November Stitching, or lack thereof

I guess I got sidetracked by turkey eating because I forgot to stitch these together this month.  All I have to show today is a big pile ready for some stitching this afternoon.

November Leaves 2

Here is the second in my November Leaves series.  When I started this, my inspiration was a walk through lots of dried leaves. I brought a handful of them inside to draw from for my initial marks. I was seeing all sorts of black, browns and earth tones, thus the constraints for this series. But the super bright yellows and oranges are hanging around this year and look nothing like the earthier colors I'm using.  I may have to retitle these.

November Leaves 2, acrylic on paper, 12x12"

November Stitching

I was laying my November 2016 components out to stitch together, and I threw them next to my 2017 project for comparison.   This has been such a bright, cheerful Nov. that I thought they would look drastically different.  They blend pretty well here, but maybe when I join all of Nov. 2016, it will look more dark and somber.  I love rich colors next to dark browns and blacks.

Studio Journeys

I have been taking part in Nancy Hillis's Studio Journeys this month.  It's a monthly program that includes ideas, instructions, and community for abstract painting. Each month she provides an art bundle which gives a focus for the month.  This first one is "work in a series."  I was a little hesitant to join because I already work in series, but I have been fully enjoying it.  I like having an assignment to focus on for the month and some inspiration for doing it.  The Facebook community has about 350 members and has been a fantastic place for seeing a wide range of abstract painting.  Looking at so much work helps me clarify what I do and don't like in abstract painting, and it helps me clarify what  my own style is.

This month we are instructed to brainstorm 10 different series we could explore, then choose one.  We come up with some constraints for our series, make between 5-10 starts, and then choose some to develop fully.

I decided to work with November leaves.  Only in the middle of painting them did I recognize how similar my painting is to my stitching projects.  I can't seem to stay away from subtle shifts in the seasons.  Maybe because I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where our seasons consisted of brown hills or green ones, I am now fascinated by all the shifts in the sky, earth,and plants that occur in Portland, often even in the course of a day!

My constraints for this series are 12" squares and black, white and earth tones.  I started each piece by very roughly drawing leaves I had collected.  They pretty much disappear in the final versions, but provide a little starting energy to get me going.

"November Leaves 1", acrylic on paper, 12"x12"

November Stitching

I love black and brown together, so November is a good month for me.  I love the way we see more black branches and limbs and deep brown leaves that make the remaining colors pop.  Here are some of my components from Nov. 2016 that I am now joining together.

I probably shouldn't pick favorites, but this one wows me.  That dark brown and black with a little chartreuse and a pop of hot pink.  Yes!

Dusty Rose

Sometimes when I'm uninspired, I like to browse through SCRAP, our creative recycling center, or the Goodwill Bins and see what jumps out at me.  I was hoping I might find the perfect pile of wool strips to start rughooking, but that was not to be.  Instead I found a pile of cheap, very sturdy, flashcards, unlike the awful new index cards which are about the weight of binder paper.

They are perfect for small collages, and I wanted a quick project.  Recently my 17yo niece said her new favorite color combo. is black, white and dusty rose.  Dusty rose?  I hadn't thought about that since the 80s when all you saw was dusty rose and country blue.  I didn't like it then, so I was curious how I would like it now.

I pulled a bunch of my black and white painted and marked papers, some found papers, and ones in shades of dusty rose, peach, pink.  Not surprisingly, I had almost no dusty rose in my stash.  I challenged myself to work very quickly and intuitively, sometimes pulling papers blindly and trying to make them work together.  It was a lot of fun and got me going again.

Sometimes I let the word on the flashcard show through.

 Sometimes I added paint to try to get more dusty rose.

 And sometimes I liked it just the way it was and couldn't bear to add pink.

I also found this perfect index card holder for $1.  I love the thought of a whole box full of mini collages in different color palettes.

So did I come around to dusty rose?  Blush yes, hot pink yes, but dusty rose--bleh!

October Stitching Wrap Up

I love October colors, so putting together my bits of stitching from Oct. 2016 made me very happy.