Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Ruby Tuesday


My short haircut is delightfully fresh and cool, but it'll be 2 weeks before I can show my face to my friends!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Violets are Blue


Remember this yarn from way back when?  It's Malabrigo Lace, in the color Indigo.  I had this yarn all ready for my "In Dreams" KAL, but, after second and third thoughts, I had to frog the darn thing.  Too many beads, and far too complicated a pattern for my taste. 

I rescued this lovely lace weight, and decided to use it doubled, for my second in a series of 5 shawls for the "Be Mine" collection.  Stay tuned!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Roses Are Red


Shawls?  How do I love the? Let me count the ways.  Apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 

This is the first in a series of 5 shawls I'll be knitting during the coming season.  What season is that, you ask?  It's shawl-making-season, of course!

Rose Beck has written a lovely little E-Book titled Be Mine.  There are 5 shawls included in this E-Book, and well worth the download.  They are well written, with charming little notes about how she came to write each pattern, as well as name them.
 


Roses are Red is so sweet, it makes my teeth hurt.  I love the little flowers, and even though they might seem intricate, it's quite easy.

Yarn:  Yarn Love
Colorway:  Warm Brick
Needles:  Size 4 U.S. Circular



Confession time....I ran out of yarn.  There should be one more complete pattern repeat, before the garter stitch edging.  The pattern called for 380 yards of fingering weight yarn and I used 2 hanks of Yarn Love, which each have 195 yards.  I'm not very good at math, but my calculator tells me, that adds up to 390 yards, which should have been more than enough.  It wasn't.

Note to self:  Always have more yarn than you need.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Color Exercises in Progress...


Continuing my color and drawing exercises, I used various degrees of the color blue, and added a spot of green for added interest.




Here, I've used transparent paper. copying my design.  I marked the page with a grid.



I used the grid to transfer a small portion of my picture, and enlarge it on another page of my sketchbook.


In the next lesson, I began mono-printing.  This is my first experience with this form of art, and I'm afraid it shows.  Nevertheless, I will display my dismal results, and suffer the consequences.


Huh?


Next....



Hard to believe, I've never done this before, right?



Now, that's sad...



There were a couple I was able to rescue with a little water color.  I'm not quite finished with this one.



After outlining the flowers with a bit of water soluble crayon, I applied a water color wash to the background.  Not bad, but it needs something.

Believe me, these are only a few of my mono-printing tries.  I have a stack of about 50 more on my table, but they are just more of the same.  I haven't given up, and I know I can do better.

Monday:  Knitting News!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

One Potato, Two Potato...



Talk about bringing back memories!  Potato printing seemed so easy when I was 6 and uninhibited. 



Here's a closer view, and although it isn't perfect, I do like the darker outline on some of the images.




Here, I applied a wash to the background, still following Gina's wonderful lessons.  I'm so thankful for her seemingly one on one tutorial.



In this image, I applied some gold oil crayon to some of the outlines.  I like the look of this.



Good grief....knowing when to stop is one of the hallmarks of a good artist.  In the above image, you can see that my work became a bit heavy handed.   A little muddy on the left, and I just kept trying to improve the look....Thankfully, poor results only make me want to try harder.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Exercise in Color, part 2


In my first use of color, I've washed the background in blue, and used an oil pastel to highlight the flowers.  Again, Gina's color exercises are my inspiration.


Here, I've added some contrasting color for interest.



My white oil highlight isn't quite as stark as I'd have liked. 



Here, I tried my hand at adding interest in the form of shadow.....wow, It's been a long time since art class, and I've forgotten so much more than I've remembered. 

Next, potato stamping? 

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Exercise in Color


Taking just a small break from knitting, I'm following Gina's wonderful exercises which combine sketches and a single color to create some interesting art pages. 

Right off the bat...My love of art does not coincide with my ability to produce art, but I really want to give it a try, so here goes.


The first thing I did was try to reproduce a couple of examples of our Echinacea (which are almost spent) in the garden. 

Today, I'll begin manipulating these drawings, and my progress will be forthcoming.....I hope!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Ruby Tuesday


A little girl needs a haircut.