View from the Hill

The weather in Nova Scotia has been great since I've been here. I haven't been able to post to my blog as often but I have been taking lots of wonderful photos. Some of them are definitely worth consideration for future textile work. The view from my brother-in-law's back garden is spectacular. You can look way up the valley in Brooklyn, Nova Scotia. Off to the side of the driveway is a small pond with tall grass, cattails, tall trees, lots of noisy frogs, turtles and gold fish. It's the perfect spot to sit with a sketch book. (I used my camera instead). Enjoy!

Sketchbook 01

I did sign up for the sketchbook challenge. I have to admit that drawing isn't my strong point, although when I take my time, I can copy fairly well. Here's the first thing I did in this year's sketchbook. Yes, I do keep journals, sketchbooks or notebooks of the work I do. However, they usually hold a lot more than just sketches such as samples of dyed fabric, stitching / experiments, lists, recipes for mixing paints, dyes, etc. A few years back I was glad I kept a journal as I had forgotten how I did something. I looked through my journals and found it. Since then, I usually do a write-up for anything new I do.

Highly Prized is the January Theme for the sketchbook challenge. My page above lists many of the things in my studio which I highly prize!
Check out the group page on Flickr.

China Town, Chicago

China Town, Chicago, is quite an interesting spot! It's easy to feel as though you have traveled all the way to China instead of just taking a subway ride downtown. There are lots of restaurants, variety and gift shops as well as Chinese markets selling everything. One of the things I found interesting were the ceramic tiles around the plaza.These could easily be turned into an interesting applique or stitching project. The last two photos were taken of a couple of ceramic motifs outside a shop.

Since I have started creating textile art, my observation skills have improved dramatically. Now when I look at something such as these ceramic tiles, I wonder how it can be used in a piece of art. For example, I look at texture, colour and line. Sometimes I will make a small sketch. Usually I take a digital photos of the things I find interesting and refer back to these. My camera is a constant companion.