BirdBrain Designs

inspiration

bird and house images

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My favourite images are of birds and houses. I love to draw them and also to see how others interpret the concepts. The new wedding rug will have both birds and houses and as I look at things in my design collection, it is birds and houses that dominate. Here is my new laptop case from Built. Their slogan is Love Your Stuff. My slogan modifies that a little–reduce the stuff you have to just what you love. 

And speaking of what I love…I love working with my good friend and designer extraordinaire, Melanie. Below is the proposed label for the sewing work of the women in Matangwe. Melanie took one of the drawings done by the grade 6 children in Matangwe and turned it into this marvelous label. We are hoping to increase the scope of the work the women produce and develop a recognizable brand. This is a start.

And now on to birds. Here is a glimpse of one of the new prints we are working on. I will be using this for the lining of my leather bags and for new canvas and leather totes. All to come for the fall.

ps  Yesterday’s long bike ride in Prince Edward County went really well and the new Strava app worked like a charm. More cycling to come this weekend as the clock ticks down to next Wednesday when I leave for two week’s cycling in Italy.

my favourite things montréalais

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I spent the morning in the studio and I want to show you what I made. But that will have to wait until tomorrow. A beautiful sunny afternoon and some bike riding intervened, so a couple of pouches are done, yes, minus the riveting which I hope to get to later tonight. But, I wanted to list some of my favourite things in Montreal, just in case you find yourself there, or want to check them out on line.

1. We ate at Crudessence my first night in the city. This is a charming small place on Rachel which serves delicious raw vegan meals as well as take-out and prepared foods. They have a cookbook available, but their website has lots of information, including recipes of their most famous dishes. Have a look! You may become a convert!

2. Myco Anna on St. Laurent is a favourite of mine. I first encountered the design label  several years ago at the Salon des Métiers D’Art, Montreal’s huge Decmember craft show. Much of the Myco Anna clothing is made from recycled fabrics. Since then the shop has grown to include other Canadian designers of both clothing and bags. I discovered the amazing work of Annie Thompson–her personal baggage collection is very inspiring for a bag-maker like me–great combinations of colour and fabric. However, I was really taken by the design work of Advika and bought this top made of organic cotton and soy. For me it is the perfect combination of style and comfort–plus it is designed and made in Canada of a renewable and biodegradable fabric. Perfect!

wave inspiration

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My son often starts the day off on the St. Lawrence on his surf board (even a sprained ankle doesn’t stop him–he just modifies!) The pictures taken by his friend are beautiful.  Here on dry land, I am struggling with chair seat #3. This happens to me sometimes–the hooking takes over and starts to boss me. This piece is very temperamental, demanding this, rejecting that, and being satisfied with none of my attempts. Yesterday at our hooking gathering, several suggested I pull out one of my trees — which I did. Last night I rehooked part of the sky. I tell myself it’s only a sample — relax, you are learning. But it sits on the stand clamouring for  attention–and it’s hard not to listen. I am trying to ignore it for a while and instead take inspiration from those amazing waves.

steal like an artist

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I’ve been thinking about Tony’s post  about how lame it is to steal or pirate someone else’s idea or design without giving credit to the originator of the idea or design. We have all had that sickening feeling when we see our work copied, or worried that we have been too influenced by a teacher or work we admire–but it is really is a multi-faceted issue. Austin Kleon’s poster on stealing like an artist came to mind. I had seen it some time ago on Brain Pickings and thought it would be worth reproducing here. Kleon clearly outlines the difference between what he calls good and bad theft–something we all need to keep in mind–we should always credit, honour, transform, remix. He maintains we are a ‘mashup’ of all we have experienced–that experience gets put through our own lens and we come up with our own work–and we all can be creative.

Kleon has written a whole book on the topic and has a blog. I particularly love his sketch book entries (of course!).

spring, generosity and a rug hooking spine poem

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We have had some signs of spring in the garden. The first few stocks of asparagus–soooo good–and a mother cardinal building a nest just outside the kitchen window. We have a perfect view of the goings-on!

And the postman just delivered a nice surprise package! My dear friend, Shelley in Mahone Bay, recently raided a Frenchie’s, (those of you who have visited this east coast hooker’s mecca will know how exciting that is!), and sent along three skirts, two in yummy shades of orange. The fourth leather garment in the photo was brought to me at the hook-in (my reputation is preceding me!) by Nancy–and what a lovely piece of leather it is too. Thanks so much to both of you!

And this is my attempt at a book spine poem defining what rug hooking means to me. Btw,  the bottom book is my Grade 12 English textbook!

If wool could talk:

famous lasting words 

open secrets 

the telling of lies 

and poems to remember

a few favourite things

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I’ve mentioned the book reviews in the blog Pas Grand Chose before.  While some of my favourite authors are there–Rose Tremain, Sebastian Faulks, Julian Barnes and Kate Atkinson–there are also some unfamiliar ones. Based on Karen’s recommendations, I have recently read The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell and Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido. I had never heard of either author before–and found both books to be new favourites. I highly recommend Karen’s reviews and in particular these two books. I will be looking for more by these authors!

