Colour: A Personal Response Exhibition at ArtSea Gallery in Tulista Park, Sidney

Opening Reception of Colour: A Personal Response - Lesley and Sarah.

Thank you, Louise, for thinking of and taking a photograph of the 2 of us on the night of the opening.

The gallery waiting for the first viewers.

Each of the works is monochromatic, made using only one colour.

We hung the work with Sarah's making a colour wheel going clockwise around the room.

And my work making an intersecting colour wheel going anticlockwise around the room.

The result was each work was hung in a group with its complement.

At the small books table, we asked people to pick a colour and write their thoughts or feelings about that colour. It was a popular centre on the opening night and throughout the week.

I love the little drawings the children made.

Sarah and I spent our time while sitting the exhibition talking to people about how the work came about and what our concept was. There were lots of conversations in front of the works over the week also.

People stopped to read our artist statements and bios.

Sarah at the front desk keeping track of visitors, sales and answering questions.

Sarah had cards for each of her works for sale and did a brisk business.

Each work had its colour book. Sarah's were a result of her research on each artist she studied and made a work on. My books were marks showing the energy of each colour in a different medium - paint.

The fabric colour cards were displayed on turntables grouped by temperature.

The cool colours of the colour wheel.

The warm colours.

We sold a good number of individual fabric colour cards but the packs with all of the colours were the most popular.

The tally of visitors to the show tell it was a successful exhibition. For Sarah and I, we know it was successful because of the interest shown in our work by so many people over the week. They wanted to hear all about everything to do with how the idea started to how we worked, how we made each work and how we hung the work. There were people who came back again bringing other friends with them. Our viewers wrote lots of encouraging words in the guest book and have sent us emails of thanks since.

Sarah and I want to thank everyone who came to the exhibition and also all of those who have supported us while we worked to produce this body of work.

The exhibition is going to be travelling for a while. I'll keep you posted on where it will be stopping.

New Work: 24 Synesthesia Colour Studies

I continue to work on my Synesthesia colour studies.

I used lots of thread on this one.

For each colour, I also work in paint and fabric to show a range of tints, tones, shades and intensities of each colour.

I went pretty dark with this colour - mmmm one of my favourites.

When I am in full swing all of the horizontal surfaces in my studio are in use. While one thing is drying I can get on with something else. 

Making progress but still lots to do to finish this series.

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: 2 new works on the go

Every day I am in the studio I stitch into this work for an hour or so.

After the tree added its wind drawing I am responding by marking the branchlets I see on the ground after the wind.

I am also working on another for the Synesthesia series.

This series is a response to how I feel about the energy of each colour.

I show the energy through line, value and a fibre art technique.

For this colour, it is cut-back applique and free motion machine embroidery.

A check on the values.

 Is there enough contrast or is there too much contrast? 

Are the darks and lights in the right places to give the feel I want?

I am making 24 in this colour series

Colour Studies in the Green Shed Studio

Backyard Project posts have dominated my blog lately and you may be wondering if I am ever in my studio. 

To answer the question - Yes. I am working on a big project that will culminate in at least 2 exhibitions.

'Colour: A Personal Response' is a project I am working on with fibre artist Sarah McLaren.

It involves doing colour studies in paint and fabric.

I am making large paintings of 24 different colours.

Apart from a Jane Davies workshop, see blog post here  I am not trained in painting so I am just feeling my way. My intention with these paintings is very clear and it is keeping me at it for many hours. I am beginning to pick up a feel for moving the paint around. I am also even more conscious of Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours rule.

Work In Progress - Cryosphere II, Hydrosphere

I have the idea for my Yukon panels in Articulation's 'Provinces' exhibition. 

I want to show the phase change when water hardens then melts.

I have settled on the colour scheme - white (not yellow-white), silver and cerulean blue.

I haul out from my stash all of the light to sheer fabrics in those colours.

I collect up all of the threads, papers, and embellishments in those colours. 

I draft up a pattern for the size of the panels and cut it out in Tyvek.

Pinning the different sheers on the wall gives me an idea of their transparency and drape.

It is looking distinctly bridal in the studio.

Sampling, sampling, sampling.

I am sewing on different layered fabric sandwiches searching for the look I have in mind. 

The burning and melting station is set up.

I test all of the fabrics and sandwiches with a heat gun and a burning tool.

I don't want brown so anything with cotton in it is put away.

I have settled on the colours and fabrics now I need to sample to find a technique that best expresses the idea. I have made lots of drawings and compiled many lists in my workbook.

Now is the 'percolation' phase. It takes time for the ideas to sort themselves out. I record these ideas in my workbook and continue sampling until the way forward is clear.

Making Mola Pillows working at the Ironing and Cutting Centres

While making the mola pillows, I worked at 2 more centres in my studio.

The Ironing Centre

The ironing board has an extension to make it a rectangular shape better suited to ironing lengths of cloth. I have 2 irons a steam iron and a dry iron.

The power outlets for the irons and the sewing machine were put into the floor to keep the cords from crossing the work surfaces.

The rack under the ironing surface holds a variety of pressing clothes, water sprayers and spray starch.

The Cutting Centre

After the mola had been steamed I walked a couple of steps to the cutting centre. 

It sits in the middle of the area where I can move around all 4 sides while cutting. It saves on the number of times the fabric has to be repositioned.

The left-over cork floor tiles on the left I thought would make a useful cutting surface when using the Exacto knife but the cutting rulers bumped up against the tiles so they had to go.

I moved them across the walkway to the drawing centre.

After a minor adjustment, I found the Ironing Centre and the Cutting Centre work fine.