Two yummy books...

Two new books I've found are SO full of fabulous work and inspiration - truly delicious stuff!Collage artists and Art Quilt artists will both find inspiration in either book - so much about composition crosses between the two media.

1000 Artisan Textiles (Quarry) is a visual feast of color and texture. Selected works include close up photos to show terrific detail so the reader can really study the work. There are no "how to" instructions in this book but page after page will take your imagination on a journey that needs no direction. There is an abundance of felted work that showcases the endless possibilities of working in felt. And, hundreds of art quilts show a wide array of techniques, serving to prove just how much this medium has grown. This is a book that I will visit again and again to appreciate the fabulous work and to seek inspiration for my own. Delicious stuff - really!

Masters Collage (Lark) is another visual feast that will jump start your imagination. The book showcases the collage work of forty artists (including my friend, the wonderfully talented Liz Cohn). Collage artists are great recyclers and I am always interested to see how they "upcycle" common items into art. This is another terrific book that I will visit many times over. Another yummy book for my library!

I started working in collage about fifteen years ago. At that time, I was able to find only TWO books on collage. My how times have changed! There are countless books on collage, journaling, mixed media and related creative methods now. While much of the material crosses over from one book to the next, I always find something new and interesting in each one. New materials lead to new techniques and there is no end to the imagination of creative minds.

Speaking of creative minds.... have you been watching "Work of Art"??? How about "Project Runway"??? I am hooked on both shows (and I'm loving On the Road with Austin & Santino, also). I just love hearing about the challenges, thinking about what I might do, and watching what the artists/designers come up with. I find it fascinating to watch someone else's creative process unfold.

I hear some fabric calling to me..... time to see what I can come up with today!

Back to books...

Perhaps some of you have been wondering what happened to the "Bookworm 52" project that got me to start my blog... (projects/reviews from 52 books in 52 weeks)...

If you recall, that whole thing started because I was feeling uninspired and directionless in my work. My hope was that by selecting a series of projects & books, and blogging about them, that it would get me moving again. Well, it worked and I'm back to making huge messes in my studio as I work on several projects at once and my brain is once again filled with more ideas than I could complete in ten lifetimes.

I am not, however, going to abandon the "Bookworm 52" idea completely because I think it is still a worthwhile project. I will write about a couple of books a month and do a project from each of them to share with you. I have a huge library of craft/art/quilting books so I know I'll never run out of books to work with!

My newest book is "How To Be An Explorer of The World" by Keri Smith. The subtitle is "Portable Life Museum". The back cover says "At any given moment, no matter where you are, there are hundreds of things around you that are interesting and worth documenting". It is basically a book about making detailed observations of things from every day life - and journaling about them. The book has 59 prompts intended to get you started - one of the pages I like is "anywhere can be a starting place, start where you are". I have a trip coming up and I'm planning to take this book with me and do as many of the prompts as I can while I'm gone. I'm going to record my explorations and will share my journal with you when I'm done. It will be a fun exercise & I'm guessing it will make me a much more observant traveler!

It looks like a fun book and I'm looking forward to following the "explorations". Here's to REALLY paying attention to what is going on around me!

Sunrise, Sunset...

Sunrise, sunset... a beginning and an end...

My last summer class at Parson's is tomorrow. It has been wonderful to learn so much about garment design and construction! I'm sorry it is coming to a close but will return to Parson's in the fall for more classes. I'm hungry to learn more!

For my final project I'm making a little summer dress. It is still in pieces but I'll get it mostly finished tonight. Only one other person is working in "real" fabric, the rest are working in muslin. I just can't get interested in making a dress in muslin! Anyway, I'm loving it so far. I'll post photos of the finished dress next week.

Back to the sunrise... this beautiful sunrise greeted us a couple of weeks ago as our cruise sailed into Bermuda. The light was AMAZING (my camera didn't do it justice). It reminded me of the light in old paintings. And, as if that weren't enough, there was a big fat rainbow! I'm not usually an early bird but I'm glad I was that morning.

One of the things I loved about Bermuda was the striking colors of the flowers against the colors of the homes with their crisp white roofs. It just all looks so joyful!

My sister, Valerie, and I visited a tiny beach with a huge treat - PILES of beach glass! I had read about it on the internet and both of us were excited about finding it. As it turns out, it was easy to find (though out of the way). Our taxi driver seemed amused that we had so much fun collecting broken glass. We each left with two bags of glass and you couldn't even tell we had been there! I haven't sorted through it yet and I don't have specific plans but I do know that I have a terrific stash of beach glass to play with.

The time in Bermuda flew by, vacations seem to run on clocks that run faster than "normal" time, don't they? We sailed towards home, enjoying the ameneties on the ship and made the most of our time together (me, my husband, my Dad, my sister, Valerie, my father-in-law & mother-in-law). It was a great trip!

