I’ll be away visiting a friend for the weekend, and am looking forward to doing absolutely nothing but relaxing, visiting, and in general, shamelessly basking in her wonderful hospitality for a couple of days. What bliss! Thank you, dear friend, for a much-needed break! 
But before I take off, I wanted to leave you with another Illuminata teaser… remember the city on a hill? Here’s some more of it…with some actual hill included this time. 
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Some fun stuff for the weekend…
My niece has designed and constructed some very cute fantasy animal toys using crochet (and a little knitting): a dragon and a unicorn. I think she did a great job!
Be sure to read the comments.
And here’s some more fun: a contest!!
The Funk & Weber Designs puzzle pattern contest Clue of the Day is “willow.” For a chance to win the Grand Prize (the first pattern out of the box and all the materials to stitch it), solve this puzzle. For more information about the contest, please visit Jen’s blog!
Enjoy!
The Creativ Festival Fall Show information is officially online. Stop by and check out what is being offered this year. Registration begins on Tuesday, August 5.
Since class descriptions are now available, I can give you a bit more information about mine…
Just a small FYI: the pictures on the website are soooo small that you can’t see any sparkle or beads… believe me, the projects are prettier in person. The images on the festival website are nice to give you a basic idea, but they were also submitted by yours truly before they were made into finished pieces, so that they would scan flat (I do not own a digital camera.), and I’ll be honest: so they’d make the print deadline for the brochure! The totally finished pieces will be presented in class, along with finishing instructions.
So! Here’s a bit more info:
The Holly and Ivy Ornament: This class (taught jointly by me and Jennifer Aikman-Smith) should be lots of fun. Any of you who have had the opportunity to be in a class taught by Jennifer know what a treat that is! Our designs for this class are being kept totally under wraps; so this one will have to be a total surprise.
Wool-Cross and Beyond:
I’ve wanted to do something with wool-cross to introduce stitchers to it, and to show them that it doesn’t have to be just wool “x”s on canvas. Penelope canvas is a unique ground, and I’ll be showing stitchers how certain specialty stitches can be done on it to add interest and stitching variety. Of course, sparkly stuff is always fun, so there’s some of that added to the piece as well. (Just a caution… we will be stitching with wool, so if you’re allergic, you may want to pass.)
Delightful Dragon Scissors Fob:
Just plain fun… if you like over-one… And sparklies: beads, blending filament, and cord. There’s some over-two as well, plus some specialty stitches. This is one of the designs that I had to slap on the scanner before I had totally finished it. So… there is more to this design than is shown. It’s a fob, so there’s another side to it: more fun stuff to stitch, and a place for personalization.
Overdyed Odyssey:
Silly name, but it’s all I could come up with at the time. The main idea for this class is to teach some basic cutwork. Students will learn on large-weave fabric and will use pearl cotton. The kit contains 28-count fabric, floss, overdyed fiber, metallic cord and beads: enough for both patterns: one with cutwork in the center, and one with a cutwork border for good measure. The overdyed part comes in with instruction on how to stitch the specialty motifs as mirrored.
Camelot Miniature:
There isn’t a picture of this one on the website. I simply didn’t get it done by the image submission deadline, but the Festival folks were kind enough to take it on faith that I would deliver on it. Remember the sketch I posted a couple days ago? Well, that is the idea behind this design. It’s done primarily as over-one, so there’s a lot of detail in it…and it’s very colorful. I’ve done my best to give it a feeling of richness and pageantry… like a children’s book illustration. I won’t be able to share an image of the stitched piece since I didn’t make the deadline for the Festival catalog, but you can get a good idea from the sketch.
So, that’s the round up! I’m ready to experience all that I can of the Festival; it’s always so inspiring for me to feast my eyes on all of the creative goodies in the shopping area, see the amazing creations made by the talented attendees, visit with students, and rub elbows with fellow designers! I hope to see you in Toronto!
This post isn’t about Illuminata…sorry.
It’s a sketch for one of a series of small illustration-style drawings I am doing for my portfolio. Since it’s a sketch, it’s only a basic idea…even though it appears that several areas are more detailed than others, it could still change quite a bit. It will be done in pen and ink (of course!) with watercolor tinting. The smaller format *should* allow me to accomplish more work. Much like stitching on a large needlework project can become…well…boring!…(even if I love the subject matter), working on large drawings can fall into the “yawn category” as well.
This series of drawings is inspired by the work of Howard Pyle, an American illustrator (and writer) of many children’s books during late 19th and early 20th centuries. American color press capabilities were woefully lacking compared to what English presses were producing at the time. As a result, most of Pyle’s work for children’s books was done in black and white… my favorite thing!
I recently acquired a used library copy of “The Story of King Arthur and his Knights”, which he both wrote and illustrated. I have found much in it to inspire me. I have been studying his style, the passages of the stories he chose to illustrate, as well as how he composed his illustrations. I see something new every time I look at them!
I promised more peeks at Illuminata awhile ago… but since I’m designing and not stitching lately, I thought I’d share a sketch of part of the scene at the bottom of the piece. Mind you, it’s a partial sketch, and as such, it’s very rough:
In case there are John W. Waterhouse fans out there, the scene was inspired by one of his last paintings (which he never finished): The Enchanted Garden. There is a wonderful book: J.W. Waterhouse by Anthony Hobson (published by Phaidon Press Limited, London) I highly recommend it if you are interested in learning more about this artist’s life and work.
