Photo Shoot in the Green Shed by Tony Bounsall

Tony Bounsall - Tony Bounsall Photo Design came to the Green Shed for a photo shoot.

Tony has been photographing my work for years because he really knows how to capture textiles.

Here he is setting up to photograph Barbara McCaffrey's large work.

I thought this work would be a challenge because it is solid buttons that turn shiny under lights but Tony was up to it and produced a lovely image.

I pushed back all of the furniture to make a large space in front of the design wall.

I invited 3 other artists to also have their work photographed in the same session.

We were all applying for the juried exhibition 'Eco-Threads' and wanted our work to look the best.

Laura Feeleus, Barbara McCaffrey, Sarah Mclaren

I moved the furniture around in the studio again to be able to block some loooong knitting. I had to build up the lower cutting table to extend the flat surface to block on.

To block knitting I use wires to hold the edges out straight while the fabric is drying. Wool has memory and will hold this shape once it is dry.

I use a t-pins to hold the wires at the corners and at a few places along the edges.

I had made 2 bias knit scarves in kid mohair and hand dyed merino for birthday gifts. The birthdays were happening soon so I needed to get these finished and in the post.

Then it was back to continue working on the Synesthesia series.

The flexible studio space was put to the test this week and proved to work well.

Working With Itten's 7 Colour Contrasts

"Our sense organs can function only by means of comparisons. The eye accepts a line as long when a shorter line is presented for comparison. The same line is taken as short when the line compared with it is longer. Colour effects are similarly intensified or weakened by contrasts." Itten The Elements of Color, p. 32

Itten's 7 kinds of colour contrast:

1. Contrast of hue

2. Light-dark contrast

3. Cold-warm contrast

4.Complementary contrast

5.Simultaneous contrast

6. Contrast of saturation

7. Contrast of extension

With this Synesthesia series of work, I am working with one hue/colour at a time, defined as a monochromatic colour scheme. It means I am not able to use #1. Contrast of hue. For each individual work to be successful I need to work with other colour properties to achieve contrast.

The Synesthesia series aims to show how I feel about each colour's energy. To express that energy I focus on line, without making a thing, shape or motif and I work with value. #2 Light-dark contrast is my main design tool

# 2. Light-dark contrast. Here I have overlapped with an off-set, dark to light threads over a dark to light ground.

To me, this colour evokes calmness, an immensity in its calmness. To give this feeling I need to show a low level of contrast but still need to have some contrasting elements for the work to be successful, otherwise, there is no energy at work.

I took advantage of one of textiles' strongest features - texture. This low contrast dark to light fabric line up is still interesting to the eye because each fabric has a different texture.

These fabrics also show #6 Contrast of saturation at a low level but the eye can still see a brighter blue beside a dull blue.

When checking for #2 Light-dark contrast I look through a 'Ruby-Beholder' - a red or green plastic strip and or I take a picture with my camera to get a black and white image. 

Here I decided there was just enough contrast of light and dark for the eye/brain to notice while still giving off a calm vibe.

Including too wide a range of light to dark generally is not successful. One needs to limit the range of values to a group or block along the light-dark continuum.

When I am designing a work I take out all of the fabrics I have that would be suitable as far as their other characteristics are concerned. I arrange them in a continuous line from light to dark. I then look along the line to decide which section would best express the feel and energy of that colour. I work with fabrics in that section and put away those either side of the chosen ones.

I am making colour cards to go with each Synesthesia work. The cards have strips of fabric glued to them. When I select the fabrics I aim for the maximum range of values, saturation, and cold-warm contrast because the purpose of the cards is to show the full range of the colour's properties.

A stop for a quick dark-light check during construction. 

Is there enough contrast to effectively express the energy I feel from this colour?

When I make work I do a lot of research and pre-planning in a sketchbook. Next, I sample with the actual fabrics. When I am actually making the work it feels as though I am back at the trial and error stage but this time I am working towards producing that image or feeling I have of what the work should be and it guides my decisions.

New Work in Small Expressions and South Shore Gallery

'Currency'

I have a series of new small works currently out there in CACSP's Tulista Gallery exhibition 'Small Expressions' and VISDA's 'Current Threads: Garden Tapestry' at South Shore Gallery.

'Currency'

'Currency' is about how many early tribes first used shells for money when trading commodities. 

The most common shell was the cowry, (Cypraea moneta) but other types were recognised and used in trade.

'Currency'

One of the most influential commodities that drove early trade and established the first trade routes caused wars and stimulated government laws was textiles.

I put the shells on silk, one of the most highly prized textiles.

