Ode to Paul Klee

In March our InspiredArts Guild chose Paul Klee's picture "Red Balloon" for this year's challenge piece.  The idea is that each member would design and create something of their own based on this picture. 

I was very excited about this because as I looked at the picture, and saw all of the very delicate shading used, I thought it would be a wonderful exercise for my punchneedle skills.  I determined to copy the picture by using thread and punchneedle.  Well, that didn't go too well.  I carefully worked on it -- but soon realized that it was becoming a chore, not a pleasure.  I didn't like the way it looked, disliked the heavy colors I'd chosen, disliked the disjointed appearance of it and certainly didn't seem capable of duplicating the shading.  Obviously Mr. Klee had no competition from me!!

And so I gave up my first try and decided to start anew.  This time I made up my own design.  I did keep the balloon and I also kept the idea of the 'boxes' that appear in the original painting.  Otherwise I was off and running with a new design, new colors and a whole new outlook.

I used the colors of coral, yellow and green with a darker rust thrown in for contrast.  This piece is larger than any others I've done at 8" x 6".  Amazingly, once I had thrown out my original idea and actually developed my own design the whole project went much faster.  Best of all I truly enjoyed what I was doing and loved seeing the design grow beneath my needle.

"Art does not reproduce what we see; rather, it makes us see". - Paul Klee

"Spring Garden"

This spring has brought a riot of color to our yard.  It seems that nature determined to give us a spring in which everything bloomed at the same time.  It is almost difficult to keep track of each new bloom as I walk out the door every morning.

Of course, I had to put this into loop-pile embroidery form.  The colors of the azalea, rhododendron, columbine, irises, roses, dahlias, lupine have all become part of this mix-up of spring color.

Working on this piece is not only a study in color but in loop heights.  I went as high in some places as level 5.  What fun this was - to transfer what I was seeing outside to something tangible inside.
"Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night". ~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke

A Button Quest

Lately I've been on a button quest.  Not just any buttons will do -- they must be at least 1-1/4" diameter -- they must look contemporary -- they must look like they came from the earth, carved or sculpted from wood or stone or any manner of natural material.

Luckily for me - I found some of these treasures locally.  One source was a surprise to me and that was Hancock Fabrics.  I knew they had a lot of buttons there, but they are now carrying some lines that feature larger, natural looking buttons - just what I've been looking for.  Another local source is Waechter's Silk Shop - a wonderful fabric store in Asheville where they have a whole wall of buttons. 

Now that I have this lovely pile in front of me, my fingers are itching to create more abstract punchneedle pieces where I can attach a little 'piece of the earth'.

"If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is nature's way". - Aristotle

"Pathways"

In creating "Pathways" I was able to use and experiment with different levels of loops.  I happily went from level 1 to 2 to 3 and even up to 4.  I thought I was being quite adventurous going up to level 4 but as I look at my needle I see that there is the capacity of level 12!  I'll have to do a test of that one just to see what it looks like.

As I worked this piece I was drawn back to all the stitching pathways my life has traveled. Sewing: my grandmother showing me how to use the sewing machine after my mother died.  We made a cloth doll using old sheets. Embroidery: taught to me by my husband's grandmother.  We embroidered tiny night shirts in preparation for my son's birth.  Needlepoint: Stitching at lunch breaks in a room where smoking was allowed (yuck).  Cross stitch:  I did so much of this that I'm sure there were several relatives who groaned upon receiving a package from me ('not another one')!  Primitive dolls and Santa's: For several years I made enough of these to sell at craft shows.  One year I made over 60 Santa's while working full time.  Bookart: I started out using paper but soon went back to my beloved fabric and stitching.  Beading: encrusted beading which involved thousands of teeny, tiny seed beads.  Punchneedle: my latest stitching passion.  My hands have always been busy with some form of stitchery and for that I am so very grateful.  What would it be like to not ever have picked up that first needle and thread?  

Each path has brought me to where I am today and I hope that each day will bring new paths to forge.  Isn't life wonderful!

