Attempts at Transparency

 For the third meeting, our small group decided to try an exercise inspiration from a very different book, This book is beautifully produced, the exercises are illustrated with different media used and it's just an overall fun experience reading through the very rational, yet still fun approach to learning about using color in any type of artwork.  The subtitle of the book is: 50 graphic experiments for exploring color design principles, and I love that they are titled experiments as opposed to lessons or exercises. Experiments means that extra element of fun and unexpected results.  Understanding how and why color works is vitally important, and something that I think I'll be interested in learning and working on for the rest of my life.  It's a pretty much endless topic.
This first experiment was about achieving the illusion of transparency.  First I made a design I liked out of overlapping shapes of colored tissue paper glued onto white paper.

Then I translated it into a fabric approximation.  I actually did not have the correct greens or yellows so there was a little color experimenting going on.  I knew I was weak in the yellow department, but I was surprised that I did not have the right greens.

Lastly I made a second fabric version that switched out the overlapping parts of the shapes and tried to interpret those color changes correctly.  I was close, but not 100% due to lack of fabric choices (I know hilarious given the size of my fabric stash).  Good thing it was just an experiment right?  In general I really liked how this turned out, and the challenge of finding the right yellows and greens to use was definitely worth trying.

Now onto the next experiment!

Wandering Wednesdays - Bodega Bay

I guess it's a Wednesday theme, why not?  There's lots of trip and vacation photos to choose from, we've been traveling a lot lately.  So here's Bodega Bay on our late-March trip.

 I liked seeing all the rock formations, including this arch.  But unfortunately no whales.

It was a great hike that we took all around Bodega Head, a few miles, mostly just along the cliff edge.

Three California Poppies all lined-up on the edge of the cliff.  I had to lie down to get this picture.

Thank goodness for zoom so that I could get this bird picture, he was sitting at the end of a particularly small cliff edge which I was not allowed to go out on. 

Again, we lucked out with the weather, beautiful, clear, sunny.  

 I know this sign at the entrance to Bodega Harbor up on the hill means something important, but it was fun to stand by it.

 Later that evening we caught the sun setting into the Pacific from the top of the mountain on the way back to Bodega Bay from inland.

On Dresses

I'm really enjoying reading the One Hundred Dresses on A Dress A Day  as Erin McKean goes through her own  closet and shows us one hundred dresses that she's made, one per day.  Including pockets! That match and/or contrast!
  And I'm also really looking forward to reading her new book The Hundred Dresses which is all about dress archetypes. 
I honestly don't know why I like reading dress blogs like hers and this refashioning one, New Dress A Day  so much, because I hardly own any dresses, much less wear them. I guess I'm an aspirational dress enthusiast? Or something? Maybe subconsciously since I've been housewife-ing for a while now I'm just exhibiting my deep-seated internalization of 50's sit-com re-runs like "Leave it to Beaver"

 (stop laughing, that's not nice) 

 It's not like I think I should be wearing a dress (and heels and pearls) everyday, of course not.  But dresses still mean something to me even though I don't wear them much.  I guess I like the idea of them more than the reality perhaps?  Usually when I wear a dress it's for a special occasion, which means fun, and socializing.   Something different than the usual day-to-day.

So buying fabric and patterns to make a dress is a way of looking forward to and pre-celebrating a special occasion.  A way of extending the fun that's to come I think.

Hmmm...Do I have time to get a new dress together to wear to my son's outdoor high school graduation on Friday?  Maybe!

Harmony Sketches

 Sometimes "wasting time" is worthwhile.

Especially when you find something online like Mr. Doob Harmony that's this fun and easy.

Thanks Deb at ::More Whiffs, Glimmers & Left Oeuvres::

Go try it yourself!

The End of Anise

For the second design exercise, our small group decided to again go with something out of   Design by Nature: Using Universal Forms and Principles in Design (Voices That Matter) .  This one was about finding patterns in nature.  First we were to choose a natural object and draw it everyday in our sketchbook.   I choose the end of a bunch of anise.  When I chopped it off, I was struck by all the patterns and interesting shapes and structures.

Since it would be changing soon (decomposing!) I took a lot of pictures of it.

And I even scanned it.  My son saw me doing it and just kind of shook his head and asked no questions.  At this point, he knows better, otherwise it's an art lecture from mom.

Then of course I had to fool around with the scan in Photoshop. I really loved how this filtered treatment brought out all the structures and patterns so clearly. 

Next we were supposed to start detailing the patterns from the object, exploring the details of it and expanding upon them in our sketchbook.

I also decided to carve a stamp based on one of the line drawings I did which emphasized the shapes and patterns I found most interesting.

