learning – Daily Fiber

The Best of 2021

Posted on January 1, 2022 by Laura Kate

As the snowflakes drift gently down – and blow slightly sideways – across the backyard, I thought I would take some time to review projects I completed in the past year. No, dear reader, I won’t drag out all of them. Instead, let’s focus on the best loved, by you, in each category.

KNITTING

I wanted to start with knitting, because it seems I spent a lot of time doing just that. I even ventured into teaching knitting, just a little bit, for my local arts association.

It seems there was a three-way tie for the best knitting project of 2021. So I have to go with the most charming one. And who better to model it than little LL?

**POLKA-STRIPE VEST, WITH BUTTONS AND POCKETS**

https://wordpress.com/post/dailyfiberfun.wordpress.com/3734

Runners up were Gentle Curves Shawl and Woodsmen’s Socks

DRAWING

I was pleased with the progress I made in this medium. It helped me to take classes from Ross Meyer. His lessons on getting high values using graphite were most informative. I also began to develop a more personalized style with casual portraits using ink and watercolor washes. The winner in this category is my sketch of H as a toddler sitting with Cat.

Also strong contenders: Happy Father’s Day and Hummingbird at Fuchsia.

PAINTING

My personal goal for this year was to improve my watercolor paintings. At the beginning the year, I painted a little bit everyday on paper the size of postcards – a very doable goal, which lasted only one month. I put my money where my mouth was and paid for in-person lessons. This helped me a lot.

Surprising to me, the most successful watercolors were some of these small experimental ones. A post called “Back to My Routine” got the most attention for this 6 x 9 painting of a stormy sky.

https://wordpress.com/post/dailyfiberfun.wordpress.com/3968

Equally popular were these two:

QUILTING

In the early months of the year, I spent time making quilts. I gained skills by following along with a group that was sewing Stay-at-Home Round Robin quilts. Not only did I learn a lot but I was really happy with my finished object.

Two other quilted objects of note were this art quilt……….

and a twin sized quilt made for LL featuring dogs and cats.

And that’s a wrap for 2021. What does the new year hold for me and my art? I haven’t come to any conclusions yet. But whatever I choose, I’ll make it worthy of my time and effort.

drawing

Sunday Sketches

Posted on October 17, 2021 by Laura Kate

I spent some time this week-end preparing for a class in printmaking. This will be an introductory class for me, since I’ve had no previous training in the art. After dreaming up a few ideas for print images, I started sketching them out. Here’s what I came up with in the space of a few hours.

To start, I went to my photographs of Belize for inspiration. Here is one that I snapped of the beach as seen from our front porch. The view faces east and the time is shortly after sunrise.

Nice, huh? The tree and hammock are silhouetted against the water and sky, so I made them the primary subjects. Keeping in mind my inexperience with carving a print block I vastly simplified the scene. I also chose to reverse the tones and turn day into a night with the moon rising.

Next I went through previous saved photographs. This is one of a monarch butterfly I downloaded from a free use site. I was attracted by the strong contrast of its black body and wing edges with the warm background

For my third sketch I worked from my imagination. I wanted to play with a basketweave pattern, but in an unusual context. The idea of a cloak came to mind.

The class took place yesterday. It went well and I had a great time. I’ll show you the subject I chose and the block and print I made in the next post.

painting, sewing

Inspired by O’Keefe part 2

Posted on June 5, 2019June 6, 2019 by Laura Kate

Here is the final result of my O’Keefe inspired fiber object. I have to say, it only partially matches my vision for the piece. Something happened between the sketch, the painting and the embroidery. Take a look:

Here is my original sketch for a moonflower. I was very happy with this effort:

Here is the flower after roughing in the design with fabric paint.

Even though I am not experienced in painting, I was fairly happy with this result. So I guess the only part of the effort that disappointed me was the embroidery.

Dear friends, what do you think? Do you have any recommendations for me that could improve my final result? I am eager to learn.

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