"I dreamed a thousand new paths. . . I woke and walked my old one". - Chinese Proverb

"Into the Woods"

My first truly abstract punchneedle piece.  A larger piece than I've done before -- which was very freeing.  A test of colors and stitch heights and mixing and matching.  Of filling in spaces and running out of yarn and a kind soul rescuing me from delay and frustration.

I thoroughly enjoyed making this picture - drawing the design onto fabric and then changing it as I went along to make a better mixture of color and space filling.  There was no feeling of 'this has to be here or it won't make sense' - there was no sense to be made - just punching my needle in and out.  Sometimes a space was filled with loops only to be removed and replaced by different thread -- sometimes a shape was changed to make it fit better with those shapes around it.

This new-to-me journey is off to a start.  There will be much thought before starting the next design.  There are sketches to make and threads to choose.  I want to achieve a different awareness when I look at the world around me.  Perhaps I am trying to change my own perspective of a world which seems to have gone crazy.  Perhaps I am saying 'this is what a want to see - not necessarily what is really happening'.  If that is the case, so be it -- I highly recommend this type of 'therapy' to everyone!

"I am searching for abstract ways of expressing reality, abstract forms that will enlighten my own mystery". - Eric Cantona

Abstract Design

 Art by San Base

abstract: (adj) ...of or pertaining to nonrepresentational art; using only, lines, colors, generalized or geometrical shapes, etc.

I'm thinking in the abstract these days.  So far my punchneedle has been very representational - landscape scenes and folk art birds.  My mind seems to see things all in neat formal patterns.  A tree here, carefully balanced against the sky and the mountains.  Not that there is anything wrong with that -- BUT these days I feel the urge to just put color and thread down on fabric in all sorts of patterns.  I want to feel the freedom of free-form shapes, of colors that I don't normally think of 'going together'.  I want to start a new journey!

Art by Georgia O'Keefe

I've been using the internet and books from the library to look at what constitutes abstract.  I've found that some of the designs are free of any desire to convey a thought or mind picture while others represent 'something' in their abstract forms.  I would love to look at an object or a landscape and be able to translate it in my mind (and eventually down through my fingers) into an abstract design.  To tell you the truth I'm not sure I can do it -- after all these many years thinking one way.  Can I turn my mind inside out (which is what it feels to me) and make stitchery that doesn't represent something 'real'?  Can I create my own reality through needle and thread? 

"There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality". - Pablo Picasso

"Planting Time"

Every time I've gone out recently I've seen another plot of land with the dirt turned and ready for planting.  What a sign of hope this is to me.  Each year people dig, and turn and prepare the earth for seeds and seedlings.  Each year there is the hope that the sun and the rain will bring forth yet another year of crops.  Can anything else be more hopeful?

This punchneedle design is a stylized vision of a local road winding past a turned field.  Notice the pale green trees/bushes in the foreground.  At this time of the year that is my own version of hope as our tree limbs are still bare of bud.  They will soon sprout their pale green leaves fulfilling spring's promise.

"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all". - Emily Dickinson

"Strata"

Strata: Layer of material, formed either naturally or artificially, often one of a number of parallel layers placed one upon another.

As winter settled in I found myself longing for warmth - even the appearance of warmth was good enough.  And so this punchneedle piece came to life.  These warm colors layered one after another made me think of desert canyons and of the layers of rock on which this world is built.

Thread change after thread change defined this design.  Punchneedle uses its own unique needle which requires two steps for each thread change.  Once you add in the process of pulling yards of each color, blending colors and changing colors, the process of punching itself pales next to the constant thread changes.  It was a very good learning experience and you might be able to see the more frequent changes and my growing abilities to blend threads as you go from the top of the piece (where I started) to the bottom.

My goal for this year is one doll figure a month, one folk art punchneedle bird a month and one punchneedle picture a month.  So far I'm behind by only one picture so I guess I'd better get busy and draw up the next design and start choosing colors.

"And Life is Colour and Warmth and Light and a striving evermore for these..." - Julian Grenfell