 

My ink is getting a little old and gloopy and I need a padded stamping surface, so some of the stamped versions are too splotchy.

But I got at least one that I was able to use to make the small quilt (8.5 x 11") our group had decided to do as "homework".

It was supposed to be 3-D in some way, so I stuffed the stamped image of the anise.  But I wasn't happy with it, it was too literal, and "the usual" for me, and definitely cheating a bit on the 3-d aspect. I wanted something else, so I made a second one.

This is much more 3-D and much less literal.  I used lutradur and steam-a-seam to stiffen the folded fabric and then ironed the folds in.  

A closer view of the folding.
All in all, it was a really useful exercise, and is one I think I could repeat it many times.

Wandering Wednesday - Point Reyes

 The beach at Point Reyes. The composition of this photo really pleased me a lot, one of those "great design Nature" kind of things.

The cypress trees on the edge of the cliff were a little protection from the crazy strong wind.  I don't think I've ever been in a windier place.

The ever-present wind curves the cypresses into an almost tunnel shape. The sound in here was amazing. Like being in a big seashell.

The stairs were supposedly equivalent to a 30 story building.  It was fine on the way down. 

The wind died down thanks to the cliff side as soon as we started down the staircase so I was much happier

Inside the lighthouse, the ceiling was a cool shape.

 We were lucky it was such a sunny clear day.  It's one of the foggiest places on the whole coast.  So many colors in the Pacific.

Some of the things left behind are still interesting to look at.

 Then it was all the way back up, step by step.

All 303 of them.

Power of Doodling

Have you ever heard of Lynda Barry? She's a cartoonist that I've loved pretty much forever and is also a teacher, she teaches writing and creativity and image creation classes.
She was on NPR recently and this interview is really worth a listen.  Especially if you like to doodle while you're listening to something or are interested in the brain and creativity. Here's an older interview too.

Speaking about the making of images: "I believe with all my heart they have an absolute biological function," she says. "They are not decoration. They are not an elective. They have a function."

I've checked out her books from the library so many times that I've finally broken down and bought them.  They're packed with the sort of inspiring creative energy that is just plain fun to read and look at over and over.  I highly recommend both of these books,  for image making, writing, collage, do-it-yourself art therapy and inspiration      

Someday I hope I can take a class with her, it sounds like she's quite a teacher.

Table Runners and Micro Loans

A work colleague of my husband's gave him this to pass on to me.  It's a really beautiful table runner, woven in Bangladesh where he's from.  The colors are so vibrant, and happen to be the colors we used at our wedding (I've always loved purple and red together). I love the combination of the concentric circles, checks and stripes, a great design with a lot of punch no matter what colors it's woven in.
He was telling my husband about all the new co-ops and things being organized so the craftspeople get paid better wages and how the micro-lending idea is exploding there and making things a whole lot better for people.  That's really good to hear isn't it? I just made my first loan via the website Kiva, to a Guatemalan women's weaving co-op and am looking forward to seeing how it works.

Gelli Plate Printing

I just got one of these Gelli printing plates recently and have had a lot of fun so far playing with it.  I never did get around to trying the whole gelatin plate thing where you mix up a batch of thick gelatin and then it kind of breaks down as you make prints.
Everything I learned about the technique but never actually tried is in this great book by Rayna Gillman  I just used all the techniques in the gelatin monoprinting chapter with a Gelli plate instead.  This thing is pretty substantial and durable and seems to be intended for many reuses, although likely not a forever kind of print plate such as a piece of glass.

It's all about layers, this video shows how to do it really clearly.

I'll take pictures of my papers and fabrics and post them soon. But go get yourself one of these things, I bought mine at  Blick Art Materials.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse

Pigeon Point Lighthouse, on the California Highway 1 about 50 miles south of San Francisco.

It was a beautiful windy and sunny day when we were there.

I want to go back and stay at the hostel which is right on the edge of the cliff overlooking the Pacific.

 The lighthouse Fresnel Lens was out for cleaning and repair so we were lucky enough to get to see it up close and personal.

 As you can see, I was fascinated by all 108 of the lenses, their shapes fitted so perfectly,

 the repetition of the shapes,

 lined up and stacked. Color upon color.

 The top looks like a crazy-beautiful spaceship.

 My favorite were all the rainbows thrown around the room, I didn't want to leave!

 Closeup of the window high-up on the lighthouse.

 The lighthouse tower and a chimney in the foreground, where the smoke came up as they burned wood all night to power the steam driven light.

I know, don't look at the sun, but sometimes I can't resist when it's like this.