These rules were on brainpickings this week. Read here to get the background. I particularly love #6 ,#7 and #9. I am back at the wedding rug after a few days and a few plays in Stratford, (loved 1812!) so will post a rug update soon. Just finished my signature bird in the corner and have decided, more or less, on the border treatment, chanting #6 as I hook.
We are home again after five days at the cottage. I did lots of reading (Alan Hollinghurst’s excellent The Stranger’s Child) and hooking on the Wedding Rug–but mostly I soaked up the beauty and the lessons in colour all around me.
I have some orders for bags to fill so I am back in the studio. This one is one of my favourites, the Luna bag in magenta. There is a picture of one in the photo blog column. It has a zip closing, two pockets on the front and 3 inside and it is 12x14x5 inches with a long adjustable handle. This is the perfect bag for fall as it holds all your essential gear and provides a lovely shot of colour. The next order is for the same bag in red, also a favourite! These bags will be on their way to the US in a couple of weeks. As I sew, I am giving some thought to changing the way I do things this year — will keep you updated on any news here. In the meantime, if you would like to order a bag just let me know at xine@birdbraindesigns.ca.
I received some new birds as gifts recently. Here is the first, a Hoopoe, from Scotland. Very inspiring, love the colours, the crest and the polka dots. Just perfect on my denim jacket pocket.
And now some links to great stuff I have been seeing. I hope that you will check them out. It is an eclectic list: a great article, a great recipe, a fabulous interview and a delightful blogpost. I’m off to the cottage for a few days of hooking and sketching. Will check in again next week.
xine
~an excellent article on TED Talks in the NYer here. This is not just a backgrounder on the TED process and production, but a review of the recent tech developments which are now so wound into our lives.
`my favourite granola recipe and one I am always asked for here. The best part is it makes LOTS.
~a wonderful podcast of Eleanor Wachtel’s interview with Maggie O’Farrell here. If you have read O’Farrell’s books, particularly The Hand that First Held Mine & The Disappearing Act of Esme Lennox, you will learn lots. If you haven’t you will find yourself rushing to the nearest bookstore to pick them up. I highly recommend both.
~ Danny Gregory’s sketch and musings on the EDM Challenge 21, Draw Something Old, Antique or Vintage.
My friend Anne and I just completed a wonderful week in Bloomfield at the Cranston Gallery taking a sketching course with Sharon Fox Cranston. Our mornings were spent in the studio learning new techniques and the afternoons ‘en plein air’ in various locations about Prince Edward County. What we loved about Sharon was how accessible she was as a teacher, how she both anticipated our needs and responded to our requests. The days were filled with demos of her sketching and painting techniques, based on both her well-organized plan and our spontaneous and sometimes loopy requests. Sharon is a talented artist — but she is also an inspired teacher. Here she is mid-sketch at Macaulay House in Picton.
The studio, on Main Street in Bloomfield, is upstairs in a sunny sky-lit room and downstairs is the gallery where you can see Sharon’s paintings and also those of her equally talented husband, Guy.
My biggest learning for the week was to loosen up my grip on the pen, hold it back further and just let the sketch happen. It is, of course, a lot like rug hooking. The serendipitous, the accidental and the intuitive happenings are the best. The top drawing of the paint brushes is one of my 5-minute sketches. No time to think. Here are my versions of the Macaulay house, not yet finished, and a part of a water-soluble ink sketch. The best parts of the week were learning amid the moments of laughter — and access to another important part of the creative process. I will keep sketching and learning –thanks Sharon!
From when I first saw it, I was impressed with both the style and the content of the hooked blog by Diane Phillips featured at the Hooked in the Mountains show in Vermont. Her admonishments and reminders to herself really resonated with me. This morning I was going through hooking pictures on my computer and I came upon them again. The show was in 2009–Diane as usual is ahead with her blog thinking. But her notes to herself are timeless. This morning I particularly need to listen to these — both in hooking and in life. Thank you, Diane.
I love the graphics in Toronto. These two heartening messages are right near my favourite leather stores. I couldn’t resist sharing them with you. 
And then there is the leather. Yesterday was a good day. I buy small ends of leather and make one or, at most, two items. The exceptions are the flocked magenta pieces which I purchased to make a luna bag as featured to the right in the photo bar. I also stocked up on good quality coloured zippers–as you can see the choice is endless. Now I just have to get back to the studio!
I love the way Ton Schulten uses colour blocks, the way he juxtaposes brights and darks in his landscapes, and the way he riffs on a colour, exploring all the anal0gous hues. His borders (this time only one!) make me sit up and take notice of what is going on inside them.
Influence/inspiration work in mysterious ways. Below is a delightful Québecois mat which I have not looked at or thought about since I took this picture in 2007. When I saw the photo file of it today, I was astounded. A part of the rug stayed with me on some level, and some of its ‘thinking’ emerged as my own version in the wedding rug.
Look at the way the depth of the black rooves and window panes make the rest of the pastels pop. Stark contrast again. And of course blocks of colour–this time pastels outlined in a soft gray.
My life has slowed down a little and the tremendous heat has abated so I have had a chance to get back at the wedding rug. I will post a progress report tomorrow.
I have had some questions about our cottage. We are on an island on a large lake in Eastern Ontario, about 1.5 hours north and east of Belleville. The lake is trout-sensitive (so subject to many regulations, all good) and water-access only, so is still in much the same condition it was when we first encountered it. We love it that way! This week’s full moon, whip-poor-wills and plaintiff loons made an unforgettable combination. There was also a major birthday celebration this weekend with lots of laughter and water activity, but more on that tomorrow. Right now, here is some of the beauty.
The cottage is also out of range for the internet or cell phones. This is actually lovely, makes for long evenings reading on the verandah. But the emails do mount up and take a little time once I return. If you have asked a question about purchasing a leather bag–I will be responding soon. As lovely as the cottage is, I don’t like to be away from my sewing machine too long. And the wedding rug will soon be ready to travel to the cottage–once some major decisions on background have been made. Right now it is still testing me!
We have been away for a few days at the cottage. A long weekend in June of clear weather and few on the lake–perfect. I enjoyed a swim and a few kayak paddles, but mostly soaked in the solitude, the bird song (including the 4 a.m. serenade of a whip-poor-will) and read The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht. The novel won the Orange Prize in 2011–this is a prize I put much stock in–and make sure that I read each year’s choice. I have a new novel waiting for me–but first I am going to read my final Maggie O’Farrell. Oh the joys of summer reading!
Home now with a full week ahead–including tackling the wedding rug. Will post a progress report when I get a chance. In the meantime, here is a glimpse of the weekend.
Everywhere you look in Venice the ancient craftsmanship astounds. The ironwork is especially beautiful and inspirational for rug hooking. Hearts, lamb’s tongues, elongated diamonds are all here in stunning array at every turn.
We also went to the Klimt Exhibit at the Correr Museum on St. Mark’s Square. Klimt uses these same images in his work, perhaps why rug hookers find his paintings so inspirational. Below are the posters which deck the museum entry and the boards along the canals. The exhibit explored Klimt’s work along with that of his contemporaries and it was amazing to see those familiar images up close, especially Judith and Judith II (Salomé). The gold work on these painings is simply breathtaking. If you are interested, the New York Times review of this show has lots more information.
