BirdBrain Designs

Birdbrain

sketching away

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I am leaving tomorrow for two weeks away. A week in Berlin and a week in Paris, sketching and absorbing. I will keep you up to date right here, I hope, if the wordpress app cooperates. I have my sketch book, new palette, brushes and pens ready to go. I also have my reading planned: C.S. Richardson’s new book, The Emperor of Paris. Check out this link and the lovely short video which may make you want to go to Paris too. I absolutely loved Richardson’s first book The End of the Alphabet and I have great hopes for this new one. I always try to read a novel about the city I am visiting.  For Berlin, Ian McEwan’s The Innocent. There isn’t a book of McEwan’s that I haven’t enjoyed, but the one on my top ten list is Atonement, a wonderful film too. But I digress…

It will be cold for sketching, especially in Berlin, so I decided to make myself a pair of fingerless gloves. You can see them in the top photo and below you will see I got carried away and made more for the show coming up in December. They are so easy to wear and so practical. There is a slit for your thumb and then your fingers are covered to the knuckles, but free for sketching or texting. Perfect. These pairs are made of gray cashmere, so wonderfully cozy.

For sketching inspiration I have been following Luís Ricardo Simões’ amazing blog, World Sketching Tour.  Check the blog out, particularly this video. Here is one of his sketches from Berlin. His wonderfully loose style is so appealing. My friend A and I are hoping to absolutely fill our sketchbook with all kinds of images from these two great cities. I will keep you posted!

Here are a couple of my own recent sketches. A. and I spent a recent weekend sketching with Sharon Cranston, learning to relax and let the pen do the observing.  This sketch is from a Picton Ontario food fair, full of people and great smells. We were right beside the fresh bread booth!  The second is on the GO train into Toronto. 

Drawing people is tough. Luckily this young woman was so involved with her phone that she didn’t notice me. Maybe by the time I am home from Europe I will have figured out how to do faces. When I add the mouth, I seem to ruin it. Ah well. What I am really after is the wonderful connection with a scene that you get from drawing it — far more than taking a photo. I can still smell the bread from the picture above!

new tote and pouch — www dot!

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I got a chance to do some silk screening with the first of my new designs.  I knew that I liked the bold graphic quality of the chevrons and dots, but was very pleasantly surprised with how it worked into the angles of my pouches and bags. Many thanks to Melanie who translated my line drawings into a computer image that repeats perfectly both horizontally and vertically. I am still working on mastering the big sheets!

This tote is a great size, 13x12x5″. It is lined with moss gray-green 100% cotton with a leather pocket for your phone and has a very sturdy  44 inch leather strap. This tote will easily accommodate your ipad, sketchbook and other essentials.Here is the www dot pattern in a pouch, lined in bright orange 100% cotton with a durable zipper. It measures 8x6x3.5″.

3 gaspé totes

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Cherry, Candy Apple and Bubble Gum. I have been having fun this week with some great leather from my remnant stash. I liked the rough pouches very much and thought the idea would translate well to a tote. Since I am working with small remnant pieces, I had enough for the body of the bag, but not straps–so I worked on the idea of coordinating straps, or in the case of the Candy Apple, some purchased straps that I had on hand from my days of making hooked bags. So here they are–unlined, heavy-duty totes with a pocket on the outside, two pockets inside and a zipper closing. Ready to sling over your arm for a day of shopping or for a weekend jaunt. These bags are one-of-a-kind.  On the sewing table next is one in grass and one in rugged brown…and an ipad case.

Here is the Candy Apple.   (October 14 update: Candy Apple has been purchased!!!)
and the Cherry…and the bubble gum… 

I have been printing labels on the computer with my birdbrain bird for a long time. For a change I decided to use a stamp that my sons gave me a few years ago. It stamps well on leather and I love the shot of colour on the interior of this bubblegum bag. I will also be sewing it on the outside of some new pouches which are in the works. I got a pile of rough leather remnants when I was in Toronto and I am eager to try some new designs–an ipad case for sure.

yarn bombing and more

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Many thanks to Wendie who alerted me that my photos here taken last week in Picton Ontario are examples of yarn bombing or yarn storming. There is a good explanation here along with this great Thank You Tree. And if you want to pursue the idea, there are books written on the subject, Yarn Bombing, Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti and Knit the City. Seems to me this is an elegant and non-destructive way to make a point or just bring joy to a sterile place.  And speaking of thank you, Wendie has a wonderful thanks pillow in her latest post.

