Doodling leads to compulsions

Once again Karen Ruane sends me into a world of inquiry that leads to surprising results ( here )

I've been playing with circles for a couple of years now and still find them interesting as a means to study colour interplay and patterns. I tested my 'permanent' markers for the step of adding colour to the textile, once the tracing with ink was completed.

One of those lucky/unlucky moments happened when some steam from the iron spurted out and caused some markers to bleed. I squirted the whole piece to figure out what would run and what wouldn't. I like some of the bleeds, and now know who to anticipate using them. The dark green one is interesting.

Karen challenged us to keep on doodling towards creating a pattern that could be repeated as they are in yards of fabric.

I began by drawing a grid of lines, then traced over three different leaf motifs, flipping the tracing paper back and forth to get different orientations. I added in the simple floral motif and then made sure there was a motif on each edge that could line up. For instance, there is a floral motif in the middle of the right edge (your right) that is missing it's top. You can spy it on the left edge at the midpoint.

I traced over the first design omitting any lines that overlapped that I didn't like.

Here the original and the good copy are side by side. You can see that the curving leaf joins the two sheets together.

Here the tip of the leaf and a floral motif join together at the overlap. If I were to trace the good copy four times, making sure the joining spots lined up, I could look at the original design and see if it would translate into a good overall fabric pattern. In the image above, you can see where there are two or three empty spots. That might not be so noticeable if all four edges were drawn up but we'll never know, because while this was fun and interesting, it takes me away from stitching. I could get lost in this practice. There are so many neat shapes and intersections that could develop. What if the grid lines were dominant instead of in the background. What if the floral elements were coloured, or not while the leaves were coloured. What colours? It is pretty speculative. Then I'd have to get it printed up and start to cut up the fabric to see how it would look stitched in different ways. What if I left it black and white and stitched the colours in? See what I mean? This could be just too much fun.

Intentional Dots - nearing the end

The Intentional Dots project is nearing its end.

The first of three layers has been completed for some time. I find it a bit loud and discordant, but it met the project's goals which was to have decisions taken away. The three sisters chose the thread and bead colours, I had to work within that framework to see what would happen.

This is free motion embroidery done on the sewing machine. It is sewn with regular thread on cheese cloth, known also as scrim. Any sewing machine can do this, it just means that the feed dogs have to be either covered or the gizmo that moves them is engaged to down. Finished, it lays over top of the coloured piece, like this.....

 and this.

A third layer, which I forgot to photograph, is sky blue and full of embroidered shades of white circles. It will lay behind these three pieces. A sandwich of dots. A friend suggested the title "dot.calm"

I have to figure out how I want this piece to hang, if I want to reverse the blue piece so it can be double sided and hang from the wall like a shop sign, or if I should space the three layers apart a bit, so peeking by the viewer can happen. And I have to find clear acrylic rod. It used to be that clear acrylic rod in different diameters was so ubiquitous that I could buy it when I bought toothpaste, but now I think I have to mail order to islands in the Seven Seas to get some. Who needs gold as a standard of wealth when clear acrylic rod is so scarce?

Intentional Dots draws to a close, Daily Doodles fell out of the wagon, but stitching continues. I will have a show and tell from my two online stitching courses for the next studio update. I hope you won't all be sitting on pins and needles. snort.

July's efforts

The Daily Doodles continue, but just to add spice to the mix, I've been taking Karen Ruane's Embroidery Ledger course

http://karenruane.blogspot.ca

which is action packed.

My first effort, where we try pull out colours we like from the image and then try to match thread colours.

Then things go sort of mad from there. The course is on week three, but I'm somewhere in the middle of week two. I'm starting to hyperventilate every time I step into the studio. I'm using things I have thought of in years; water colours, Olfa knives, free motion embroidery on the sewing machine. That was nasty, trying to recall the trick to make the machine do free motion in the first place.

I've been drawing,  colouring,


cutting, pasting,


embroidering and learning a whole new set of steps to use Flicker and photos.It is taking more time than I expected, but it is interesting. The goal is to find different ideas to bring to an idea and different techniques towards how to think through the different elements of design.

So far,  so good.

Daily Doodles three

Yesterday's post was written a week ago. It took me a week to hit the "publish" button. Today, when I logged on to hit that button, and set up for a new post, I discovered that the format has changed. I have no idea what this will look like.

The Daily Doodles continue apace. Some I like, others are real scunners.

 My hand isn't sure enough to get a decent circle, and it isn't playful enough yet to just go with it.

I don't know exactly, these two just don't do anything in any way. Maybe the squilly edge on the top one could be used elsewhere? 

What makes a scunner? It seems they are usually done when I'm not paying attention as much as I'd like, they are smaller than the others and less free flowing and often, there is an element of realism in them.

A doodle isn't meant to be a depiction of a realistic thing, or more acurately, it isn't meant to be a finely drawn example of a real thing. It is meant to allow for changes of the mind, for an expression of a tentative idea.  It is meant to doodle about, to capture an element of something, or to use line work to do what colour might otherwise. True, this is my definition. I didn't bother to look it up in the Oxford. I like this doodle because it isn't anything. I've played with shading, with 3 dimension, and used a grey pencil crayon to see if it helps or hinders. I like the grey pencil. The perspective is a bit of a mess, but I'm learning.

