The Draw Something Every Day challenge
stitch samples
I’ve been working on the next stage of OCA Textiles 1, which is using stitch to make marks, lines and textures. I’ve been trying both machine and hand stitching – I’m always in such a hurry I tend to think ‘machine’ first, and I’d forgotten what a pleasure it is to sit and stitch by hand. Especially with La Traviata on the CD player and the sun shining 🙂
revisiting some of my pencil marks and lines in stitch
a machine stitched sample based on something linear from my sketchbook
playing with hand stitches to create texture
I got some Koh-I-Noor watercolours from Art Van Go on Tuesday, plus a new tiny sketchbook for my handbag, and a Aquash paint brush with a water compartment. I christened them all with a sketch of my little dog, Tansy the Tibbie, asleep on her favourite chair. The brush is quite hard to hold as the handle’s so fat with the water reservoir.
brusho and bleach…
… are what I’ve been playing with today. Along with wax crayons, water colours and the odd feather. Inspired by reading A Sketch in Time by Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn, which I suddenly remembered I had, I’ve been adding more marks and textures to my sketchbook.
I’m nearly ready to start stitching! The second half of this first project in OCA Textiles 1 explores the use of stitch in markmaking and creating texture, based on the mixed media studies created in the first half. I have till the end of the month – no pressure there, then – plus a few work deadlines to meet, so I may not be sleeping much in the coming week.
I heard about a new book today (thank you Sue) by Claire Benn and and Leslie Morgan of Committed to Cloth and Jane Dunnewold – Finding Your Own Visual Language: A Practical Guide to Design & Composition; the blurb says:
“this book aims to help those who are seeking a surer artistic voice by providing practical exercises and guidance on different ways forward”
I’m really tempted – even though I have quite a few design books already – as I’m very interested in what the authors are doing with art cloth and surface design.
sketchbooks
TRACEY have an ongoing call for
“the submission of ‘notebooks/sketchbooks’, crossing the boundaries of science, art, design, technology, education. The intention is to demonstrate drawing as a necessary tool in the thinking process – all sorts of thinking.”
The submitted sketchbooks are displayed online.
They also have a fascinating collection of ‘found drawings‘ – “images arising by accident rather than from any conscious process”.