to create international communication and sharing!

I too, had some difficulty with my first bracelet (above) but I think that's to be expected when it's the *first*. It feels to me like there are not enough beads and the ones I did use, are too widely spaced. I also wove them with the stacks & loops too high so they all stick out too far.  I've since learned a fairly easy fix for these issues (by using a tapestry-like needle and weaving in more beads) but I haven't done that yet.  A mixed blessing, since this actually provides a good comparison photo when I put it next to the second bracelet which I like much better.

For those of you who like to see the backside of things as much as I do, this one's for you:

These bracelets DO feel wonderful on the wrist.  You can pack them full of all kinds of beads & trinkets that hold special meaning or memories.  Or just play like crazy.  Robin has even done all buttons, oh my!

 They don't take long to make once you get going...really.

Have you made a woven treasure bracelet? If so, it would be great to hear about your experience. Until next time, friends, share with each other. 

p.s. Kaite, this has been fun!

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Muse at sunrise...

Every now and then, my muse goes missing.   Then, for no apparent reason, one morning I will wake up and there she is again. Where does she go?  Why am I so listless when she's away?  How is it that I can know instantly when she is back?   Because suddenly my day will have more color and my step takes on a different cadence.  Pestering thoughts get pushed to the background and I find that I am only looking forward...

The Muse at Sunrise, 1918

Alphonse Osbert  

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