Shades of Shetland

Thursday....puppy walk day 2...

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Thu, 31 May 2012 21:22:00 +0000

Not so timid today

Running up the trail!

It must be around here somewhere!

Let's go!

This is the big dog bowl - surrounded by blocks to keep it from being used as a Westie toy!
This little one found a way to get to it!

Sibling Rivalry!

Something has caught their attention - they are flying!

Following the leader....

Wait for me!

These are NOT my puppies.....unfortunately.....because if they were, I wouldn't be able to give any of them away......not for anything....

They are Scorybrek Westie puppies - they live next door! and I've been having fun helping to "herd" 9 little white balls of terrier fun during their outdoor exercise break.

Wonderful Wednesday...

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Wed, 30 May 2012 20:05:00 +0000

First I did a wash - Burnt Sienna and Antwerp Blue....

Then I went on a walk with some puppies - 9 of them!
Sorry, but it was impossible to get all 9 in one shot - trust me - I tried!
This was the first time for these 7 week old Westies out in "the big hill run" and they were so adorable...
they followed us everywhere......then they didn't and it was...
"I've got 4, how many do you have? What? that's only 8...
oh there's the 9th one! It was hilarious!

Bláithín Update....

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Fri, 25 May 2012 21:46:00 +0000

I'm on the 2nd skein of yarn on my Bláithín.
The pockets are done - I just have to finish the top edge of each pocket
with I cord....

and I'm marking each decrease round...thank you Astuyoh for teaching me to mark all of my decreases (or increases)
as it is so easy to see exactly where you are!

Wash Day Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:52:00 +0000

Who would have imagined that "wash day" could be so much fun. My Mother always did washing on Mondays.....I remember the washing machine in the basement.....they called them "wringer washers" because of the rollers that were used to wring out the excess water before the clothes were hung out to dry.

The good old days!

Nope.....around here "Wash Day" is when I play with my watercolours .....creating washes with no sense of purpose....just for fun. Pick a couple of shades, get your water flowing, paint, run, splatter.....do whatever makes you happy....

Then comes the hard part......you have to just leave them, let the water and the paint do their thing......

One of my recent purchases included a set of 5 Quinacridone shades by M. Graham & Co. I had used Quinacridone Gold by Winsor & Newton and just love it - so I thought I might give these other "Quin" colours a try.....Quinacridone Red, Violet, Rose, Rust and Gold.

So, my first wash was a Quinacridone Gold and Rose - it was a bit sedate for me, so I decided to break it up with some plastic wrap in two places - one area pinched and the other stretched (very technical artsy terms). I'm already seeing a Hydrangea head and leaves here.....but I'm not going to do any over painting yet.....I have to keep playing....

My second wash was Quinacridone Rust, Rose and Violet - I think I might have splattered a bit of the Gold that was mixed already on there too.....and it was quite striking.....and a little salt was added strategically.

It is my imagination or can you see a dragon head there?
No wait, now I see a Fox Terrier!

Similar, but totally different.......now I have to leave them and let them speak to me.....they might "rest" for a day, a week, a month or a year until they tell me what they want to be....but that's okay because I'm probably going to wash again tomorrow!

My Blaithin is coming along - update on that tomorrow ok?

Have a great day!

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.....

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:08:00 +0000

I give it 5 out of 5......because I loved the cast, the concept, the whole idea.

For more info.....go to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Bláithín Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:10:00 +0000

Getting ready for a night of knitting......I wound a skein of the Soft Donegal Yarn.

Knit up my swatch - it measured 4.25 inches for the prescribed number of stitches and rows....but after washing, and a gentle vertical block, it measured 4 inches perfectly!

I usually don't pay any attention to basic instructions (my downfall sometimes) but I did follow the link in the Bláithín pattern to Lucy Neatby's Provisional Crochet Cast on.

(In the past I had done a crochet cast on by making a long chain stitch piece, then knitting up through one arm of the crochet chain - most fiddly - check out Lucy's way - it is truly Brilliant! I will use this more often now!

Although I don't subscribe to "The Knitter" any more...I did purchase Issue 44 - for the Mongolian Shawl by Christel Seyfarth. It's going to be hot this afternoon, so I'll take a break from being outside - and do some stash diving for the yarns for this shawl.

