Yesterday I found a feather in the back yard and wanted to render it in graphite.
I decided the drawing would be a self-portrait of my hand holding the feather. Since I am left-handed, it was easiest to hold up my right hand about ten inches from my face and draw what I saw. To render the feather, I attached it to a binder clip and placed it on top of a thread spool on my work table. The tricky part was drawing each part in the same scale, so that it would look life-like.
Contour sketch with a few tone and shade indicationsFinished sketch, tone and shadows intensified, also a few more lines.
This didn’t take too long to draw. During the process, I began to appreciate how tricky it is to make a drawing of a hand. I had to keep adjusting the alignment of my fingers as I worked. I wondered if I should include a cast shadow. Ultimately, I couldn’t figure out where to draw the shadow, since I was holding the feather up and away from all surfaces, so left it out.
Maybe I can convince someone to model for me so I can make a sketch of two hands.
This week I got all ambitious to make some pants for L.L. I haven’t sewn clothes in years and years. But I wanted to respond to my daughter’s righteous indignation on the options provided by the clothing industry for little girls shorts. She complained that every pair she found were tight and very short – effectively sexualizing toddler girls. “Boy and girl shapes at this age all identical, yet the boy shorts are loose, comfortable and several inches longer than the girls.
She ended up purchasing boy shorts for her daughter.
So I wanted to make a fun, colorful garment that I knew LL would enjoy wearing.
As a maker, I also had the goal of using materials that I have on hand.
In the end, I did purchase a pattern, since I don’t have knowledge or skill in pattern-making.
I chose this one, because. along with the pants, it provided patterns for tops and dresses and sizes up to 4 – leaving the door open for me to make additional items of clothing in the near future.
Here’s the crazy fabric I chose.
It is a sturdy 100% cotton, leftover from a valance I made for my laundry room window. How about those zig-zags!
To challenge myself, I decided to match the zig-zag lines in the hems.
Here they are, all finished this morning.
Construction details I added were faced hems and a cotton jersey casing for the elastic at the waist.
I was happy that the fabric includes some of Lu’s favorite colors: blue, pink and green. I’ll bet that she already has several T-shirts to match.
Flowers are a popular subject for beginning watercolor students. So far, I have not been attracted to this subject. If given a choice, I would prefer to paint an animal instead of a flower. But today I decided to go for a rose.
And not just any rose. I picked a multi-hued rose, very close up. Obviously, I was ready for a challenge.
This photograph was chosen from a free-usage website, most likely Unsplash. Unfortunately, I saved it to my folder so long ago that I can’t remember where it came from. I was attracted by the assortment of warm colors. I especially like the magenta hues, because I recently purchased a tube of quinacridone magenta.
Day One.All the initial washes are in placeDeeper values and a little bit of detail
I used my Prismacolor pencils to emphasize the veining in the petals.
I’m reasonably happy with my first effort. But in retrospect, it would have been wiser to pick a rose of one hue – a red, red rose – for my initiation into painting flowers.
Despite my moodiness, I managed to complete a little knitting project this week. The pattern for this knitted and beaded collar, above, is found in 60 QuickLuxury Knits, published in 2014 by the editors of Sixth and Spring Books. I suspect that it is now out of print. I bought mine through an on-line used book store.
There are likely to be similar pattern on Ravelry.com.
As I was knitting, I thought about the late Justice Ginsberg and her iconic fashion (and political) statement collars.
One of many obituaries published last year.This one is known as the Dissent Collar
Mine was made with some fingering weight yarn found in my stash. The charcoal yarn is a blend of silk and wool. The pink is a blend of rayon and wool. The beads are 6/0 glass seed beads in a color called Red Rainbow, from the local hobby store.
I hope I get to wear mine soon. One couldn’t choose a better role model than RBG.
While sitting on the porch this morning and staring at the remains of my coffee, it occurred to me that now is the dregs of summer. With nearly four weeks remaining, it feels like summer is in its worst stage. A late August heat wave has knocked the wind out of summer’s creatures.
Hydrangea’s brown flowerheads
By 9 am the thermometer has already reached 80 on its way to a dance with 100 degrees later today. The trees and shrubs are shedding some of the extra leaves they had optimistically grown earlier this year when rainfall was plentiful. In an effort not to add insult to injury, I have stopped mowing the lawn. It hardly matters, since the grass stopped growing once the heat and dry took hold. Well, except for the crabgrass. That manages to hog all the available moisture to itself.
Slightly fried hosta
I am keeping the birdbath full, although birds are in short supply this morning. Hardly anything is moving. Even the cicadas are silent. As I round the corner of the house on my way to the front yard, I encounter an exception.
These two little goldfinches had been feeding on echinacea seed heads. They scold me for disturbing their breakfast and fly up to the neighbor’s roof.
Continuing on my way through the gate, I spot one plant that is happy for the heat.
This lantana, which had been nothing but leaves all summer, suddenly burst into bloom. Like it was waiting for a hot dry spell. You won’t be surprised to learn that lantana is a plant of the southwest.
Lethargy is setting in. My husband gave me the third degree about my mood. Must I have to have a reason for feeling morose, dear? And if I do, must I tell it?
My mood doesn’t improve when I again ponder the dregs of my sock yarn skeins.
The cowl project I had started last Monday was not inspiring me anymore. I don’t know what it is about a cowl. It sounds like a good thing to knit, and yet, when it is done, I never seem to like the result.
That’s enough for now. To avoid pulling you, my dear readers, into my state of lethargy, I will close this sad post. Perhaps during the week-end I will have something creative to share. The heat is supposed to moderate a little.
Daily Fiber 