Pattern Design: Linear Patterns

In the 2nd lesson of 'Pattern Design for Artists' we begin exploring linear repeating patterns.

After making a quick stamp to trial a design we used it to make 1 dimensional patterns.

The above image shows the set up for printing as I was taught by Eleanor Hannan  www.eleanorhannan.com. It is such an efficient way to stamp, paint-wise and time-wise. Thank you Eleanor for so generously sharing your knowledge. 

Elisha is developing designs based on the geometric shapes of buildings.

Sarah is working with natural patterns on rocks.

Connie is developing hummingbird based designs.

The assignment was to produce 20 different repeating patterns with their 1st design.

SDA Conference - UTSA Graduates

With the conference being held in June we were in time to see a graduates' exhibition at The University of Texas at San Antonio, in the Downtown Art Gallery.

I liked William Billy George's work. He studied at the Appalachian Centre for Crafts.
I looked closely at the folded paper and saw stitched letters.

I read the label. He called it 'Secret', so I looked at the work again, this time trying to find more.
This is just what the title of a work should do for the viewer - give a clue to take them deeper into the work and make them look at the work again.

First place went to a work installed high on the wall, above other works, with only just enough light on it to see some detail.
Julie Shipman cut up and cut out sections of a weathered door and added what looked like corrugated cardboard. The label said Paverpol was used, probably to stiffen the cardboard.
It certainly was a strangely intriguing work - to see something so familiar looking so not right. A door on its side, stuck high on the wall, cut up and its insides showing. Hmmm...

Post Cards From Fundy #4

The 4th post card is about the Bay of Fundy in the early 19th century.
Everything 'classical' was all the rage.
Here is the 'stamp' in progress.

Many hours have been spent on the design of these post cards. I made mock-ups in paper (the inside of security envelopes) to check the range and distribution of values. I also use my camera to get black and white images so I can check the values are working.

I sampled the type and colour of stitching to use to attach the textiles: How wide to make the zig zag, how close together so the stitching showed but didn't dominate.

Auditioning different braids and cords to use as the lines on the post card.

This...

...or this?

Lasagna Gardening

About a year ago my sister showed us how to convert lawn to garden.

On top of cut grass we layered: newspaper, cardboard, grass clippings, leaves, coffee grounds, manure + topsoil, and finally a top soil layer. 

\

Now I have planted a green mulch - comfrey.

I laid down a layer of paper around the plants to suppress the weeds until the comfry plants take hold.

A layer of Douglas-fir mulch holds the paper in place and also acts as a weed suppressant.

It is all an experiment.

Monika Bruckner BA(Hons) Embroidered Textiles

 

 

 

MISSA

Some more playing around with techniques in Tony Bounsall's altered imagery class.
What a refreshing and stimulating way and place to spend a week.
I want to go back next year.

These lovely images were taken while I wandered the Moss Street artist hang-out event here in Victoria. The man is a master artist from Japan on a cultural exchange called JAM. He was at MISSA all week, along with other teachers from Japan.
This little girl and her older sister were watching him make pots on the wheel. He invited first the older sister to try but she was too shy. When he asked this girl, all in sign language, she nodded yes.
Not a word was exchanged between them and barely a glance, and together they made a beautiful pot.

MISSA Days 2 & 3

Day 2 at MISSA in Tony Bounsall's Altered Imagery class was spent doing terrible things to photographs, beginning with soaking them in water to loosen up the emulsion. Then we scratched, sanded, scribbled, brushed, waxed, sprayed and bleached them.
The above image is from day 3 when we were shown how to do gum bichromate printing. This is the wash tank.

We dry our efforts on the clothes line.

A couple of my compositions. Lots of layering gives interesting effects.

MISSA Day 3

Day 3 at MISSA I started another course. Photographer/designer/artist, Tony Bounsall, offered an irresistible course, 'Altered Imagery'.
Within the 1st hour he had us up on the photocopier rolling our faces over the glass after he had explained it was actually a slit camera. You can imagine the laughter coming form the copier room as 7 strangers produced distorted images of their faces. It was a perfect ice breaker for the new class, which showed Tony's skill and experience as a teacher.
We then went on to college these photocopies onto a board and worked them up with other media.
Here is my 'Grotesque Portrait'.

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Time for a quiet cup of tea in my favourite spot.

The next exercise was to transfer photocopied images onto paper. This is as far as i got with this one but it has potential.

I liked this technique so stayed behind after everyone else had left (I always work better when on my own) to continue working on this transferred collage.
I was playing around trying a few of the many options Tony had suggested, when i remembered the bottle of waterproof ink on our supply list. i had been impressed with Tony's demo so decided to try it. i opened my new bottle...squirt... it splashed out and flooded the center of the piece. Did i stop and wipe it up? No! I continued to spread the ink over the whole thing, making it all black. By the time i remembered i was to wipe it back it was drying fast. So then i got out a blade and started scrapping it back until I was gouging the original paper.
Hmmm... time to leave the room.

I decided to name this effort 'Unsupervised Play'.

Paper Makers in Jaipur

We spent a wonderful morning touring Kagzi Industries, paper makers in Jaipur. I was so interested to see the range of papers they made, particularly because I had previously purchased a large amount of their paper from Costco in Canada. Understanding how the paper was made makes it so much more interesting when I work with it.

By the time our tour group was in Jaipur, India was experiencing the coldest temperatures in 40 years. You can see in these images how the paper makers were wrapped in thick shawls, blankets, sweaters & hats to keep warm.

Fresh rose petals are added to the pulp before the sheet is pulled.

This factory makes a vast range of hand made papers and paper products that are exported all over the world.