Who would have guessed that painting Dogs could be so hard. My paintings of my beautiful Montie make him look like a spaniel! But I am making progress on roses.......

I just can't help it!

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:03:00 +0000

Two, yes 2 posts in one day.....I can't help myself.......I'd just hit the publish button, heard the honk of a horn.....ran upstairs to find the "Mistress of the Post" in my driveway with a parcel - for me!

Yes, it's my Soft Donegal from Ireland......for my Bláithín - the latest design by Kate Davies.

I did change the main colour to an Oatmeal shade....I wanted a less dramatic change from the body to the yoke shade......

Lovely soft yarn......gorgeous shades.

Home Alone....

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:01:00 +0000

The DH was scheduled to go to the UK for a family visit/train gala trip.....I had elected to stay home with "the kids", our dogs, while he was away. His Mum passed away about 10 days before he was scheduled to leave....so with a bit of scrambling he was able to change his flight out to get there a week early, take care of family business, do some railway stuff and come home on the original schedule. So instead of 2 weeks, I have had 3 weeks of "Home Alone".

It's been really good......I've been lunching with friends. I've reconnected with a couple of people that I kept meaning to but just never got around to getting in contact with....and I've been contemplating life in general, my life specifically - decisions on where I want to go, what I want to do, how I want to proceed in life....with my hobbies of knitting and painting.....

Having just had my 59th birthday and being in my 60th year.....I've decided to use my lovely hand made watercolour journal to document "my 60th year". I've already started.......these will be quick little vignette type paintings....to catch the essence of big and small events of my 60th year. I'm happy with that decision.

While DH was away, I expected to get a lot of knitting and a lot of painting done - I haven't been knitting, and I haven't been painting.....

Way back when I first started knitting......I enjoyed knitting, but didn't finish anything....the shine would wear off of the project way before the end......until I "discovered" fair isle knitting.....that was when my knitting really took off.....and I usually (not always) finish my projects now and I enjoy my knitting more - even when not knitting fair isle.....but fair isle was the spark that ignited my love of knitting.

With all of the Watercolour workshops I've been taking.....I've been painting landscapes, trees, flowers, skies, water....I've been all over the place....learning techniques but never spending enough time on any one subject to really get to know it. What I needed to find is my "fair isle" of watercolour painting....

Why not combine my interest in watercolour painting with my love of dogs?

What an epiphany!

I LOVE DOGS!

So today starts my 12 month exploration of paintings dogs........I'm so excited!

Of course my own dogs (both present and past) will be my first subjects......

I think I'll start with Montie first.....a Bernese Mountain Dog.....such a sweet boy.....

I still miss him.....sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have two Westies and a Bernese together........hmmmm......

I'm not surprised......

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Sat, 12 May 2012 02:27:00 +0000

I'm a fan of Ann Cleaves.....and I'm eagerly waiting for the Detective Series "Vera" to hit PBS over here.....

I'm not surprised that star Brenda Blethyn is a Knitter.....here's the proof!

Brenda Blethyn (@BrendaBlethyn)
2012-05-11 2:40 AM
@knittingrewound Crickey!! Coincidentally thinking of doing some knitting. how many ounces would I need to make cardigan for 2-3 year old?

Celebrity knitter tweet LOL!

The Sweet and the Savoury....

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Tue, 01 May 2012 19:15:00 +0000

The Sweet........from Couture Cupcakes......for a special occasion.

The savoury, one of my favourite treats.....fish cakes!

From this cook book - we stayed in his hotel on one of our trips to the Lake District.

I've been painting my tulips.....I've done many versions......from plain and simple....

then I started playing
wet in wet....

and I really like the way this is going....
how to adapt this to a full size painting though LOL!

I must decide on my next knitting project.....

Color Affection Applöse

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:12:00 +0000

Pattern: Color Affection by Veera Välimäki

There are 1793 Color Affection projects on Ravelry - go check them out.

Knit in Madelinetosh Tosh Merino LIght in shades Manor. Mica and Onyx, purchased at The Needle Emporium

I had quite a bit of yarn left - Manor - 36 grams, Mica - 64 grams, Onyx - 48 grams

This is a lovely shawl - all garter stitch and then short rows in garter stitch - easy to knit. The only problem I had was with the edge being too tight when changing from one yarn to another - so I always started the row with K1 yo K1.......you can see it in that last photo - carrying the yarns up the edge.

