embroidery Archives - Page 17 of 19

Der Blaue Rooster

I bought a telephone chair last summer, that looks a lot like this except with a seat, uninspiringly upholstered.

After contemplating all the embroidered linen and upholstery-weight fabric in my stash (not an extensive collection), I decided needlepointing (or cross-stitching, or crewel-working) a seat cover for it is the way to go. I thought about koi, Chinese brush painting, art deco, art nouveau, and stained glass. After more consideration I had my decision: I want to design and stitch a Franz Marc rooster.

Roosters and abstract art meet on my dining room wall already (though in the picture below they’re still on my living room floor).

My man Marc was a member of Der Blaue Reiter artist group (whose most famous member was Wassily Kandinsky, an unfavorite) and I discovered his existence in Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne. He painted a lot of animals: Deer in the Forest; Piggies; Birds.

Small roosters appeal to me the most. I will draw from Nankin Bantams and Japanese Bantams with a bit of this probably mixed-breed beauty stirred in.

Wish me luck. What big ambitions do you have in the artistic realm?

We Were Tired of Living in a House

Another image is done!

One of my favorite books as a child was We Were Tired of Living in a House, written by Liesel Moak Skorpen and illustrated by Doris Burn. The children try living in a tree, on a raft, and by the seashore, collecting an object from each but moving on when nature makes it impossible to stay. Burn’s illustrations are gorgeous, by turns excited, silly, and wistful, and full of detail. It was difficult to find one that was manageable for my project. Here is what I ended with:

Of course as I write this I am traveling, so I cannot fulfill my promise of telling you all the planned embroideries and appliques for the Children’s Book Quilt. However, I have images on wash-away paper and fabric selected for two (having decided after all to find a different Moomin picture): Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and Harold and the Purple Crayon.

Sketchbook Project: 2012

The Sketchbook Project is a brainstorm of the Art House Co-op, which has its physical location in the Brooklyn Art Library. Blank sketchbooks are available for purchase; the buyer chooses a theme from the year’s list and is sent a book with a personalized barcode on the back: name and hometown appear on the label, and those plus theme are encoded into the barcode. The completed books must be sent back by the end of January of the title year and go on tour starting in April, with 14 locations (though in 2012 London and Melbourne will include only European and Australian books, respectively). People check out the books to look through them, which means the artists can find out how much their books are being selected, and after the tour is over the books are housed permanently in the Brooklyn Art Library.

After witnessing my sister waffle about doing the project this year, I waffled myself – there was a tempting theme, and finally I decided that if I didn’t complete my sketchbook, I was comfortable with having made a donation to the Art House Co-op.

My sketchbook arrived May 16, giving me eight and a half months to complete it. Since then I’ve had notepaper with me all the time – I always carry paper in my purse, but now I have it in the little mesh bag I tote around at the gym, for making notes on the exercise bike. I’m hoping the deadline will inspire completion, but the ideas are not – so far – sufficient to fill it, so let me know if you have suggestions along the way for themes or images.

My theme? Stitches and folds. Naturally. It was difficult to convince myself to mark the first page, but ultimately, that step had to be taken, so I just freehanded something. The inaugural work:

Don’t ask to see the back – I haven’t decided what to do with it yet.