TEXTILE "BLUEPRINT" AND A BIT OF FUN

"Blueprint"  14" X 11"  Lori LaBerge  2018

While continuing research and reading on architecture I began to think about planning considerations. How does our lifestyle fit a house plan? What barriers or non-barriers do we want between rooms? What kind of relationship to the outdoors do we want? Does where we live ( we have mudslides in the mountains, my daughter deals with earthquakes in California) entail stronger structural considerations? The list goes on and is allowing me to develop new ideas.

"Blueprint" is based on a "what's inside" idea. The print itself is front and center surrounded by exterior building shapes.

original blueprints

I came across the blueprints of our house while searching through boxes. There are such wonderful memories of the excitement surrounding the building process.

The above were ideas we planned out on the computer while working with our architect and builder. These will be used for future blueprint textile designs. 

I searched out my son's old Lego collection. Why not have some fun? An afternoon was spent sorting some of the blocks by color and shape, then placing them together as I went along. More ideas for future art came about from a fun, relaxing, playful afternoon.

Play with your art. Think like a child. Go leaf, rock or sea shell hunting then place them in unusual arrangements. Use methods that are not your norm. Try collage, pencil rubbings, crayons, wooden blocks, finger paints, felt shapes, etc. Anything goes!

INSPIRATION AND CREATIVITY IN ART

"Mountain Reflections", 20 x 20  Lori LaBerge  2015

"Mountain Reflections" was completed this week.  It was done totally left-handed and though I can now pick up a hook with my right hand, I can't quite bend the hand enough for the proper movement yet.  Soon!

A question artists are asked quite often is how they get their ideas.  There are times even I don't know where an idea suddenly comes from, but most of them come from continuing to enjoy the world around me.  

Everyone works differently.  Here are eight things that work for me.

1.  I tend to work whether I have good idea or not.  There are tons of scribbles and x'd out design plans in my sketchbook.  I find the way to reach an idea is to start with something, anything, and go from there to improve upon it.  There is no need to try to create the final work right off the bat.

2.  A large variety of ideas seem to come at night when it is quiet and I'm not interrupted by phones, e-mails, the nagging laundry needing to be done or other things.  I keep note cards on my nightstand.  I sift through these ideas at various times.  Some work out, others don't.

A Penland class totally open to a variety of ideas.

3.  I create better when I am alone.  While I enjoy classes and learn from them, I often find myself holding back on ideas I would normally go crazy with in the studio. I take what I learn in classes and bring the knowledge and work created there back to the studio to recreate from it.  An environment totally open to odd ideas works best for me, but is not always easy to find.

4.  Some artists I know adhere to strict working hours.  I find I tend to work between noon and 8 p.m., but I'm not a rule stickler about it.  I am definitely not a morning person and find I rarely have good ideas in the morning.  Knowing what hours you function best at can lead to better work production.

Costumes from Downton Abbey on display at Biltmore in North Carolina through May 25, 2015.

5.  I find myself exploring settings and color in movies along with the clothing the characters wear.  I look at the use of texture, horizontals and verticals and the way atmosphere and time period is achieved.  I do the same with books which veer toward heavy description.

"Without, a midwinter twilight, where wandering snowflakes eddied in 

     the bitter wind  between a leaden sky and frost-bound earth.

       Within, a garret; gloom, bare, and cold as the bleak night coming down."

The above quote from Louisa May Alcott's "A Modern Mephistopheles" compares the outdoors and indoors.  It gives a sense of color with the sky and earth.  How could we portray some of these descriptions through our artwork?

 One of my  favorite spots, the sitting area of the bedroom.

6.  A seemingly endless supply of magazines are found around our home.  Interior design, fashion and art.  I love spending a couple of hours jotting down ideas I've seen.  There are color combinations, various use of materials, and special effects achieved by the placement of objects in ads and features.  Don't have magazines, check out the local library.

7.  I often take off to the studio at odd hours to draw out a design idea.  If you have an idea in your head, work on it rather than waiting till later.  It is easy to forget.  I often need to redesign later, but the general idea is there.

"Timeless Travels"  SOLD,  Lori LaBerge,  2013

8.  Mixing ideas from different sources can lead to interesting ideas.  "Timeless Travels" developed from thoughts of traveling on the road and a night spent stargazing with my son.  You never know what your mind may be able to connect.

There are many ways in which artists work.  Accept the ways that work for you and have a great day.

WINTER TREES PLEIN AIR, ABSTRACT "WHITE COLLAR", CREATIVITY

It's the time of year when the chill in the air reminds us of the coming winter.  So far, we've only had a few flurries.  Looking at the trees in the woods brought me to thoughts of the holidays and the chance to work on my first winter plein air piece.

"Winter's Dance"  4 X 6  Lori LaBerge  2013

There is something about winter trees that makes me feel relaxed and peaceful. The majority have lost their leaves and there is a chance to view the structure.

 A foggy morning brings a sense of eerieness to this tree (or maybe it was the coyotes howling) with bottom branches on the left appearing ready to collapse.  I love the imperfection of it.

The tree second from left has broken off, leaving it feeling lonely among its taller neighbors.