I think I might do another Veera design next.....but which one?

Happy Knitting

Spring Tulips...

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 01:31:00 +0000

Even though it was snowing yesterday (seriously!)
it looks like Spring with these beautiful tulips that I picked up at the grocery store...
see how the colour on the cover of the magazine, the tulips, and
even my cushions are so close.

After two days of buds, they are starting to open up.......I love to peak inside.
I'm going to try to paint them....

Things that make me happy....

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 21:13:00 +0000

I love pretty things, hand made special things, things to adore, to pet, to save.....never to use.

This applies to my Prismacolor 120 colour pencil set - only 8 pencils have been sharpened.....it was just too hard to do, so I quit.....they are up there in their pristine box.....

I buy notebooks and journals.....my bright green Herdy notebook, my Prisma Color Covered notebook (recently purchased at Indigo), my Harrods notebook with the Westie on the front, my lovely little leather looking notebook bought in a church gift shop in Tromso in Norway last fall......to detail only a few.....

With my new found interest in watercolour painting.....I've been looking at journal type books to do little watercolour vignettes in, or to record things that I'm particularly grateful for, or what???

This just arrived in the mail today....wrapped in natural tissue paper...

inside more tissue paper, with string and a small piece of ribbon...

A lovely tag...

Yes, it's watercolour paper...

Eight sections of ten pages each - hand bound....

The little extras? Well, this package has 3 tiny envelopes
made with pages from a book.....

This is a tiny Origami Crane - seems every house needs one!

This is my new watercolour journal.....bound in leather
with an old key on the front.....it's gorgeous!

I can't decide whether to focus on a theme for this gorgeous book,
or just to fill it with whatever comes to mind......I'll have to ponder.

Even her tiny business card is a work of art.

Vicky Sheehan, Etsy

A sure sign of Spring...

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:29:00 +0000

Although we were fooled into thinking that Spring was here a couple of weeks ago with the wonderful weather, it turned cool, no... well downright cold for a few days, but there is one true sign of Spring around this house...

My Hibiscus is blooming.....in the corner of the kitchen, close to the back door....I'm thinking that it liked the relatively mild winter we had and decided to celebrate the imminent arrival of Spring. I've taken so many photos of this plant....I never tire of the just plain gorgeousness of the blooms.

I've been knitting away on my Color Affection.....not paranoid have to knit it style, but slowly, luxuriously enjoying the whole thing style. I love this Madeline Tosh Merino Light yarn....and the colours are sublime! The first two sections are complete - done in Manor, with Mica as the first contrasting shade. Now I get to add in the third shade (Onyx) and do all of those lovely short rows. (This photograph is intriguing me - how there is that one point of focus......)

Happy Knitting!

March wrap-up.....

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 17:16:00 +0000

March has just flown by...the first quarter of 2012 has flown by! Every year we say the same thing.....that time seems to be going even faster.....how can that be?

I know that having things scheduled makes you more aware of time passing.....I've already completed two 10 week Watercolour Courses! I missed two classes of the Fall session while in Norway, and one class this session when we went to Vermont.....not bad reasons for missing classes I suppose!

March is a celebratory month in our house - DH's birthday and our Anniversary. They are relatively close so to celebrate one we went out for a lovely meal at a local restaurant, and for the other we had an at home event.....

Steak and mushroom pie, with Chateauneuf-du-pap, 2007 - it was a good year!

For all of my watercolour classes, I haven't got many paintings to show.......two sessions of classes, two instructors, two approaches to art, two totally different teaching styles.

The first session was supposed to be a beginner class....from day one we were producing 2, 3 or 4 paintings per class (small ones yes). This session, billed as an intermediate class.....we have 5 projects in total - the last one being done completely in our last class.

Whew, it's been a whirlwind.....and while I have already registered for the Spring Watercolour 2 Session, honestly? I'm hoping it is cancelled - they don't have an instructor yet (the class starts next Tuesday) and only 3 of us intrepid students have signed up. They've switched from afternoons to evenings (not a big deal but I really do prefer afternoons - I like to knit in the evening) and this seems to have put off many of the participants that were in our Winter class.