Today I was back in the studio. Have begun screen printing my new designs. These are for new canvas totes and bags as well as for lining of the leather bags. I love the graphic quality of these chevrons. This is the first of three new designs.

And…the cherry Gaspé bag is almost finished. I think the size and the leather combine to make a great bag. Pictures on Thursday, I hope. For tomorrow, I am off to Toronto to stock up on zippers, interfacing and screen printing ink–and maybe a leather remnant or two if I see an irresistible colour!

 

colours of the north

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Thanksgiving is our weekend to close down the cottage for the winter. This weekend was cold — minus two overnight — but one of the most beautiful I can remember. Saturday we had a double rainbow, but I was a little late with the camera to catch the second.

But I did get up early enough for this.

And out in the kayak for this.

And along with thanksgiving and birthday celebrations I found time for the wedding rug. The gap is closing.

But the exciting creative achievement of the weekend was definitely this birthday present. My younger son, Owen, made his brother a surf board bag which zipped neatly around the top and had an optional zipper for the fin.

At the end of the weekend, the board was tucked into its new bag and all set for the trip home to Montreal.

 

new gaspé tote

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I began a new style of tote today. It is a heavy-duty shopper. I have been looking at this beautiful cherry leather remnant for a while. It was just enough for a tote, 13 x 14 x 4″ so I combined it with mahogany leather straps . It is only partially finished, but well enough along for me to tell that I will like it. Inside it has two leather pockets — a 7 inch zippered one, and one just for your phone. And it has a zipper closing. But is unlined, au naturel. I seem to be on a run of unlined ‘rough’ bags–but when the leather is lovely and durable, it works! A great straight-forward, hard-working beautiful bag. I hope to post pictures next week of this and this one finished.

Yesterday we were in Picton where I saw this joyous tribute to fibre and flair in a small park. I looked to see who had left these ‘sculptures’ but there was no hint. But thought I had to share it with you. It is a fitting way to say cherish the weekend — for those of us in Canada, our Thanksgiving weekend. And most important, cherish all those you love.

 

turning the corner on the wedding rug

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Today was my day to volunteer at a local independent art gallery. I love this space — open, bright and full of wonderful pieces of art. I like to take my hooking because people are always interested — and it is a good chance for me to make some progress on the wedding rug. This morning I ‘turned the corner’ — actually the third corner, the corner with the wedding date.

I have loved working on this rug. Any one who saw it today commented that I am more than a year behind with my wedding gift. The fact is that I did not even begin this rug until last June — so yes I am late, but I am not taking forever. It will be done by 12 12 12, that magic date, or before.

I had planned to have Owen and Carissa’s names on the side of the rug, but I see now that there is not enough room. Once I get the row of bubbles and the border the area will be full. This side needs to balance roughly with the left side. A rug like this is organic, and as I have said before, you develop a relationship, rug and rug hooker, and all decisions are shared. There have been times at this stage in a rug where the rug and I were merely tolerating one another until the project was over. But my relationship with this rug has been a happy one, and one full of discovery. I have learned more about background, about colour and about design. And I will be even happier to see it on Owen and Carissa’s floor. They tell me that they have the spot waiting — so I’d better get back to the frame! I’ll post my progress after the weekend.

more rough pouches

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The rough pouches have been getting a very good response so I decided to dig into my box of upholstery leather and see what I could come up with.  Each pouch is one-of -a-kind with a zipper closing and an interior leather pocket large enough to hold your cards. The small pouches are ideal for carrying your phone and other essentials, fit easily into a larger bag or work well on their own. The larger pouches can hold a passport and boarding pass. Today’s colours espresso, walnut, mocha and teal.

 

inspiration

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Today we walked a mile along the Lake Ontario shoreline. There is something so grounding about walking along a shoreline. I love to pick up stones, to feel their smooth story in my hand, to bring the most beautiful home. I have little cairns all over the house. The weather was glorious and the inspiration all around. I could see abstract hooked rugs everywhere. Although I am usually enthralled with colour, I could be tempted to do something tonal like this sand and stone.