The silk used in 'Currency ' is hand spun, hand woven wild silk I bought back from a textile tour of NW India.

The horn frames reference the on-going illegal commodity trade of rhinoceros horn with China leading to the near extinction of the animal.

'Currency'

These cowry shells are on a silk textile with a gold coloured frame.

Gold is a commodity many are familiar with and it was probably the first international currency.

These two exhibitions gave me the opportunity to explore an idea. What is the simplest way I could tell a story? I challenged myself to take a complex story and to pare it down to the minimum of elements needed to tell the story.

Etsy Shop - Ravenmade Works: My Process

I go to thrift stores, garage sales and estate auctions in search of embroideries, hand made works that have essentially been discarded. Each one has a story about its maker, its owner and its history but for most of them this provenance has been lost.

Sometimes, when I take a work out of it's dusty framing, I'll find a name and maybe a year. Sometimes the stitching has been completed but the work is not framed or finished.

Sometimes the work is unfinished, then I wonder what stopped the stitcher working on it.

Each work is soaked then washed according to the materials it is made from. It is dried quickly in a drying room so the colours don't get a chance to run. Once it is damp-dry, it is pressed and blocked with a steam-generating iron, until it is dry.

Works made from wool are fulled lightly during the washing process so they won't unravel during the cutting up stage.

Individual elements are cut out and grouped according to a colour scheme. 

Crewel embroideries work particularly well.

I go into my stash of vintage textiles to find a background that will work with the collected elements.

Elements are selected, auditioned and composed before I hand and machine stitch them in place.

With needlepoint works, I find 2 that work together then cut them into strips. The 2 different lots of strips are woven together to make a new image but the physiology of the female eye enables her to still see the 2 different embroidered images.

These small works are then mounted in black, shadow-box frames so they can be hung together in groupings or singly.

Desolation Sound Inspiration

Our summer holiday this year was spent sailing along the Pacific North West coast and on up into Desolation Sound

I saw lots of inspiring land-seascapes

But I think I feel a bird series coming on

Synesthesia #23 Orange-yellow #2

I had to make another #23 because a friend bought the 1st one I made.

This time I used the cut-back applique technique.

I like using worn clothing in my work.

My old brown linen pants are just the right colour.

I am waiting for the day when I cut out a piece of fabric from the garment I am wearing because it is just what I am looking for.

Here are the fabrics I selected.

Ooooooow - Goggle's 'auto correct' makes them look off.

This is the 2nd go, I must confess. The first one had to be rejected because I stacked the fabrics in the reverse order. Am I making these mistakes because I didn't stitch much while I was studying and I have to get my brain up and firing in a different way again?

Viola - Synesthesia # 23 Orange-yellow, again.

It is hanging in the Tulista Gallery in Sidney, in the Small Expressions exhibitions, on until the end of March.

Synesthesia Series

Synesthesia #1 Yellow

Synesthesia #24  Golden Yellow

Synesthesia #23 Orange-yellow

These are the 3 works I am entering into Vancouver Island Surface Design Association's next exhibition, in the Nanaimo Art Gallery, January 2014.
 It is a juried show so my work may not get in.

Here is the series so far - 7 of 24 completed.

Synesthesia, #23 Orange-yellow

For the #23 Orange-yellow square I settled on a ground of layered sheers....

...then decided on the value range and intensity level of the threads.

Then wound the thick threads in the bobbin and cabled stitched them on the ground from the back.
My new Bernina has a very large bobbin that holds lots of thick thread making cable stitch such a pleasure to do.

Red Deer College - Series

This summer I am working on the Visual Studies module of the Opus BA(Hons) programme I am enrolled in. It is highly recommened one takes a figure drawing class. My drawing skills are poorly developed, to say the least, so I attended a 5 day long open drawing studio session at Red Deer College's summer art programme, Series, in the hope that total immersion would produce some observational drawings I could use in my assignments.
What a time I had. With Ross Bradley's organisation and years of live drawing experience we had a different model every day from 9 in the morning until 10 at night, with breaks to consume food & drink coffee. It was quite a unique experience, in this day, to be able to totally focus on one activity for a sustained period.
Another bonus for me was the calibre of the other drawers in the studio. Studying their work was an education for me. And each one was such an interesting person and most pleasant company. I looked forward to joining them in the studio each morning.

While in Red Deer Collage, I stayed in residence. Over the week, as I walked to and from the studio, I enjoyed the drama of Canadian prairie skies.

This storm caused hail damage to crops and there was a tornado warning over the radio. I was too busy drawing to follow up on whether it touched down or not. That's how absorbing this whole drawing experience was.