BirdBrain Designs

Archives for September 2018

reset and inspiration on Lake Ontario

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This past weekend we spent a beautiful afternoon on the shore of Lake Ontario. We ate our lunch on the beach and I had time for a quick sketch of another tenacious tree. It’s been a while since we have been out to that gorgeous isolated expanse and the colours and textures of the day have remained with me.

I had taken an extended, unplanned break from the studio, leaving all leather and sewing firmly under wraps and was actually looking for a way back in. I have a list of projects but nothing inspired me to actually thread the machines and start. The colours of the day on the lake held the key. When we got home, I pulled out my box of remnant leather pieces and began building some pouches in the colours of the day–shoreline and sky. The small Strand collection of pouches is made of leather remnants with salvaged cotton linings–mostly from the Textile Museum sale. It feels good to make useful things of beauty from left overs. 

I find this size of pouch, approximately 7″ x 4.5″, very useful for travelling. My passport fits in comfortably and I like to keep different currencies separate and also to save receipts, tickets etc. I often take two or three along in my backpack. These pouches will be in the online store soon. Send me a note if you are interested.

Houses, Houses. Hooked house runner–the process, the questions

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The first side of the hooked house runner is all but complete. You can see how much I drew on each side, hoping as I hooked that I’d find inspiration for sky and border. At one point I thought half circles would work for the border, but I didn’t like them at all. I’ve decided to do rectangles of teal, turquoise and related colours on the two longs sides and something different for the shorter sides. Possibly circles. And the sky? Still waiting…

I do love hooking houses. If you follow the blog you know I’ve been working up to this, doing smaller studies. I use mostly remnant strips and small pieces. I pin together 2″ strips of related colours to keep a little order in the chaos and that forms much of my supply basket. I love what happens when the supplies are scarce–just a line of red, or a final strip of a favourite wool, placed just so. Somehow it makes things more thoughtful. And it’s a crazy thing, but I’m emotionally attached to my wool–it often has a history with me–someone significant dyed it or it came from another project that I laboured over–or the colours combined perfectly in the dye pot. By using it again here, I capture a little of the magic.

It’s always interesting to follow the development of an idea. Here are two small studies from December 2016, the start of my hooked house mat obsession. I’m at the gallery tomorrow, so I’ll take my stand and a pile of strips from the turquoise/teal bin and see how much progress I make on the border. And who knows, maybe amid the paintings on the walls, I’ll get inspiration for the rest of this piece. 

sketching in Provence June 2018

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It’s a couple of months since I came home my trip. I’ve talked about the time in Glasgow, London and Avignon. But I haven’t documented the best part–6 days sketching in Provence with Shari Blaukopf. We were based in Fontaine de Vaucluse and sketched each day in the surrounding villages and countryside. It was a wonderful week. Here are a few of my sketches.

The following sketches were done at the monastery in St. Remy where Van Gogh spent his last years. We all loved sitting in the lavender field behind the monastery and sketching inside the ancient building. Both inside and out it was a deeply moving place.

Among many highlights, the sketch below is the most meaningful one for me from the whole trip. Late in the afternoon, four of the class members along with Shari hiked up to the Source, the beginning of the many rivers and streams which flow through Fontaine de Vaucluse. I was expecting a waterfall, not the deep, dark and somewhat spooky pool and surrounding caves. We climbed over the barrier and sat at the edge of the water to paint. For an hour we were silent, caught by the spell of the place–the mystery, antiquity and great beauty. When I look back at the sketch I can reenter that world–the intense and almost meditative quality of the sketching experience. 

sketching in Avignon june 2018

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Here are a few more sketches from my trip to France in June. After London we took the Eurostar directly to Avignon where we stayed for three and a half days before heading off to our sketching course in Provence. We stayed right in the centre of the old town. The weather was perfect and we wandered around the narrow streets trying to capture the views. Lots of perspective challenges.