Some people doodle in order to develop an idea. Maybe an outline of an image, or maybe a series of placement options. I was recently at Pencil and Leaf, written by Valerie Littlewood

http://pencilandleaf.blogspot.ca/2012/06/wool-carder-painting-step-by-stepalmost.html
 Pencil and Leaf

and she showed how she had to create a map of where the plant would be on the page and where the bee would be. In her case, she used a sketch of the bee with some colour work added, all on tracing paper. Then she moved the bee around on the line drawing of the plant, until the two images worked in harmony.

I use my camera to sometimes do the same. Here are three images of a foxglove. This foxglove is tremendous. It found its way between where the peas and snap peas usually go. Last fall when I tidied up, I thought maybe it was the sage I had transplanted and it had grown into a nice plant. I was in a hurry and didn't stop to look closely. This spring, I knew it wasn't sage, but it was very pretty. I left it, in the spirit of mad discovery. Last week, it finally bloomed.

O handsome foxglove.

These two don't work for me, the top one has the garbage cans in the back ground. If I moved them, the boat would take their place. Yuk. The second one isn't too clear one way or the other. The edges are blurred, which can be OK, but the interior space isn't emphasized enough in contrast. Next....

It took me a few shots to get an alignment that I liked. I also had to undo the top button of my pants so I could crouch lower. Finally, this one happened, and I like it the best. The interior space is clear enough in contrast to the edges. The background has been neutralized and the bloom beside the main image has just a hint of the edge/interior tension. If I was interested enough to pursue this, I would try to duplicate this image again. It's a photo doodle. It could be turned into a nice embroidery, or an abstract applique piece. Or it could be used to suggest colours for a weaving.

So while the rest of life is heaving it's way around me, the daily doodles with pencil or camera help to keep me from running screaming into the streets.

Daily Doodles two

As usual, my efforts usually wave a hand in the general direction of my goals. I almost managed to get a doodle done every day.

It is surprising to me just how soothing this activity has become. I started doing them at a deliberate time each day and on the days I didn't get one done, I was a bit restless.

As the days moseyed along, I began to do the doodles when I was stressed or when I was having trouble transitioning from one kind of a task to another.

I like this one a fair bit, even though it isn't very well done. I started with the dark rain dots and gradually filled in with the thinner raindrops. It reminds me of the what I was trying to do with my "detooR" piece, layering sheer fabrics on top of each other until there is a variety of transparencies.

I tried it again but this time with the shapes interlocked. I like the idea but not the shapes.



Then I was feeling a bit cranky and drew some sharp toothed creatures. This cheered me up a great deal and helped me to de-stress. What I am finding from the daily dots that it is a great stress releaser, soothing when I am feeling jagged and a fun way to explore ideas of composition. I've also burned out my 0.5 marker. Time to go shopping.

Daily doodles - One

This winter I took blog hopping (or as a student recently said "blog-hounding") seriously and looked at a number of blogs recommended by others.

(google image glouchester rd.uk.com)
I am not a shopper. I look at the edges of a hanger in a store and have made a decision before I touch it. I go into a store with my mind made up on what I need and if I don't see it, I curb my lust and impulsiveness and walk out again.

I found blog (s)hopping triggered the same lust and impulsiveness but I had made the decision to do some research on what is happening in the world of textiles, mostly embellishment type textiles. I didn't see too much that was post-modern or whatever era of art history we are currently in. I'm sure it is out there somewhere.

Some of the blogs I liked best have been added to my blog list for your own interest. One of the things I discovered in my (s)hopping is that many folks are doing something on a daily basis. Not just journal writing but drawing or stitching or photographing or writing poems. It doesn't seem to matter what the choice is, from feathers to "inchies" (one inch by one inch drawings or stitches), the point seems to be to get the hands and mind into a synchronized zone and produce something without pre-judging what the outcome will be (too much) and to explore the impulses of the moment.

My Intentional Dots had that sort of supporting rationalization about it, but I quickly discovered how long a dot took, how I would begin to have an idea of what outcome I wanted (needed) and then spent too much time on it. Some of those dots took several days to complete. It took away from spontaneity.

Daily Doodles on the other hand don't. Some people are calling it daily scratchings or daily sketches and there is a trend out there based on Zentangles ...... I am not a good drawer, things tend to get cartoony quickly. My hand is also not very good at drawing a line that is just bang on the first time. I use a lot of erasers in my work. I often have to vacuum the studio after a Hot Flash Comic is done there is so much erasing. Part of my challenge is to stick to markers and love the line I draw.

My first daily doodles. Kind of confused, isn't it?

I almost like this one but it is a bit too constructed for my idea of doodling. Some people's doodles are very structured, some have characters they give a daily thought to, others like to sketch and infill something they see that day like a bird or a tree or bark. I'm trying to be more organic.

I am almost happy with the one on the left. The markers keep smudging and I don't have the patience to wait for things to dry. Shading is acceptable in a doodle (according to Zentangles) but I haven't figured out how to do that with markers. Things smear. Pencils are an obvious option to use for that.

The one on the right I am happy with and is more what I am after. And that's what I wish would happen more often with my stitching, a little more growing around and about, less staying in the lines.