After my lovely 15 days break, it's been a challenge to get back into the swing of things at work. On the home front, the unpacking frenzy continues - but on the plus side, all the christmas presents came yesterday. We had a belated epiphany party and we were nicely spoiled!
The studio closet is as organized as it ever has and ever will be! Everything has been sorted, picked over, purged, piled, resorted, grouped and stowed. I now have a good handle on where all my needles are (I have a lot), have neat little labeled storage bins, have sorted, resorted and detangled my threads, and much much more. I am, overall, quite pleased with the result; although, there are still some minor things to be accomplished (filing cabinet!). I was worrying that I was procrastinating by doing this decluttering stuff instead of the creative stuff - but made some progress in that direction too, although not what I am suppose to be doing!
Below is another drum dancer. The first is my almost final cartoon. Stuff still needs to be fixed - in this case - I wasn't happy with the hand (the overhead machine does some distortion when I transfer from the original sketch) and I had to wing the feet knowing I'd draw them in later on the fabric (also the overhead machine's fault).
I've done some editing on the cotton at this point - shrunk the hand and then decided to add some aurora waves as if the dancer was calling them forth. I'll fix other problems when I paint. My intial creative style is somewhat impatient - I'm not a planner - but doing thread painting, I've had to start forcing myself to be patient. I think it's good discipline, but I have to work at it...alot!
Here is another one waiting for paint. At this stage I think it's missing something. This is a probably a good example of one that I know will change alot during the painting stage.
And finally, a few more sketches that haven't yet been transferred to cotton. These need some more work too. I did the pencils at Guild meeting on Monday as I was too lazy to cart my sewing machine (-30!). I've inked over them with a sharpie now - but will have to sketch over them again. I use different coloured sharpies to help fix small details that bug me. The hair and hands need to be redone on the first and the head needs to be larger on the second. I will admit, that they look a little worse because of the angle at which I shot the photo; but fixing is not bad, as I'm unhappy with the facial expression on the second (I rushed the transparency, since I like it in the original sketch). I also have to add more detail to the parkas and fix the fur.
My greatest challenge right now is working from photos. I wish I had the guts to go watch practice sessions - to work on the movement - but I feel very intrusive doing so. The winter is not a time when there are a lot of full dance performances. I do watch some videos, but they get a little boring after awhile (same model). I'll update progress as I putter along.
No comments:
Post a Comment