Recalling back to when I discovered that there were Knitting Guilds, Knitting Workshops, weekend knitting retreats, knitting related vacations!!! Well, at first I was going to 3 different guild meetings monthly, I was taking every workshop I could, I went to weekend knitting events here in Ontario and eventually in the last few years I've been doing significant knit-related travel (remember the weekend I went to London???? ).

I recall that back in the beginning, I did so many classes and never really applied what I'd learn in classes to anything specific. Obviously I picked up a lot.....I always say that if you learn ONE THING from a class/workshop, you've got your moneys worth.....but a lot of those experiences are just faint memories....but my knitting improved in quality and confidence.

A fellow knitter and I were contemplating a knit trip for next year - a big knit trip - big in time to get there, big in commitment book it now, travel in 2013, big in all ways. I just sighed, I had to admit that although I'd never been to the country involved, the whole thing just wasn't inspiring me.

Must be this new hobby I've taken on right?

The difference between knitting and watercolour painting? Knitting is a mechanical thing - you have to learn to apply even tension, complete the motion of the stitch, maneuver stitches as required.

In Watercolour Painting - you have to plan ahead, practice the motions you need to make with the brush, figure out how much water you need in the brush (or don't need), do you wash the paper first or not?, blend your paint on the palette or on the paper? Whew....so many things to think of at the same time.

I LOVE WET ON WET SPLASHY STUFF!!!! Yes, it's relatively easy, but it's also easy to get wrong.

Detailed stuff is not really my forte - I'm thinking I'm an impressionistic primitive painter LOL!!!

The Iris was great - wet on wet background around an iris that was a photograph enlarged, printed in black and white, and traced to give me the iris I needed for the painting. Yes, TRACED, painters do it all the time! Who knew?

The Autumn tree thing is still a bug a boo......I'm getting there.....but I'm still not happy with it. This is my latest effort.....

14th Side Road, east of Appleby

Yup, that's the title, because that's the view over there.....definitely primitive impressionistic right? Now looking at it here - I feel that the branches are colourful dust mops - I think I need to fill in a few areas so that they are not so mop looking.....but I think I might finally be getting somewhere with this painting. This is the view from the road....the large trees are on this side of the fence....there is a field with a row of trees in the distance. I like it....but I may have to paint it again!

Like in knitting, sometimes it's good, but you know you can do better.....so you have to frog right? In painting you just get out another piece of paper and start again.

Live long and prosper! (I've been watching Star Trek again!)

Watercolour progress.....

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:40:00 +0000

Project number three of the course is a tree, or a group of trees, in their autumn finery - bright red/orange/yellow leaves......this project is driving me crazy.....it's the rest of the inspiration picture that I don't like.....a scrubby piece of grass, a stick tree.....echhhhh......so I'm going to just totally ignore this one and go to our fourth project.....an Iris.....

Don't ask me why, but the mat is supposed to be white.......it's white in I Photo, not sure why it isn't white here -- the rest of the picture is representative of the colours in the picture (on my screen)....hmmm...

Well, anyway, this was a lot of fun - we drew the iris, masked it out, went to town with a crazy wet on wet background, with some drops of water, some sprays, some splashing.....I really loved the messy part LOL!

Then came the iris itself - it's called glazing - when you put one layer of watercolour over another - and build up the layers - this was fascinating and I want to do some more.....so, I'm going back to project 3, to apply the principles of project 4, and see what I can come up with.

Happy Knitting - yes, I'm knitting away on Color Affection and totally loving it.

K15tog.....eek!

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:07:00 +0000

The second edition of Textisles is out, and along with the story of Betty Mouat, it is bursting with information on the history of the women's swim suit. It's fascinating reading.

Textisles also includes two original patterns, the Betty Mouat sweater, and the Betty Mouat Cowl (BMC) and when reading these designs, something jumps out at you! Well, it jumped out at me....

K15tog!

Knit 15 stitches together?

EEK!

Well, it's actually not as hard as it sounds, especially when there are videos to help you master the little things that will make knitting Betty Mouat so much simpler. Check out the videos on the Needled Tutorials page; no purl garter stitch in the round, working with several colours when knitting the 3 shade section of the sweater, and a demo of the Cockleshell Lace maneuver which includes K15tog!