Brainpickings is my favourite website, bar none. Each day it makes connections to some of the most interesting books and ideas going. Today’s post features the TED lecture given in March by Frank Warren. I encourage you to listen–it will give you a boost on this cloudy day. And I encourage you to make Brainpickings one of your favourites–it will take you to places you never dreamed.

And just so we don’t stray to far away from things hookerly, my absolutely favourite wool is honeycomb from Rebecca Erb. It dyes beautifully in every colour and has multiple uses. You may have noticed I have begun using it in the windows of my houses. But just so we don’t all forget, I included an ‘as-is’ turquoise piece of 100% wool, already cut for the back of one of the chairs seats. And the source of this skirt? My favourite local thrift shop for less than $5.00!

 

and another chair seat

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I am about to begin hooking my second chair seat. Inspiration comes from so many places–we build on our own work, in my case a love of circles and squares in the background, and are influenced both consciously and unconsciously by work around us. As I have said, I am working out design kinks with these chair seats–so #2 is a fanciful version of our house, with a bird on the garage roof. I drew the design in my sketch book, not to scale, but just to get a sense of the proportions. And then drew it again on the linen freehand, using the tape measure to make sure things were roughly uniform. All the while I had a computer version of a Hundertwasser painting at hand for inspiration. I love what he does with buildings–and as I look at it more closely, I may want to try move away from circles and do what he does with the sky–it almost looks like quilting.

The pile of wool is what I think I will use in this piece for outlines and main motifs. I always make sure I have dark, medium and light values as well as warm and cool colours.  Our house is gray, with a red/brown chimney up the front–I’ll try that first but fantasy is sure to take over. I will post my progress.

away a few days

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I’ve been away for a few days. I can’t help but enjoy this summer-like weather, while remaining deeply disturbed by climate change. Such a schizophrenic response–basking in the sun and yet knowing it’s all wrong. This photo was taken at the Detour Cafe in Dundas Ontario, one of my favourite spots to have a latté and draw the world outside.

Thank you all for your lovely comments on the anniversary posts. I love to hear from you. It is hard to believe I have been here for a year–this blog has opened so many new windows and doors. We will see what another year brings!  Remember, the draw will take place on March 28.

I will be working on the on-line store on the weekend. So please check back next week to see what I have come up with.  In the meantime, have a wonderful weekend.

xine

birds and rugs

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This rug is in our front hall. I found it one day years ago in a local antique shop. It has two central figures, who in themselves are pretty interesting, but what intrigued me most were the borders. Birds of every colour line up around the edge, and a few extra are thrown in the centre, including one eating from the woman’s hand. Whoever designed this rug loves the bird motif as much as I do. This rug makes me smile every time I pass–sometimes I see something new I had never noticed before. Old rugs have so much to teach us.

 

where my head has been

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I’ve been reading some of my favourite sketching blogs about how and why one keeps a sketching journal. Liz Steel started me off with her reprise of her talk Adventures with my Sketchbook. From there I went to Laura Frankstone’s thoughtful comments about her own sketchbook journey. Next I read her interview here.  And then somehow, with all the clicking, I got to this lovely sketching blog. I’ve been a journal keeper all my life, but in 2009 Danny Gregory’s Creative Licence propelled me into the world of sketching and I’ve been filling watercolour journals (generally badly) ever since. His latest blog entry is an eloquent argument for drawing as a portal for all creativity. I’m putting an excerpt here, but I encourage you to read the whole thing.

When you draw something you see it in a new way. A good drawing is a fresh perspective on an object you may have seen a thousand times before: a building, a body, a bowl of fruit, your breakfast dishes. But by paying deliberate and careful attention to every nook and cranny, you flood your mind and your page with new information about what you are seeing — the texture of a banana skin, the way light hits a brick, how the knee connects to the shin bone, the exact curve of a cup handle. You are suspending the critical function of your pre-frontal cortex, refusing to decide whether there’s importance to each individual line and aspect; you just record them all. This information isn’t actually that important to you beyond the act of drawing, you don’t need to retain the visual data about that banana skin, it may have no further utility to you. But it is expanding your awareness of the world around you, strengthening for observation muscles — it has as much purpose as lifting the same weight over and over at the gym.

When your mind’s eye is open and your screens and filters are down, you get more and more useful information, and that information and experience are the raw fodder for creativity. Forming associations between apparently disparate things to create a new idea is what creativity is all about. And the more open your mind is, the more you are open to experiencing things are interesting but may not have immediate and obvious relevance to your current endeavors. By exposing yourself to art, to novelty, to new ideas, facts and experiments, you stretch your mind so that it is pliable and elastic, so that it doesn’t seize up when you have to move in a new direction. Your reservoirs of references are loaded and you have oodles of bits and bobs to build new ideas with.

So, as I am finishing my last rug and dreaming up the next, I am also trying to capture the world around me . I have come to love and value the process even as I try to stop judging and ease into a style that feels loose and natural.