The Gallery: Icy Branches

I've always been inspired by trees - I think my favourites are beech, oak, silver birch and willow, but I'm really not fussy.  I live in an area of lots of tree-lined roads with large mature trees all around and I often rush out with my camera having spotted something on my way home (effects of light through the trees especially) that I want to capture.  I'm keen now to start developing something from some of these photographs, and have been experimenting so far with mixed media. I'm itching to do more...

In the meantime I thought I'd include one of those photographs I dashed out to take a month or two ago in the snow. I think I should have tweaked the depth of field because the focus is a bit dodgy, but I'm ashamed to say that I tend to be lazy and hardly ever switch the camera to manual. 

Those cold sparkly days which make the branches of the trees look like lace are just so beautiful.

(This post was prompted by The Gallery: Trees over at Sticky Fingers)

Progress Report

It's been rather quiet on here lately - I've not forgotten about this blog, rather I've not had a great deal of time for personal creative projects.  Everything I've been doing has been business related.  I've got 6 new products in the pipeline, I'm trying to re-do my website myself to enable it for e-commerce, and also set up on a new selling site, not to mention maintain the existing outlets. There's also been a sudden flurry of orders to fulfil.  And because I rather let things slide in the house (too busy doing artwork) over the winter, and we want to get it back on the market soon, there's a lot of spring cleaning to do.  The knitting is progressing (slowly) and I'm enjoying that - I always found knitting relaxing - and I've also discovered a new addiction - Pinterest.

It's strange, when it comes to social networking, I find that I love blogging, but have no real interest in Facebook and Twitter - my presence on them both is largely for business reasons. I wish I could get into them a bit more, but they don't really interest me.  But Pinterest is an entirely different story.  I found it when I was deliberately searching for a virtual pinboard facility which I thought would be useful to save images I came across and wanted to use as reference material etc. I found Pinterest mentioned on someone's blog, and requested an invitation, since it's still in Beta.  I'm so glad I did, because although still a little flaky at times (I don't think they're quite able to cope with the demand yet) I love it.  The site is a very creative one.  I love the fact that it's not all about shopping and fashion (there is some of that on there, but not too much) there are lots of creative people pinning fantastic projects, artwork, quirky items, sayings, views, ideas... the list goes on. I suppose it appeals to me because I'm largely visually orientated, but you can click through to the source of the image and I've discovered some fantastic inspirational sites that way. If you're not already on there take a look.

As part of getting the house ready for viewings, and spring cleaning, I've also been trying to improve our storage - a trip to Ikea was in order, and I came back with lots of underbed storage, shelves, etc. which I've had to put together myself (sigh). But while there I also invested in a small A2 size plan chest (with any luck if these sell well for Ikea they'll introduce a larger version - plan chests are so expensive, yet essential in any art studio - my portfolios are bulging, and everything gets creased and dog eared.)  And a small desk for just £10 to use in the kitchen so that I can do some art projects in there - I have found that taking 20 or 30 minutes while I'm in the kitchen cooking or whatever, means that I can actually make some progress, and life is a little less frustrating, than always waiting for a couple of free hours which never seem to arrive. It also means that I don't have to clutter up kitchen work surfaces all the time.  Who knows I might even share it with the kids! The picture below shows the new set up including a new art storage system, also from Ikea - the lower drawers have the kids art materials in there, the top ones my own - just a few from my collection that I'm using on current projects.  I'm very pleased with it all so far. I'm tempted to add an inspirational notice-board above the desk, but that might be taking over the kitchen too much!

My next project is to tackle the studio/office/gym.  My husband is keen to have a rowing machine, but what with my printer and all the office furniture and the existing cross-trainer I can't see how it would work.  Another trip to Ikea and a major make-over is needed, but is probably not worth it if we hope to sell.

Inspired to Knit Again

I always enjoyed knitting - it's therapeutic, creative, and can be fairly mindless, allowing you to listen, chat, or watch something at the same time. I was first taught to knit by my mum when I was 4 or 5 years old, so that by the time I was 12, I was knitting my own fair isle and aran jumpers. At the age of 14, I learned hand-spinning, and at 16 got my own spinning wheel and started creating  my own yarns to hand-dye and then knit. I carried on knitting and spinning regularly until I was about 30, and then for some reason stopped.  Wool shops were closing, and getting hold of beatiful wools and knitting patterns had got harder (with the notable exception of Rowan).  I finally sold my spinning wheel about 10 years ago and it's a long time since I did any knitting.  But knitting has become fashionable again, wool shops are opening everywhere and there are now gorgeous wools and patterns being created.  So I have been tempted to dust off my knitting needles once more.

The reason behind it all - I came across a pattern for a gorgeous cardigan on ravelry.com, via another site, so I found a suitable yarn (a gorgeous pure wool/lambswool mix - the photograph doesn't do it justice), and I'm now ready to get going again.  The last piece of knitting which I started (a shawl for my expected baby) was never finished, and still sits reproachfully in my knitting bag, stuffed in a cupboard - maybe I'll use the wool for something else now.  The cardigan I'm about to knit is a large snuggly one, so there's a huge pile of wool, and goodness knows how long it'll take me to knit, so lets hope the enthusiasm lasts!

Eureka!

For some time now I've been trying to find a way of successfully transferring digital ink-jet images for mixed-media artwork.  There's lots of information out there on how to do it, and I'd been diligently experimenting with every different method and medium I came across, with at best patchy results. I suspect you need to get the combination of the printing paper, printing ink, receiving paper and medium, right in order to get success.