At this point, things are still rather fluid, and if something occurs to me that I think will work better than what I have so far, I won’t hesitate to change it… although, because I’m almost finished with the figures now, they will not be changed… just their surroundings. The Waterhouse painting is wonderfully colorful, and I’m trying for the same kind of feeling.
I mentioned earlier that I decided to design this section using both over-one and over-two stitching. Believe me, I tried to do the whole thing over-two, but I just couldn’t get enough detail into the figures to suit me…so they will be done over-one. I am very aware of how large this design is, and while I want to do it justice by giving it my best efforts, I don’t want to scare stitchers away from it either.
So, I’m trying hard to find a happy medium. Wish me luck!
I know, I know. I’m absolutely horrible about posting updates to this blog.
But, lest you get the idea that I’ve been lounging around in the sun sipping on various cool and fruity alcoholic beverages…
Still working on Illuminata: I’m concentrating on the bottom panel, which is a life-like scene of somewhere within the confines of the walled city which appears at the top of the piece. It’s been slow going because I’ve changed my mind several times about both the subject matter and exactly *how* to design it. However, since I’ve finally settled on a combination of both over-one and over-two, and actually *what* I’m putting in the scene, things should move along more quickly. At least I fervently hope so.
Still working on the Spring horse drawing: Several changes have also slowed down this project, but I know they were for the better; it now more closely “follows” the Winter horse in technique and overall feeling.
Still doing re-charts: of the designs from the discontinued Best of TW Fantasy Collection book for Patterns OnLine.com… just finished the design for August, in fact: “Unicorn”.
Still working on other projects as time allows, too: charting Hide and Seek for cross stitch, working on a new series of small drawings for my portfolio, working on the transfer and re-formatting of the TW Design Checklists to the TW Designworks website, and doing the finishing/presentation work on the CreativFestival classes I’ll be teaching in October.
So… I haven’t been slacking.
I apologize for my absence. The last several weeks have been a period of re-organizing, re-evaluating, and re-prioritizing. I won’t go into detail because, quite frankly, it would bore your socks off.
The upshot is that I’ve got a better handle on things now, so you should be seeing more from me here.
Thanks for your patience!
One of the needlework blogs I regularly read is Sharon B.’s “In a Minute Ago”. Her posts are wonderfully informational; a really nice blend of designer’s insight and needlework resources gleaned from the Web. If you are searching for free e-books about stitching, this post should not be missed!
See the cat on the windowsill in this picture?
His name was Jake. Sadly, he passed away early Saturday morning.
Jake lived a very full 19 years, 17 of those with us. He had *such* a cat personality: sassy, wary and independent… polar opposite of the gentle, easy-going temperament of our other cat, Tom, who died several years ago. Yet, he managed to wrap both my husband and I very tightly around his immaculate white paws, reminding us daily that we should feel very honored indeed to share our home with such a sublime feline!
And honored we were. We’ll miss you, Jake.
In the Merry Month of May
8 Comments Published May 2nd, 2008 in This and That, Art-related, Needlework-relatedAround here, Spring really seems to get down to business in May: things are green and the weather is pleasantly balmy. For those of you still dealing with snow (shudder!) and cold temperatures, I feel for you. I really do.
On the printing front: The new printer seems to be working quite well and I couldn’t be more pleased with it. (Side note: I love the name: It’s a Xerox product: a “Phaser”. I know, I’m a hopeless Star Trek fan. I’m resisting the urge to give it a name… like Spock or Data…)
On the needlework designing front: Work continues on class designs for the CreativFestival. It’s refreshing to be working on smaller designs for a change. Not happy with how something’s turning out? No problem. Trash it and start over, no big deal. Yep. Definitely refreshing.
On the art front: I would venture to say that all artists have at least one “weak” area…something they really need to improve in order to make their work more balanced overall.
I’ve been aware for a long time that my main trouble spot is the (entire) human figure. And I (desperately) need to address my lack of proficiency in rendering the human form. Since live models are just not an option, and those little jointed figure drawing mannequins are not really helpful at all, I decided to invest in e-frontier’s “Poser Figure Artist”.
The program allows one to pose very realistic figures in 3-D space… which is *very* cool… and then either export or print the image. While I am still learning the basics of moving body parts to get believeable-looking poses…the program does have some limits built into it, but you can still accidentally (or not) move parts beyond their proper range of motion (more than a little freaky, but fun)… I can see how this software *should* help me tremendously in my quest to improve my figure drawing abilities.
Of course, nothing takes the place of practice, practice, practice in improving anything…
So, I guess I’d better get back to it!
On the printing front, all local on-demand printing options/leads have been explored and rejected for various reasons. Rather than totally give up on printing however, I’ve taken the plunge and purchased a printer for publishing my charts in-house. There will be a learning curve, I’m sure. I had resisted doing this because I have very limited technical knowledge/expertise, and preferred leaving printing in the hands of people who *know what they’re doing*! Keep your fingers crossed that I can overcome my anxiety about dealing the tech stuff, get a grip, and carry on!
Otherwise, with Spring’s arrival, the garden will be plowed this week for early planting, wood-cutting (for the woodstove next winter) has begun, and clean up of winter storm debris, including the leaves that didn’t get raked last fall has started. It’s very good to be out of hibernation!
And it’s that time again: over the next couple of days, I’ll be shifting stuff from the house back into my studio space… (very happy sigh!)
And, I just finished reading a wonderful book: The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield. If you like mysteries in the gothic tradition, you’ll enjoy this one. I couldn’t put it down!
