Project 3 Stage 2 - Exercise 2

Stage 2  - Exercise 2 (using small grey square in the middle)

I found out after doing this exercise that the grey squares appear to have a colour haze from the surrounding colour. When you look at a square e.g the orange square (the grey square has an orange tinge around it), blue has a blueish hue around it.
When you look at the black square it would appear that the grey tone becomes a deeper grey tone.

Project 3 Stage 2, Colour Perception

Exercise 1 (using small blue square in the middle)

Exercise 1 (using small green square in the middle)

Stage 2: Exercise 1

When I had finished this exercise I found that the shade of the smaller coloured squares changed. It went duller on dark backgrounds & lighter (brighter) on light backgrounds. it also shows how well complementary colours work for example blue & orange (see below)

A Creative Approach - Part 2

Building a Visual Vocabulary: Colour, Design, Printing & Painting


Stage 1 Introduction and preparation.

What an experience, I have not mixed paints since I was at school, I started off by mixing the colour wheel (see above) and found out red, yellow,and blue are the only colours that cannot be made by mixing two colours together - these are called the primary colours. Green, Orange and Violet are three secondary colours these are half way between the primary colours that were used to mix them.
To make colours lighter I added white. You can also tint a colour for example, pink is a tint of red.
If you add black you can make a colour darker. I did use more white in mixing than black.

The colour mixing has really helped me to focus how colours complement each other and blend. It has also helped me to get colours more accurate.

Sketchbook 1

Woolfest 2011

25th June 2011 was the day I went to Woolfest in Cockermouth,Cumbria. What a experience, I've never seen so many stalls (140 stalls I heard). I've never seen so many different colors of dyed yarns, pure wool, Alpaca, Mohair, Cotton and Silk.
It was great to see the spinning in action, also the weaving. It was a fantastic day with lots of workshops which gave me alot of inspiration.

WHAT IS WOOLFEST?

Carolyn Rawlinson

According to the late Carolyn Rawlinson's recollections: " Woolfest was born at a liquid lunch just after Christmas 2003. I had dreamt for years of creating a really big show celebrating wool, spinning, dyeing, knitting and all things associated with this wonderful part of the textile world. I suggested the idea at a Wool Clip meeting and to my surprise (and shock), everyone decided to take it on. Woolfest was born, with a vision for a mixture of the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival in America and Potfests here in Cumbria".

Today Woolfest is a celebration of natural fibres and of all things wool. It is still organised by members of The Wool Clip with the help from over 100 volunteers in the days leading up to the event and during two very busy days of Woolfest.

 Woolfest 2011 broke all records with 5000 visitors from near and far over two days. Next years date and details can be found on: www.woolfest.co.uk

Project 2, Stage 6 & Reflective Commentary

I love my garden so when my sweet peas looked and smelled wonderful I decided to sketch them and use this as my Stage 6.
I hand stitched working on heavy cotton fabric, for the flowers I used different techniques to represent each one.Satin, Sedding, Blanket, French knots, Cross-stitch, Running & Couching were used, and for the Bamboo Cain's I used brown patterned material then used cross-stitch as couching and Herringbone.

Learning Log


* Can you begin to see the relationship between stitching and drawing?

Yes, I can see where the relationship is between stitching and drawing. I look at everything now in a different light. It's like lines and movement of media, dark and light.

*  Were you able to choose stitches which expressed the marks and lines of you drawing?

The way I had sketched and put my marks made it a easy choice when it came to the stitches. I knew that each sweet pea was going to be different either with wool,thread or materials and the stitch would reflect that.

*   Did you choose the right source material to work from?

I felt my source material was the correct choice, it brought to life my lovely sweet peas. The media did just what I expected it to do. (shine through like a ray of sunshine!).

* Do you think your sample works well irrespective of the drawing? Or is your sample merely a good interpretation of your drawing?

I think you could go with both, the sample has got feeling and texture, my nephew couldn't tell what is was but my niece could!. I think it has a good interpretation of my drawing as you can see where the inspiration is coming from.

* Which did you prefer - working with stitch to create textures or working with yarn to make textures? Which worked best for you and why?

I enjoyed both because they both gave great variation, having not worked like this before I didn't have a preference. I loved the couching with cross-stitch, also using the different material then stitching on top of them.

* Make some comments on individual techniques and sample pieces. Did you experiment enough? Did you feel inhibited in any way?

Couching was a new technique to me, so when I did my rose (Project 2 - Stage 3) I was thrilled at how it turned out. I thought the Satin stitch - green (again new to me) on project 2 exercise 2 had a very striking impact with wools and cotton threads showing real depth of colour,direction and shape.
I really enjoyed all of this project, it would have been better if I could have used my sewing machine. I feel I missed out a little not having the advantage of combining both hand stitch & machine together.
I did not feel inhibited because I worked with what I had, and my ideas were there before I started stitching.

* 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 work with a drawing because to me I like to get ideas down on paper also the thought process has been done. I then find it easy to visualise what materials and media I want to use.

* Are there other techniques you would like to try? Are there any samples you would like to do in a different way?

I didn't get the Cretan stitch done so this is one I will bringing in a some stage. The sewing machine samples I would like to give a go. I was happy with the samples I had done, the only one I was disappointed with was Stage 5 the white and lemon sample. Another time I would change the colours.

* Is there anything you would like to change in your work? 

I wouldn't change any of my work, but I would like to carry out more samples and experiments. I did feel I had spent loads more time than recommended but it was well worth it and I was pleased with the results.



REFLECTIVE COMMENTARY




So far so good, I've had an incredibly journey. Its been positive most of the time, Initially at the start I found it difficult with the sketching (having never been an 'artist'). I had a struggle with my imagination and it was a learning curve to let it take hold. I think in my mind I had to tell it that there is no 'right' & 'wrong' answers and this was not easy to do.
I have always cross-stitched or knitted and you always had a pattern or kit to work from, so it felt very strange to be able to have freedom of stitch. I have learnt to ignore the straight forward rules & regulations  I was used to, and creativity is now happening.

Each exercise has taken me a lot longer to complete but I think that was due to me enjoying the work, it did worry me though, that I was not doing enough examples (this still does concern me!).
 I feel I need to experiment more with the different textures in project 1 exercise four, I'm not sure which way I will go with this but I felt more could possibly be done.
I did become frustrated with my sewing machine, this is one area I will be working on when I get it working correct. I felt I had missed out on trying the different designs, also maybe combining hand stitch with the machine would have been nice to try..

Project 2 Stage 5