BirdBrain Designs

anniversary sale and give-away

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As of March 28, the blog at Birdbrain Designs will be one year old. To celebrate, I have decided to have a sale and a give-away. My remaining leather bags and pouches are all on sale. And on March 28, I will draw from all the comments over the next two weeks and the winner can have their choice of a bag or pouch.

Here is a selection of the bags available. Please leave a comment on this post for the draw and email me at xine@birdbraindesigns if you are interested in a sale bag.

I will also have bags and pouches on sale this Saturday at City Revival in Picton from 2pm-4pm. Please drop in if you have the chance.

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.

 

think spring

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I found a magenta skirt in a thrift shop some time ago. I knew it would make a great spring bag, such a bright, cheery colour. And here it is, lined with beautiful cotton from France, which, if you look carefully, tells you that summer is coming. The strap is long enough to wear across the body, but can be knotted to make it shorter. The bag is 13″ wide, 10.5″ tall, 3.5″ across the base, with a magnetic closure, four inside pockets and a front zip pocket for your keys.

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.

 

progress…

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I am finished hooking Fireworks. The photo here was earlier today–now the small empty spot contains the number 12, there but not obvious, just for the record. It’s surprising how quickly we forget these things. I dyed the wool for the whipping today, a black/brown combo so that it will just look like another dark row on the outside. The rug is about 24 feet around the outside edge. Jennifer tells me that each foot of whipping takes one hour to complete! I will time my first foot and let you know. People often ask me how long it took to hook Fireworks–and truly, I prefer not to know. I do know that I have been at it, on and off, for almost two years, including dyeing the wool, drawing the pattern and hooking, hooking.
I also did some screenprinting today. I plan to make a denim tote with black leather bottom and handles. The dark prints below are for the inside pocket. While I was at it, I made a repeat of The Bird with Attitude. This is my favourite of all my bird images. However, I am soon to be working again with my favourite collaborator (so happy!)–so I’ll be drawing some new birds for the spring.  Check out the link to see Melanie’s wonderful watercolour album art!Tomorrow I hope to put my new house design on a chair seat–and begin hooking something more manageable. Lugging around Fireworks at the end was a little cumbersome!

in the studio

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I managed some time in the studio on the weekend and also saw two wonderful documentary films at our local DocFest. The films, Kinshasa Symphony and West Wind: The Vision of Tom Thomson were both outstanding, the former a story of courage and determination in urban Africa and the latter a sensuously beautiful homage to Canada’s most well-known artist. I recommend them both.

And in the studio, the first of a series of Kenya pouches. A friend gave me the remaining leather after she had her new skirt shortened and I combined it with a small remnant I had.

The rest of the time was spent with Fireworks and I am definitely on the homeward stretch–finally.

matangwe inspiration

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Here are three drawings done by the grade 6 students in Matangwe.  It was fascinating to watch them deeply absorbed in the task of representing their homes for an audience of Canadian students. These students do not often have the opportunity to lose themselves in a creative task. The results were amazing–incorporating colour, unique design forms and flights of fantasy which reminded me of early hooked rugs and paintings.

These drawings are evocative for me–I can’t look at them without remembering the sunshine filtered through red dust, the glorious bird song and the earnest, hopeful faces. I am in the process of designing a rug with houses, as I have mentioned here before. I am sure that the drawings of these children will now have an influence on that process. I am just beginning a chair seat as a trial for the rug design–working out colours and shapes–and I hope to base it loosely on these drawings. I love the flower on the roof, the elaborate blocks and the wreath of flowers around the house, not to mention the trees and the figures of mother and cat.

My trip to Kenya has made me realize that gifts come in many ways, and often when you least expect them.

odiochienge na mabeyo e kenya (my wonderful time in Kenya) Part II

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Matangwe certainly has its beauty. The sunset every night was spectacular as were the moon, the stars and the birds. (above two photos courtesy of Stephen Scott.)

Kisumu, the third largest city in Kenya with a population around 500,000, is on the shores of Lake Victoria. It is a bustling metropolis with much street activity.  I made three trips to this city, (not counting the final trip to the airport) to go to the markets and visit the sites. We were lucky enough to make the 60+ minute journey in a truck, but many, many people take a matatu,or  a boda boda, or even get there on foot.As interesting and as beautiful as Kenya was, it is ultimately the people you meet who stay in your heart. The students and teachers had a major impact on me–their courage, their determination and their wonderful welcoming openness. Here is the grade six class writing their letters to Canada, followed by a picture of two of the amazing teachers. You may have seen this poster before, but it is worth repeating; it sums up my Kenyan lessons: HOLSTEE – Holstee Manifesto Poster.


african food

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The markets and small vegetable stands along the red clay roads around Matangwe have tomatoes, sweet potatoes and sukuma wiki for sale. This last vegetable is similar to chard or collard greens. Sukuma wiki literally means ‘to stretch the week’ and many families had to do just that, especially in the period of drought they were experiencing.Peta Hall, a wonderful local potter and tireless worker in Ghana, served a great African Stew at a fundraising dinner last year. It contained all of the ingredients mentioned above. Since I am missing Kenya a lot, I decided to make this stew today and thought I would share the recipe. I’ve modified her original recipe a bit. Skuma wiki is often served with ugali–but rice or a good crusty bread may be a preferred substitute. (I never did try ugali, even after much urging.)

African Stew

2 T olive oil

1 large onion chopped, 1 parsnip and 1 carrot peeled and chopped

1 bunch of swiss chard, stems and leaves chopped

1 tsp each ground ginger and cumin

2 cloves garlic minced

2 tsp curry paste

1 28 oz can of tomatoes, low sodium

1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped

1 15 oz can chick peas

salt and pepper and lemon juice to taste

Saute the onions, parsnips, and chard stems until lightly caramelized, about 5 minutes. Add the spices and garlic and cook one minute more. Add the tomatoes and sweet potatoes. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook uncovered until the sweet potatoes are tender. Add the chick peas and swiss chard leaves and cook until warmed through. Season with lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

irresistible fabric

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This is the stack of fabric I brought home from Kenya. I picture small pouches made of these wonderful colours as well as leather bags lined with them–and, maybe some summer tops. Some of these fabrics came from this stand in the Kisumu market. The vendors are a mother and son team who enjoyed posing for this photo. Their fabric was delicious–you can see the pieces I purchased in the foreground. We also bought Kitenge fabric for the women at the community centre in Matangwe to make bags which they will sell on the web.I am particularly fond of this piece as it was given to me by the wife of the principal of the Metangwe school when I visited her and her husband in Bondo. The colours of this all-cotton fabric are stunning; it comes from Tanzania as you can see.I bought these pouches and luggage tags in Nairobi as I couldn’t resist the patterns. They are made in Kenya of a soft durable cotton; the brand is Kanga which is the term for the traditional Kenyan wrap worn by the women.