On our last night of the cruise, I went out on our balcony at the bow of the ship and caught the incredible sunset. I stayed out there for a long time, snapping pictures as the sun sank below the horizon and until the clouds began to glow in the reflected light. It was a lovely end to our trip and a reminder of how tiny we each are as compared to the vast ocean and the glory of nature's gifts. Very humbling, indeed.

There is a point to all my ramblings, as it relates to the creative aspects of my life. I'm always excited by the sunrise of a project - sketching, pulling out materials, drafting, testing, discarding and trying again - ever hopeful that what I envisioned will be achieved. As it comes together, my "rainbow", into something I'm proud of, I feel great about what I've done. The finished project, my sunset, is the end of the journey - yet, I know there is another creative sunrise around the corner. It's an endless lovely ride and I feel so blessed to have my creative gifts.

Wishing you an inspiring sunrise, a beautiful rainbow, and a satisfying sunset that leaves your heart burning for another creative journey!

I love making Mood Boards!

The assignment for my Textiles class was to create a Mood Board that showed our source of inspiration, the spirit of our "collection", the color story, some fabric, trims/buttons, and to include drawings (known as croquis) of our designs.

I already knew my source of inspiration - it was my walk in the woods at Squam. The spring greens of the new leaves, the dove to charcoal grays of boulders, the bright green mosses, and the persimmon-y colored flowers I photographed were my jumping off point.

A trip to the hardware store yielded paint chips in my color scheme and two hours at Mood, the amazing fabric store, was rewarded with a little pile of fabric swatches. I tore photos out of magazines and printed some of my photos from Squam. Black illustration board was my work surface and I used glue stick and ZipDry paper glue as adhesives.

For my fashion illustrations, I found a website that has FREE croquis (line drawings) in a bunch of different styles and poses (http://www.designersnexus.com/) that help my sketches look professional. I printed my selected croquis then placed it under tracing paper and drew my designs over the skeleton of the croquis underneath. After the clothing drawing was done I drew in the head, neck, arms, legs, hair, etc., to finish the drawing. I scanned the tracing paper drawing, printed it, and colored the printed page with Copic markers. I love this method!

It didn't take me long to arrange all the bits into my Mood Board collages. I glued it all down, added the dimensional elements of fabric, buttons and trim, and they were finished. What fun I had!

In class, we each had to do a presentation of our boards and discuss our inspiration, how it was depicted in the fashions, our target customer, etc. We were then critiqued by the instructor and the class. There were eleven of us in the class and it was interesting to see what everyone did and to learn about their thought processes.

So, here you have my mood boards. I am sure I will make more of them in the future. Not necessarily because I want to be a fashion designer (not this week, anyway) but because it was a great exercise and a lot of fun.

As for my garment construction techniques class, we have learned how to "throw" darts and alter the pattern in a myriad of ways. We've gone from draping to drafting patterns. I have always been curious about how to draft a pattern but always thought it involved a lot of complicated math. As it turns out, there is pretty much NO math involved! Woo hoo! My final assignment for that class is to draft a pattern for a bodice and skirt & make them. Guess I'll be busy this afternoon!

I am having a blast learning all this stuff. I can't wait for Parson's fall schedule to come out so I can figure out what I'm taking next!

It's officially SUMMER!

Summertime... the word alone fills my head with sights, smells and tastes from summers gone by. Sunshine days, bright green grass, happy colorful clothing, bare feet, suntan lotion, a freshly mowed lawn, watermelon, and corn on the cob dripping with butter. What's not to love?

I was thinking about summer today while on the train back from NYC and remembered this day in Colorado. We were there for my step-son, Brian's wedding which took place at a ranch in a field with acres of dandelions in full bloom. They had wonderful long stems so I picked a bunch of them and made dandelion crowns for granddaughters Britney and Emily, pictured here. They both looked so sweet with their crowns! A lovely summertime memory.

It was a hot start to summer today in NYC! My textile class met at the Ratti Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They maintain archives of countless textiles both in actual fabric samples and a digital archive. It has been so interesting for me to learn about the resources available to designers - first the color forecasting, then this textile archive, and on to the Style Council on Thursday (not sure what they do, guess I'll find out on Thursday!).

I also had my Construction Techniques class today and we continued draping our muslin on the dress form. Next we will use the muslin to make slopers (the foundation pattern for everything). It is an interesting class and I am learning a lot but I'm glad this isn't the way I learned how to sew! It is pretty tedious when compared to sewing a garment from a commercial pattern. The fun stuff comes soon, I know!

After my class at the Ratti Library was finished I stayed at the museum and visited the "American Woman' exhibit at the Met. The exhibit included fabulous garments from the late 1800's through the 1940's. It was a beautiful exhibit and one can get close enough to the garments to really appreciate the details of the fine embroidery and bead work. The exibit is worth a trip to the city - if you are a textile/garment/fashion person, you must go!