So, while I'm contemplating Betty Mouat, I decided to cast on a "Color Affection" shawl by Veera Välimäki. Check our Veera's Ravelry Design page for a page view of her wonderful designs. Originally this was available exclusively as a kit, but was made available for public kitting in February - I immediately downloaded the pattern and started looking at my Tosh collection.

This shawl is knit from the top edge down - you start with a semi circle of one shade, then add the second shade in for the next section, followed by a three shade section, and then the third shade as the bottom edge. I'm using Tosh Merio Light Manor, then I joined in Mica, and Onyx will be the final shade. I am really enjoying this garter stitch knit.

All Tosh courtesy of The Needle Emporium!

It seems that Elizabeth Zimmermann was right - garter stitch is totally satisfying and I guess I'll just have to get a copy of "Knit One Knit All" - full of EZ's inventive never before published garter stitch designs.

Happy Knitting!

Just a tease....

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 17:22:00 +0000

The next Textisles.......oops, sorry about that.....here's the tease part.....

Saltburn mystery knitter.....

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 20:14:00 +0000

This is a 50' long "scarf" that has been placed on the Saltburn-by-the-Sea pier railing.....it isn't the first time a "guerilla" knitter has yarn bombed Saltburn.....my Hubby's home town. Read all about it at the "Saltburn by the sea blog"

Read about it here on the "Mail Online"

reported by "The Sun"

and even the "BBC"

For more detailed photos, go to this page on "The Telegraph"

Don't you just love a good mystery?

Happy Knitting!

Bull....

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 21:33:00 +0000

Rushes, that is......the subject of our second project in the Watercolour class.......

I showed you the inspiration photo back in this post......

"Bull Rushes"
Thank you to Candice for sharing her excellent
class notes with me...... I was in Vermont when this project was completed.

I was having some self doubt about this whole Watercolour thing......but they I remembered the 10,000 hours theory....you need to pay your dues.....you need to spend a significant amount of time working at whatever to master it.......10,000 hours, that's 5 years of working at "it" 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week"......that's a lot of dedicated time.

When I thought of it that way, well, I realized that (as usual) I was being too hard on myself, after all, I'm such a beginner at this watercolour gig that I have to just relax and go with it.....enjoy it....not be so demanding on myself.....I was wobbly for a couple of days - I almost dumped all of my new art supplies in the garbage!!! But honestly, when I thought about it, well, it's all an adventure isn't it.

Lackie was fascinated with the whole thing.....

Some day there may be videos of me painting on You Tube.......

but not yet!

Knitting update next time!

Take time to enjoy yourself today (and every day).

Boneyard Applöse

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:49:00 +0000

Pattern: Boneyard Shawl by Stephen West - a free Ravelry download!
Yarn: Americo Original - 100% Superfine Alpaca - (I used 2 balls - 480 meters)

This is a great free pattern on Ravelry - there are 2711 projects listed on Ravelry - lots of great inspiration there.

If you read the pattern - there is a garter stitch ridge every 12 rows - I did 10 sections before finishing off with 5 garter stitch ridges (10 rows).

I LOVE THIS! - see how it can be worn in different ways?

I LOVE THIS! - this is gorgeous yarn.

I LOVE THIS! - but I don't wear black, and DH refuses to wear "a shawl" LOL!!!

so, I guess I'm going to have to gift this.

For more detail and individual photos, check out my Ravelry Project Page - "These Old Bones"

I'm fairly sure there is going to be at least one more Boneyard in my future.

Happy Knitting!

Lackie and Daisy go on vacation.......

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 21:01:00 +0000

To VERMONT!

Yes, Lackie and Daisy are now international travelling Doggies! We drove to Vermont - crossing the border in Cornwall, Ontario - then we were in New York State, heading for Vermont!

Yes, last week we were actually on a mini-break in Vermont. (My definition of a mini-break is something longer than a weekend, but less than a week!)

We stayed in the Trapp Family Lodge, an Austrian style lodge in Stowe, Vermont - yes, owned by that family, the Von Trapps of "Sound of Music" fame.

It's a lovely resort, and it has pet friendly rooms - so Lackie and Daisy went with us! Our room was in the back wing, on the 4th floor, but because the resort is built on the side of a mountain, our room opened out onto a small patio on the side of the mountain - very handy when you have dogs!