I read one source which recommended alcohol sanitising gel, which if nothing else has the advantage of being cheap.  So I duly went and bought some.  Used with Epson matt photo paper, and ordinary cartridge paper, the result was reliable and pretty good, with a contrasty, grainy image that I quite liked.  I also tried it with Inkjet OHP film, and that was in some ways even better, giving a softer, almost pastel like image.  These are good enough for me, and while I won't stop experimenting, it at least allows me to achieve some of the ideas I had.

The images below show you the results - they don't really do them justice - a lot of the subtleties are lost, but  I think you can still just about see the difference.

Original Photograph

Inkjet transfer from photograph, using alcohol sanitising gel and Epson matt photo paper. A grainy, contrasty effect is achieved.

Inkjet transfer using OHP inkjet transparency film with alcohol sanitising gel. A softer, more romantic feel is achieved here.

Learning to Sketch Again

My 6 year old's first drawing on the iPad.  My drawings on there aren't a great deal better at the moment!

One of the reasons I was keen to get an iPad was to use it for drawing and sketching. I've read that quite a few artists are using them to create artwork on, perhaps most famously David Hockney, and the idea of using it to create artwork on the go was something I wanted to be able to do.  I thought it would be great to be able to paint and draw without having to cart about large quantities of art materials when you travel.

So, having downloaded a free drawing and painting app, I have been experimenting with what I can do.  However I've found that using my finger to draw with is actually quite restrictive.  While in theory I know that you can select any brush size you want, and scale up or down so that you can get more control, I find that I really want a tool with a point on it, so that I can see what I'm doing, without having to constantly scale up and down.  It seems that I am not alone in this, as I discovered when I went looking for what was available in terms of a stylus.  Apparently the way that the capacitive screen of the iPad is constructed, means that it is designed to react to something fairly broad, like a finger, so all the stylus' that are available have a fairly broad tip.  So far so bad, the technology needs to improve on that score, but I did find a Styluswith good reviews that has a broad, see-through nib with a dot on it to show you where you are drawing, and this seemed to offer a way round the problem, at least in the short term. Once it arrived it seemed to do the job reasonably well, but I didn't find it that easy to use - you had to keep it at a certain angle which was a little restrictive, so at the moment I've gone back to using my finger.

Drawing and sketching on the iPad, is a very different experience even to using a drawing tablet with a computer.  I like the fact it is so direct (and so do my kids). I find it difficult to create drawings which are at all precise on there, though in some ways this might actually be a good thing, encouraging me to sketch with more spontaneity and giving my drawing more life.

Aside from drawing, I love the way web browsing is so much easier on the iPad, but though I like to take it to bed with me, I'm going to have to stop doing so, as browsing through creative blogs and inspirational sites, I have found is a sure route to insomnia - it just stimulates the creative part of my brain which is really the last thing you need when you want to get to sleep, so I'm going to have to stop doing it!

Creative Resolutions

I don't normally make new Year resolutions, but this year I have decided to make some creative ones. Over the past year or so, I have increasingly been trying to find my creative roots again, but although I have I think made some progress, I've been quite frustrated at the lack of time to really get stuck in - it just feels like I'm dabbling the whole time. With this in mind I recently bought myself a new book: Creative Time and Space: Making Room for Making Art

Again, I don't usually buy art books of this kind - you could spend your whole life thinking about art without actually producing anything.  There's a lot of navel gazing going on amongst artists, and although I'm probably guilty of it too, I try not to over-indulge. Sometimes I think a lot of creative people are just in love with the idea of being creative, and think about 'being creative' a lot more than actually being creative, so I try to avoid that.  Anyway, the title seemed to hit the nail on the head for me, and although having read it, it's not rocket science, and is mainly common sense, it has at least spurred me on to try and make a few changes this year.

So my creative resolutions for 2011 are:

• To sort out a more effective 'studio' space.  For the last 2 months, our office/studio/gym has looked like a bomb has hit it. You can barely enter the room let alone do any work in there, as it has become a dumping ground for the rest of the house. My aim is to sort this out as soon as possible. Get some hard flooring put down (I've already trashed the carpet, so hard flooring where I can easily clean up is a necessity). Get rid of all unneccessary junk, put up lots of shelving, paint the walls white, and see if I can get hold of a plan chest.
• To organise my creative time a little more effectively.
• To go on the occasional course - for example I've recently discovered that there is a print workshop locally that runs short courses, and where you can use their facilities really cheaply if you are a member.  I've always loved prints, and would like to explore that a little more, so a short course might spur me on.
• To look at actually producing some personal work for sale again, rather than just playing and experimenting.
• To approach some galleries.
• I got an iPad as my Christmas present this year and I'm really keen to learn to use this to produce artwork 'on the go'.
• To get back into the discipline of sketching and drawing more.

Not quite sure how much of this I'll achieve, but my younger son starts school in the autumn, so hopefully I should have a little more time by then at least.

After the Feast comes the Famine

Following on from my recent fever of creativity, everything has come to a grinding halt as family life, Christmas and business gets in the way. It's all deeply frustrating, there's so many things I want to get on with, to try out, experiment with, and I've got lots of half finished projects around that I'm longing to finish. Maybe I'll get some more time after Christmas, but in the meantime I thought I'd post a few of the journal pages I created just to remind myself that I have achieved something, and as an inspiration to do more....

 

You may notice that they all have the common theme of 'trees'.  This wasn't planned at first, but my first pages all happened to feature trees in some way, so it has now become the theme of my first journal.  Only a few pages left now.  I quite like the idea of each one having a theme, so I might give the next one a theme too...