Not a lot new.

I seem to be more and 
more attracted to violent color combos.
Magenta and acid green, 
turquoise and golden yellow, orange and purple...or 
all of those together.
I have been starved for color lately.

I also am more..and have always been attracted to glass,
and glassy looks.

I have always loved mosaics, and read that they are
getting to be the new hot item for homes.
That makes me sad.
When I love something it always ends up becoming
a trend.
Then when it goes out of style,
I look dated for several years until the trend is forgotten
or it comes back.

Lord knows there are plenty of trends that
I would love to see gone.
Skulls...am I the only person that is sick to DEATH of..
death...and pirates?
It makes me sad that tattoo art has become such a trend.
I have always loved tattoos.
I have many.
And soon, very soon...
they will be passe.
But you know..

you gotta please yourself, and trends be damned.


 

Ah...a hoped for revelation

I have been paying attention to what 
appeals to me..and 
gardening type things have
 made an appearance.
Hmm..it is a surprise and
 a revelation.
How silly to realize only now that I like..

flowers..
and bugs
and old iron gardening tools
etc


Another revelation:

I tend to joke that I am lazy.
I'm not.

I tend to actually work like 
a dog all day long.

I am also very duty 
bound, especially to my family.

I realized this morning
 that one reason that I don't 
do alot more experimenting ,
is that there
often isn't time.
Yeah..I would love to knit up
some of the intarsia charts that
I have made. I would love to
play with some new techniques
in paint.
I would love to finish that mural
on my bathroom wall.

But the girls needed mittens,
Bill needs his grey sweater...
and before that his balaclava.
The cat would love a bed.
I have a deadline for three portraits
of people I don't know.

Except for the cat, I like to make
things that the user will visually enjoy.
Not necessarily something that
I want to make.
I mean come on..me and grey?
Only if there is a
really BRIGHT RED-ORANGE poppie involved.
But for Bill...well..love inspires my sense of duty.
And I will knit the sweater first.

By the way...what exactly is with
all the partially
finished projects, and ready to
wear sewn items out there?
I understand in production,
they can really lower the price
of a garment by skimping on the finishing.
But in DIY projects...
How could someone be ok
with not hemming their skirt?
Why is it ok now to leave threads
dangling, and have sloppy stitching?

There is a reason I dont show much that I sew.
I am not all that great at sewing.
But lately, I have seen expensive clothes that even I
could have put together nicer than they are!

What ever happened to pride in one's work?

And you can go ahead and get really angry with me for saying
this because you never hem your skirts and you're ok
with it, and who am I to say it's bad..
whatever

This blog is for me to decide what I like or do not like..
opinion is an integral part of taste and style.
I am saying it's not for me, and that I, personally don't get it.
If you adore that look..go for it.
I just ...well..I have a history of issues about how things were done
in my home while growing up.
My Mother would rather be shot in the head than to actually
read about how to do something correctly.
The woman once tried to build a deck without a plan.
And not just a rectangular shaped one.
Not only did she have no plans....she had no
knowledge of tools, wood, hardware, didn't make any
measurements( yes..she tried
to "eyeball" the entire project)
...you get the picture.
We had a real mess in about three weeks.
That's how long she held out with this idea.
She gets angry with me and thinks I knit pick
when I want to make a measurement.
With my freehand and freestyle approach to everything, I am
not far behind her.
But I really do try to have some solid knowledge of
technique to back up my "wing it" attitude.
I have learned that many things in life are made by "formula"
or "recipe".
It is the details that make it your own.
So I figure..better be sure to have a good solid formula.
For me, finishing a raw edge,etc is part of that formula.


So there ya go.

Duty, pride...and gardening.

All a part how I create...in their own ways.

color haters

I get people who sometimes are very explicit in their opinions of my use of color in my work.
Some even go so far as to be kind of insulting when I make something using fewer colors.
They feel the need to say how much better this is opposed to my usual work, etc, blah, blah.
I also see those who think color combos that I like are garish.
I makes me fearful...
does everyone hate my color usage?
I mean most people SAY they like my use of color...
but..
um..

I need to calm down.
I have been told by more than one curator that color is prefered.
Alot will not even consider my peices with less color.

whew..

The bottom line speaks, I suppose?

OK...next

As I said, I took some pics around my house..well..around my bedroom and studio.
I will try to see where there is cohesion...

can you say... ORANGE?

Well..it's no surprise to me that I like orange..and golds..and warm colors in general.
In fact, that knitting with the balls of yarn are a bit on the cool side for me..but the red, knitted yarn is recycled chenille.
I got it for less than two dollars.

The Swatch Book is...

If you look at my profile, you will see I have a few blogs.
I'm an artist...and I am kind of leaning towards design work as of lately..
Hmm..
But the big thing is, that I have a gaggle of interests.
Tons of things appeal to me.
I sometimes get a bit lost in all the colors, prints, styles, ideas,techniques...etc.

I also am the 5 minute inspired...I will see something and am enthralled for 5 minutes..until I see something else, or the phone rings..then I can't recall what it...or even the something else was all about.
So in this blog, I am going to use the swatch idea to give a sampling of what's hot to me in whatever catagory, and make a recording of it!
I am hoping this will help me focus more in my work, narrow down and refine my style, and maybe even serve as a point of inspiration, and ideas for others.
I am pairing this blog with my wists...something I have resisted for awhile, due to concern about hotlinking.
I'm still not clear on it, but the idea of having all these ideas in one place is too much to pass up anymore.
I need cohesion.
I am hoping that this blog, and the wists will help me with that.
I am not completely in the dark about my tastes.
A jumping off point would be:
Orange, gold, reds
elephants
mermaids
turquoise, teals, aquas
certain purples
dots and circles
spheres
natural/nature
birds
hummingbirds
fish
knitting
cables
lace
rainbow
fables
fairy tales
candy
sex
lingere
BDSM


umm..I lost all concentration with the last few...erm...husband has had the flu this week...

ok..well
oh yeah...star trek and sci fi in general

which I am now going to go watch.
I have some pics I have taken as an excesize for this blog.
Maybe that will be a part of the blog...style and creativity excersizes.
First excersize was just to take photos of things I already have and love...or that grab my attention...something about them made me want to take a photo of them.
I'll post the results tomorrow.

Sorry for all the tags...easier to set up a bunch now, yanno.