Our room also overlooked one of the cross-country ski trails - it was great watching the skiiers come streaking around the corner and down the hill. Lackie and Daisy were quite intrigued!

To get to our room you had to take two elevators - one up to the third floor - then walk further to the back and take another elevator up to the 4th floor! It was quite the hike, but when Lackie and Daisy trotted through the hotel wearing their matching red plaid coats, well, they got many an admiring glance and compliments.

Lackie and Daisy intently checking out the skiiers!

There were a few grassy bits out back - and Lackie and Daisy made good use of them
- look at that view!

The hotel provided doggie bowls and LL Bean doggie beds.
They also provided special cookies for their canine guests - this is Daisy holding on to hers - she was so tired she couldn't eat it! Honestly, she eventually fell asleep with it under her head!

While Lackie and Daisy were no trouble at all, I did find that I didn't take my usual quota of photos....
this one was taken as we were packing up to go home - this is the view from the parking lot which is across the street and down from the front of the Lodge - spectacular!

For this trip, I decided to start a travel friendly knit project - the Boneyard Shawl by Stephen West.

I had decided to frog the scarf that I had started for the DH using the Americo Original Superfine Alpaca yarn. I had never heard of this yarn until a yarn store visit to Stitch in Jordan Village.

I'm almost finished this shawlette so I'll do an Applöse post on it soon.

Kidsilk Haze Stripe

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:55:00 +0000

I've finished my Kidsilk Haze Stripe scarf......these are quick do it yourself photos, but they give you the idea.

When I picked up this yarn in the UpCountry Store in Holmfirth last September, it was so new that Rowan didn't have any patterns read for it yet. They did offer a free scarf pattern on their web site....let me go see if I can find it....yes, it's called Kidsilk Haze Stripe Scarf!

When I'd finished it, I tried it on, wrapping it around my neck and typing it different ways. Then I thought, why not join the ends into a ring, and make a cowly thing of this, and then you just have to loop it over your neck!

So that's what I did - and I can always put it back into a flat scarf if I want to.

Here are some quick do it yourself photos taken in my bathroom mirror of how I can wear this big loop!

Clockwise from top left - looped 4 x, looped 3 x like a necklace,
looped twice, looped 3 times evenly - my favourite!

This scarf is VERY WARM!!!! and I love that I can wear it different ways and because it is a loop it won't come undone and fall off!

The Kidsilk Haze Stripe yarn can be used in all of the projects that Rowan has done in the solid colour Kidsilk Haze - but they have put together a collection of patterns specifically for this yarn.......of course they would!

I love how they only used colour in the title text.
- and I really adore the cover sweater -
but you know, I think I'd love it in a solid shade LOL!!!
This booklet is going on my shopping list for my next
trip to "The Needle Emporium"

Happy Knitting!

Watercolour Class - Project 2

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 03:41:00 +0000

So here's the inspiration for our second project.....

Bull rushes in the foreground - late in the season - they are dried out....and in the
background, trees that have lost a lot of their leaves? and it looks like dead trees
you see in marshy areas.....mostly just trunks and bare branches - some of them falling down.

First though you have to decide on the perspective you want for your painting.
Quick perspective sketches help you to visualize what you want your finished painting to look like.

1/3 bullrushes, 2/3 background - horizontal orientation
2/3 bullrushes, 1/3 background - horizontal orientation
2/3 bullrushes, 1/3 background - vertical orientation
1/3 bullrushes, 2/3 background - vertical orientation - the winner!

The next step is to play with your palette of paints - and come up with the shades that you want to use in this painting......

FUB, VB, WG, BS, QG, IB, WG(SG) - 7 shades will be used to mix all of the shades for this painting.

Something that I was quite surprised at in class - you have to learn to take good notes! Imagine that! Just like any other class, a big part of your success in absorbing what you are being taught, is in the notes you take. DUH LOL!!!

So we have an instructor, who is sitting in front of us, she is talking, you have to take note of what shades she is mixing together, what her hands are doing, what kind of movement, what brush she is using, how she is using it........is it wet, is it dry, is it lightly loaded or fully loaded with pigment - are you applying it to wet paper, dry paper, or something in between! It's a lot to take in, so mostly I focus on getting "the formula" for each shade down, and maybe make some quick notation of what happens first, then this, then that.....

