During my high school years (the 1960's), I had a wonderful art teacher, Ruth Sparks, and my favorite technique at the time was drawing with pen and ink --- but, it wasn't line drawing, it was dots -- thousands of tiny little dots (considering what I do now, no surprise there) in different colored inks that made up the painting. Unfortunately, I no longer have any of them.
During the 1970's I took up needlepoint and did lots of projects but my favorite was this piece of color blending.
And then the 1980's arrived and Kaffe Fassett's influence on the knitting world. For this sweater I used 56 different colors of mohair yarn. If you look closely you will see a gold stitch that I knitted in the night Brian Boitano won his Olympic gold medal in figure skating.
And then this sweater in which I changed the method of adding color. One thread remaining the same throughout the sweater and then I worked a color change on every row with the second thread (45 colors used).
And on to the 90's when I took up quilting. For this piece I dyed a series of yellows and oranges which I then cut up into one inch squares and reassembled.
I also took my first tentative steps into the world of beading. This is a loom woven piece.
After years of working with one inch squares (still my favorite) I did move up to two inch squares. I worked on many styles of quilts but my personal favorites had color blending.
The 2000's saw Robin Atkins http://www.beadlust.blogspot.com/ enter my life with the start of the Bead Journal Project. I joined in to learn bead embroidery and here is one of my first attempts at this new technique.
The 2010's finds me still blending colors.
Whether I'm knitting, quilting or beading - apparently it isn't the medium that matters, but putting color against color is what I find fascinating and have spent my life doing. It all seems so obvious now. Thank you Elizabeth Barton.
9 comments:
Hi Dee - What an interesting view of your work through the years. You have a unique, inimitable style
- no matter what medium - it's pure Dee.
Love your new pieces - I thought Picture Jasper too - then saw that Robin et.al.agreed. -Nancy
Hi Dee
You have a wonderful understanding of color and blending that I wish I could learn. I use the excuse that I don't have enough beads yet ~lol~ I am sure my husband would have a comment for that!
Your work is beautiful, no matter what medium you work in.
Wow, Dee! Don't you just love seeing a progression of your work like this? It's like having a retrospective at a museum! You are certainly proficient in all three areas ~ knitting, quilting and beading ~ as well. More than that, you have an obvious calling to color relationships. I think this work and a discussion of color blending would be a fabulous magazine article, perhaps for Quilting Arts or Cloth Paper Scissors. I encourage you to contact them about it.
Glad to hear you're adjusting to and liking your new home. Although I'm sure you look at your BJP butterfly wings and feel some nostalgia.
Robin A.
wow, and thank you!! the progression around the central core theme is so marked when you present this retrospective. Your voice becomes so clear and strong and true!! and, now for the future!!!
all very best wishes, Elizabeth
Wow! I love the butterfly and your color ranges are beautiful! Isn't it interesting how this has carried through all your works!! very interesting!
What a GREAT post! Such a wonderful way to have a "retrospective" as Robin mentioned and it probably feels really good to read your autobiography in your work. I agree, too, this seems a fab topic for a magazine article! Way cool.
Wonderful post...I'm fortunate to have seen some of these pieces in real. I always loved the pointillest paintings you did...to this day, I'm always drawn to that technique. Way to go.
Sis
ummm ... this is the most fabulous post. You should teach color theory, or maybe for you it is just intuitive - and fabulous that you can transfer this to different mediums. I need to stare at some of your projects more to "absorb" the "rows."
what a fascinating journey you have had. I remember seeing some dot pictures done by a lady in the 70's using her childrens old felt pens. they were wonderful as the variation as the pens were running out created shading like your pictures.
diane
New Zealand
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