Viewing vintage textiles, draping a muslin, and visiting a historical exhibit of garments gives me new appreciation for the clothes in my closet. While they are hardly haute couture (or fashion, for that matter), they are the result of thousands of years of the evoloution of textiles and garments. Thankfully, we have evolved to dressing more comfortably than in 1890 when women were squeezed into corsets and drowned in layer upon layer of fabric. A great look but who in the heck has the kind of time it took to get dressed back then?

Thinking about color...

My Parson's textile class had a field trip today to The Color Association of the United States in NYC (www.colorassociation.com). My instructor is on the Men's Committee and arranged for us to have an "inside look" at what they do. It was interesting to learn how they go about forecasting color and we were given last year's forecast including sets of fabric swatches of the colors (usually distributed to Members only). Who knew that a whole committee of people have already decided what color sweaters we will buy in 2012?

After that, we went to Mood, the amazing fabric store in the Fashion District. We spent some time talking about textiles and selecting fabrics for mood boards. I stayed after class and collected swatches for my class project. I have a lot of editing to do and will probably add and subtract several times before my final decisions are made. Here's what I've got so far... a nice variety of textures and fabric types - now to figure out what I would make out of what fabric!

My "inspiration" comes from some photos I took at Squam Lake while on my nature hike. I noticed the patterns of the cracks in the rocks and the spring green moss growing in them. Inspiration can come from anywhere! Something so seemingly small has sparked a series of ideas that I will apply to my projects for my Parson's classes and for some art quilts I've got on my mind.

Some of the photos I took are shown on this post. I've seen cracked mossy rocks before but have never looked at them in quite the way I am now.

Next week the same class will visit the textile archives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Style Council. I'm looking forward to both trips and to continuing to make decisions about my class projects.

Today was fun (well, my feet aren't too sure about that...) and I remain excited about the classes. I have zero idea of what I am going to do with what I am learning, I am just enjoying the process!

Simply wonderful Squam

This charming cabin was home while I was at the Squam Art Workshops. The camps, known as Rockywold-Deephaven Camps, are in Holderness, NH. The camp is such a peaceful place with shaded paths, dirt roads, abudant wildlife and wildflowers. Truly a perfect setting for a restorative creative getaway!

I was greeted with a very warm welcome and ushered into the cabin to receive my workshop schedule and goodies. It was all very organized and everyone was so friendly. After two young men helped haul all my "stuff" into my second floor room, I organized my room and headed out for a walk.

The setting reminded me of Hidden Pond, the Adirondack campground I spent a lot of time at when I was a kid. My father, however, would not consider this place to be a camp as in his mind that involves tents, sleeping bags and cooking over open flames. It is definitely luxury camping at Rockywold! The cabins are rustic but very clean and the food is terrific - fresh, abundant and varied.

From my vantage point at Rockywold Camp, Squam Lake appears nearly untouched - the natural landscape interrupted only by rustic cabins tucked along the shoreline, nestled among the hemlock boughs. There are small docks near each cabin for easy access to the lake. I was not brave enough to dive into the crisp spring water but those who were said it was a refreshing gift.

I took three classes at Squam but have yet to take photos of my work so I'll save details on them for a later post. For now, I'll say that the classes were fun, organized and inspiring.

I did catch up with my California friend, Jenny Doh. Jenny was the keynote speaker at the opening gathering and gave a heartfelt talk about "Art Saves Lives" and how creative expression brings peace during lifes most difficult moments. You can learn more about Jenny's philosopy at http://www.crescendoh.com/. Jenny is an amazing woman, talented, smart, insightful, and funny. Her friendship is truly a gift that I cherish. We had a couple of hiking adventures as we searched for a classroom (and followed others through the edges of a swamp) and as we trekked to Charlotte's cabin as the sun was going down.

This photo of Jenny and I reminds me of something else I loved about Squam - nobody bothered with makeup or fussy hair. I'm usually pretty fussy about my hair - I can't believe I'm posting a picture with my "Squam-do"! It was nice to ignore that part of my morning routine for a little while though!

During my free time on Saturday I went for a nature hike with my camera and took over a hundred photos that I will use for a nature inspired series of work. Doing so reminded me of how grateful I am for digital cameras which allow us to click away and collect hundreds of images in search of the "perfect" one. It certainly beats spending a fortune developing film.

I arrived home on Sunday evening after driving through some pretty terrifying rain. It is fun to go on a trip but there is nothing like the comforts of home and returning to the loving arms of my sweet husband. The trip was wonderful and my mind is now full of fresh ideas, new skills and renewed creative energy.

I'm off on a new adventure on Tuesday when I start my classes at The New School at Parson's in New York City. My classes are Construction Techniques I (garment construction) and a Textiles course. I have been wanting to take classes at Parson's for a long time and am excited about the classes. I'm going to blog about them so keep checking back.

I just realized how funny it is that I'm going from one extreme to another - from the dirt roads and deep woods of Squam Lake to the hustle and bustle of New York City. It's all a terrific adventure!