For this painting......the paper has to be WET WET WET - you wet it and go off and mix your paints.

Once your paints are mixed, you wet it again.....

You check that your paint mixtures are right....and we start to put the background shades in the area of the bullrushes.....it's wet on wet, so it spreads and blends and you are just putting a base coat down for the rest of the painting. When it is almost dry, put a few bullrush shades in where you think you might want them......look at the photograph, but don't copy the photograph....think about the placement of your bullrushes - where you want the eye to be drawn to...not the middle though - off to one side!

There is a lot to think about.

I've fallen....

noreply@blogger.com (Anne) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:35:00 +0000

off my yarn diet LOL! I did make it through January LOL!!!

I knew it was not a good idea to go with friends to THE NEEDLE EMPORIUM (say it loud with an echo)......

The lace tips are about 2" shorter than the regular Addi Click tips - and you can see that they are pointier! (very technical description)

You can buy them separately, as well as 16" and 20" cords - these short cords don't work with the longer tips!

I had ordered some Addi Turbo Lace Needle tips......I didn't want the whole set, just a few of the shorter lace tips to use with my Addi Click system, when knitting smaller circumferences. Julie ordered them and they were there, ready for me to pick up.

I asked some friends if they wanted to join me on a road trip to Ancaster........5 of us in total went happily off to Julie's shop of yarn enchantment......me hoping that I could shop vicariously through my knit buddies (I know - seriously delusional!).

I have to admit it, I AM SO WEAK LOL!

Have you seen the latest must knit shawl on Ravelry - it's called Color Affection, and for a while there it was only available in kit form from The Plucky Knitter. But as of February 1, it was available to purchase as a pdf pattern. The designer, Veera Välimäki, is relatively new to me, but a few of her designs I now realize have caught my eye.....her web site is Rain Knitwear, and of course she has a Ravelry shop also.

Well, I've been looking at this and thinking how lovely it would be done in......Madeleintosh Merino Light of course! I do have some of this yarn in my stash, but the combination of this new pattern, and the fact that Julie had just received I don't know how many new shades of "Tosh", well, I can tell you that my heart was pounding, and I could hardly breathe! Seriously, IT WAS A MEDICAL EMERGENCY!

So, the only thing was to give myself a shot of Tosh to get me through it....well, 2 shots of Tosh because as usual I couldn't make up my mind and all of the shades were just so wonderful!!!!

Onyx, Manor and Mica

Earl Grey, Amber Trinket and Kale

But as with all rushes, you know what I mean - eat that candy bar and ten minutes later you are on a sugar high type of rush....well after the rush of the Tosh wore off, I felt YARN REMORSE!

So, back to the 2012 Yarn Diet guide......

I'm going to take this as a great lesson - yes, this was a little treat (allowed per the 2012 guidelines LOL!) but honestly, I didn't need this treat. I already have some Tosh, and (hiding my head in shame) when I got home I wanted to put all of the Tosh together in a bin to make a lovely collection of Tosh to fondle and pet....well darn it all, I couldn't find the previously purchased Tosh! I know it is around here somewhere. That is telling me, well, shouting at me, that I MUST take charge of my yarn. (While typing this I had an idea, and YES, there it is - the missing Tosh - so now all of my Tosh is in one rubbermaid bin......they look lovely.....and I will remember where they are this time! (TOSH label on the bin!)

So back on the yarn diet......I am bundling up a big pile of boucle and ribbony stuff to take/donate to a local charity that has a huge craft room and loves this kind of thing.......

I am still going to destash some more.....but I think I'll do it via the Ravelry Stash page, it's honestly too embarrassing to keep doing it here on my blog LOL!!! By putting it on Ravelry, knitters who are interested in the yarn will find it when they search to see if there is any available from another knitter for sale - it's a much more relaxing way to destash - put it out there and they will come!

This whole destash on the blog has made me shy away from blogging.....I don't want to record here for posterity my failings and failures.

This blog has always been a journal for me to keep track of the great things in my life, and that's where it's going to focus on again......no more winging about stash! From now on, just fun stuff, like Daisy and Lackie (constant sources of laughter), retired life with the DH, our travel, my knitting, my attempts at painting, whatever makes me happy.

Big sigh, I feel better......

Happy Knitting!