Busy with Textile Art

I'm taking a class: "The Language of Color & Design", by Heather Thomas, who's book is coming out this fall. We meet once a month and my final class is next April ... isn't that way out there!?!! I'm loving it. Each month is show-and-tell with lots of fun, creative gals. It's challenging me each month to study and practice. I'm finding myself eating, reading, sleeping, dreaming ... color. I'm exploring all varied textile arts. Needlefelting wool has been my main medium for awhile, but I've returned to dyeing.

Rather than winging it - I am creative. Rather than having success in my unknowing, I'm wanting to understand more about color and design. In the practicing and gaining knowledge I know it'll free me to discover new ways to explore textile art design. It's all about color relationships.

I've worked through a month of Black and White, and the Gray Scale - discovering value and texture though neutrals. Then a month of Monochromatic; then Complementary color schemes. Now I'm challenged to expand the complementary color schemes. I've been journaling and creating a handmade book each month of my journey. I've posted most of these studies at my Flickr photo site.

Last month I taught felting classes and used my doll example for this past month's color challenge. I was fighting with her attire, not liking it; it didn't feel good. When I looked at her torso dress color next to my 3-in-1 color tool, I realized I wasn't working with a violet shade - trying to add it's yellow complement - but it's red-violet. That's the color combination I really was wanting to do all along. YEAH! I ripped off the other violet and yellows, picked out more shades and tints of red-violet and it's complement: yellow-green. I love it! When the colors are right, they pop!

Dawson also recently taught me how to use his oxyacetaline torch and welder. I made a metal chair for my little wool sculpted lady. I'm going to research soldering and see if I can produce a similar product with a lighter weight metal and no torch and welding stuff. I could do it, but it's kinda scary!

So I've been busy. I'm treating it as a job, working at it almost daily. But then too, this past month has been heavy gardening, getting all my flower and veggie greenhouse starts tucked in the ground - envisioning the flowering beauty to come and good eats!