Painting

Well, there's painting going on but it's the kitchen not my homework. I'm not sure that I like the blue...it's awfully blue. On the other hand, it makes the room feel cool and me feel calm looking at it. And it does look nice against the yellow walls in the living room and hall.

OK, back to work...

Week 4 - Composition

It's been a long time since I've painted anything that wasn't three-dimensional. I've been having fun smooshing paint around and trying out gel medium. Artist's acrylics are much more vibrant and have more body than the craft acrylics I usually use.

I'm not sure what to paint this week...I'm thinking of a still life, since I haven't done one yet. I'll check and see what's in the kitchen to paint.

Which is the most menacing of the parallelograms?

The Daily Show - You're Welcome - Balancing the Budget
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Just askin'

Did anyone accuse Micheangelo of hoarding marble? Monet of hoarding oil paints? Why the bad rap for knitters? We don't hoard yarn; we see the potential in every skein and ball.

Week 3 - Red Leaf Color Match

Week 3 - Red Leaf Color Match, originally uploaded by toadncat.

This was the easiest color to match. Mostly red with a little blue and yellow. And a little white.

The leaf is from the heavenly bamboo (nandina) in our yard. I love the color of it! It seemed really bright true red, until I tried to match it. Then I could see that although there was a bit of yellow/green at the base, the red had some blue in it.

Stitches!

My head is spinning from all the color and texture...we were pretty good. Didn't buy everything we wanted to, but just enough to sate the creative beast.

Quick run through the trends: sock yarn and small hand-dyers are still going strong. Also lots of indie pattern designers. It seems like there were more patterns for garments knitted from sock yarn...I guess there's just som many socks you can knit.

I thought (and Lara agreed) that the best and most interesting vendors were in the back of the venue, as usual. I have to do the numbers, but my impression was that there were at least as many vendors as last year. There certainly seemed to be plenty of customer participation! The parking lot was pretty full shortly after 10am. We had to bust through and open up the other half of the lot to ease the traffic.

I hope to return on Sunday to follow up first impressions.

Week 3: Get Your Paint On

I'm about a week behind now. I couldn't get a version of the first project that I liked, and then I got behind on project two...Oh, let's face it! I was having too much fun mixing paint and smearing it around to see how it looked on watercolor paper (translucent) and on the gesso studio boards (vibrant). And layering the paint!! Too much fun!

Week Three is all about color, but I've been playing with it all along.

Week 2: Get Your Paint On

This week we are supposed to paint something in the style of an artist we like. At first I really struggled to think of an artist I would/could emulate. Then I got to looking around the house, and decided to try a graphic style similar to Laurel Burch. I also like the paintings of animals by Bill Tossetti, Ron Burns, Dana Heacock and Sonia Paz.

For my subject, I select a photo I took of Jack (Ferguson) relaxing on the couch in the family room. It has lots of blocks of color and contrast. I sketched the main features and then colored in the blocks.

Now it's time for the details, or it will be once it's a little dryer.

Broad Street Convertible Mittens

I've been wanting to make these for awhile, and I've had the yarn for awhile, too. Finally got around to making them. The yarn is very nice to knit with and stripes subtly, but feels a bit thin for warmth. And right now the weather is too nice to really test them.

The pattern was fairly easy and straightforward, just need to pay attention to thumb gusset and fingers. And a tip from a Bernat pattern: knit the row for the mitten cap with a life-line or larger needle to make it easier to pick up stitches after you've finished the fingers.

Project 1: Inspired by Gee's Bend Quilts

So, Week One's project was a painting inspired by Gee's Bend quilts. I tried several versions, but this one is my favorite:

It is pretty much a copy of a quilt square; some of the orientation may be different. I was really inspired by the quilt color combos, but had trouble translating them into a painting.

This painting is acrylic on watercolor paper.

"New England Knits" by Cecily Glowik MacDonald and Melissa LaBarre

I've been waiting for this book to come out. There have been teasers featuring photos of the projects floating arount the Internet for awhile now.

Most of the patterns feature Classic Elite yarns, which are very nice and come in lovely subdued colors. There are a variety of projects -- hats, mittens as well as sweaters that are elegant in their simplicity.

I'll write more after I've actually started a project. :-)