Interesting to see how one branch fell into the nook of another forming an "X", as if it tried to break its fall.

The lone color left in the woods on the side of our driveway.  A lovely orange against the grey blue sky behind it.

So often we forget about the bottom portion of a tree and how it grows.  The roots here are reaching out in all different directions and blend into the pine needles beneath it.

I also worked on starting the hooking on "White Collar" this week:

"White Collar" in progress,  16 X 20 Lori LaBerge  2013

I've decided to take next week off from blogging to enjoy the holidays.  Those of you who have been reading regularly know how I love the lectures offered through The Great Courses. They have a new course on creativity (so it is on sale) and I downloaded it yesterday.  I can't wait to heat up some hot chocolate, hit the couch, turn on the computer and listen to a professor talk about imagination and developing ideas.

Creativity has always fascinated me and I received two posts this week that show the results of a creative mind.  Please check out:

Susan Feller's post on her grouping of November studies.  Notice the variety of materials she employed and how she approached her subjects.  Very informative and inspiring.

Patricia Winans post on her solo show.  Her subjects range from traditional to abstract to mixed-media.  She also wrote a beautiful piece that expresses how similar peoples' experiences are.

A very Merry Christmas to all! 

KEEPING AN ART JOURNAL FOSTERS CREATIVITY

I have been keeping an art journal and working on related side projects since January. With six months of work in the journal, I decided it was time to start referring back to it.  Flipping through the pages, I stopped at the section where I had written down words referring to roads (the subject of this years series of work). These were some of the words that had been written:

pavement     lines          lanes     curves      intersection     dirt          cobblestone 
shoulders     signs          GPS       scenery    winding          speed     street lights     
city               country       blocks    grids         one-way        route       highway          
rest stop      direction      map       traffic        cars              byways    trip                 
travel           street          exit         tolls          parking          parkway  viaduct           
rural            distance      merge    passage   interstate       urban      dead end
lights           skid marks  circle

Looking through these words led to this design:

as yet untitled, Lori LaBerge  2013

The process:

1.  The words city, country, urban and rural piqued my interest in the above grouping.  The urban city and rural country are opposites, yet I love the aspects of each of them and thought it would be interesting to combine them in one piece.

2.   I looked at photos of roadways:

One of many winding, hilly roads in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.  This is a view from Mt. Mitchell.

The streets of Boston viewed from the top of the Prudential building.  Roads form blocks for ease of transportation.

  

It is easy to distinguish the center city block in Edinburgh, Scotland.  The buildings, as in the Boston photo, are situated inside the rectangular road layout.  This photo was taken from Edinburgh Castle, which overlooks the city.

3.  The decision was made to create the city block of the rug hooked piece in rectangular block form.  Since the country and city sections are opposites, I did not want them both flat on the piece.  The city block section will be layered on top of the country road section when it is completed.

4.  The small dot was added as a "you are here" representation, commonly seen on maps.  The larger dots will even this out and the stripes are meant to be larger sections of road.

5.  Color was decided upon using freehand Photoshop Elements:

as yet untitled, color plan, Lori LaBerge  2013

It took me a while to learn, but I truly love Photoshop.  This step could also be done using colored pencils, marker or paints (which I still do quite frequently).  Photoshop allows the convenience of being able to quickly change colors for viewing, while hands-on just has a special feel to it you don't get from a computer.

6.  Wool was dyed or found in studio stash:

7.  Hooking was completed and whipping started on the city block section:

The roads were done in white while there is a faint grid done in light blue in the background as is used for reference on maps.  The rest of the piece will be hooked this coming week.

Rug Hooking Magazine has an article on hooking maps in the June/July/August 2013 issue.

Start a journal, go back to it every once and a while for ideas, design a new piece and have a great day. 

"LAKE HOUSE" IN RUG BEAT MAGAZINE

"Lake House"  Lori LaBerge  2011

Rug Beat is a new online magazine featuring articles on contemporary rug hooking. A photo of "Lake House" is pictured alongside an article on contemporary works of hooked art which were juried into the 2011 "Pushing the Limits: New Expressions in Hooked Art" group.  This group encourages new ideas and creativity.  There are some wonderful rug artists out there stretching the bounds of rug hooking and hopefully Rug Beat will get their work into the public eye.  This was the premier issue and I'm looking forward to future articles on innovative works.

Also received this week was my copy of Surface Design Magazine.

This is how I roll.  Magazine, wine, chocolate and the fireplace.

The magazine was timed perfectly as this issue featured works on a variety of textile artists using innovative materials and methods.  One artist who really grabbed my eye is El Anatsui.  His work is made up of aluminum, copper wire and other found objects and resembles draped contemporary quilts.  See some of his work here and be sure to scroll down on the blue bar on the page to see the quilt-like pieces. Another artist whose work was featured is Elizabeth Whyte Schulze.  She creates coiled baskets from pine needles and raffia and paints images on them.  See some of these baskets on her website here.

I'm still working on "Diamond Road" and below is a photo of it further along than last week, with hooking done and construction in progress.

  

Seek out your creative side this week and have a great day!