Artistic License

See the cat on the windowsill in this picture?

His name was Jake. Sadly, he passed away early Saturday morning.

Jake lived a very full 19 years, 17 of those with us. He had *such* a cat personality: sassy, wary and independent… polar opposite of the gentle, easy-going temperament of our other cat, Tom, who died several years ago. Yet, he managed to wrap both my husband and I very tightly around his immaculate white paws, reminding us daily that we should feel very honored indeed to share our home with such a sublime feline!

And honored we were. We’ll miss you, Jake.

Around here, Spring really seems to get down to business in May: things are green and the weather is pleasantly balmy.  For those of you still dealing with snow (shudder!) and cold temperatures, I feel for you.  I really do.
On the printing front: The new printer seems to be working quite well and I couldn’t be more pleased with it.  (Side note: I love the name: It’s a Xerox product: a “Phaser”.  I know, I’m a hopeless Star Trek fan.  I’m resisting the urge to give it a name… like Spock or Data…)

On the needlework designing front: Work continues on class designs for the CreativFestival. It’s refreshing to be working on smaller designs for a change. Not happy with how something’s turning out? No problem. Trash it and start over, no big deal. Yep. Definitely refreshing.

On the art front: I would venture to say that all artists have at least one “weak” area…something they really need to improve in order to make their work more balanced overall.

I’ve been aware for a long time that my main trouble spot is the (entire) human figure. And I (desperately) need to address my lack of proficiency in rendering the human form. Since live models are just not an option, and those little jointed figure drawing mannequins are not really helpful at all, I decided to invest in e-frontier’s “Poser Figure Artist”.

The program allows one to pose very realistic figures in 3-D space… which is *very* cool… and then either export or print the image. While I am still learning the basics of moving body parts to get believeable-looking poses…the program does have some limits built into it, but you can still accidentally (or not) move parts beyond their proper range of motion (more than a little freaky, but fun)… I can see how this software *should* help me tremendously in my quest to improve my figure drawing abilities.

Of course, nothing takes the place of practice, practice, practice in improving anything…

So, I guess I’d better get back to it!

On the printing front, all local on-demand printing options/leads have been explored and rejected for various reasons.  Rather than totally give up on printing however, I’ve taken the plunge and purchased a printer for publishing my charts in-house.  There will be a learning curve, I’m sure.  I had resisted doing this because I have very limited technical knowledge/expertise, and preferred leaving printing in the hands of people who *know what they’re doing*!  Keep your fingers crossed that I can overcome my anxiety about dealing the tech stuff, get a grip, and carry on!

Otherwise, with Spring’s arrival, the garden will be plowed this week for early planting, wood-cutting (for the woodstove next winter) has begun, and clean up of winter storm debris, including the leaves that didn’t get raked last fall has started.  It’s very good to be out of hibernation!

And it’s that time again: over the next couple of days, I’ll be shifting stuff from the house back into my studio space… (very happy sigh!)

And, I just finished reading a wonderful book: The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield.  If you like mysteries in the gothic tradition, you’ll enjoy this one.  I couldn’t put it down!

I’m still searching for an on-demand printer, and have one more lead to check.

I’ve been working on the class designs for the Creativ Festival in Toronto in October. (They are a welcome break from plugging away on Illuminata. I guess it’s kindof a designer’s “Rotation” ) Sorry, I can’t give any info. about classes yet. The Creativ Festival’s spring show is coming up shortly, and after that, the staff will be able to concentrate on the fall festival.

Otherwise, it’s work as usual, but with a bit more enthusiasm: Spring is finally here in northcentral PA! The weather is milder, things are *beginning* to get a bit green, the daffodils are up, and the peepers are serenading us in the evenings. I feel so badly for those of you in the midwest getting pounded yet again with more snow/rain/flooding. I hope it will all settle down soon!

And one more item: Good friend and fellow artist Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams, Inc. has just finished illustrating (and co-publishing) a wonderful children’s book: “Owen and the Dinosaur”. I understand it is (soon to be) available via amazon.com! Huge congratulations, Jennifer!!!

I’m sorry it’s been so long since my last post. And I wish I had happier news to impart.

My on-demand printer is closing up shop. This week. I searched for a long time to find that small business, and I don’t particularly fancy the alternatives remaining: Staples or Office Depot: too expensive as well as unreliable in the quality department.

Sigh.

Aside from feeling badly that yet another small business is folding, it also puts me in a tight spot: I was ready to place a new order when I got the news.

So, I’m doing some hard thinking about what will be next as far as needlework publishing goes.

I’ll update you soon.

As promised, another peek at a part of Illuminata.  One segment of the design depicts a medieval walled/fortified city.  Think Carcassonne, France.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before…?… the design measures about 21-3/4 ” high by 14-1/4″ wide (without being stretched; I took it off the scroll bars to scan the section.)

Back to stitching!

We have sun, snow and wind today, so it must be March!  Even though Winter here really hasn’t been one for the record books this year, I’m *very* ready for Spring!
Time for some updates:

On the art front, the Spring horse drawing has hit a snag, and I’ve decided the artwork would be best served by starting over.  It’s so easy for me to go overboard with pen and ink.  I get caught up in depicting detail, and before I know it, I’ve gone beyond what is necessary or in this case, appropriate.  Because the drawing is part of a series, I have to be especially careful to make sure the line work is of a “density” similar to Snow Dancer.  Overall, as I look at both drawing side by side, one shouldn’t overpower the other by being darker or more detailed or whatever. I’m probably not describing it well, but there you have it.

I didn’t royally foul up the drawing… I didn’t make a big ink blot, damage the paper, or do anything nasty to it.  It’s just more intense in execution than the Winter horse.  When this kind of thing happens, I can’t consider it a loss or a waste of my time.  I learned quite a bit from it, so even though it wasn’t really applicable to this project, it has still been educational.

Or is this whole explanation just a carefully constructed, yet pathetic attempt to disguise my pesky perfectionist tendencies… again?  Probably.

On the needlework side of things: Miniature Winter Sampler is now available via PatternsOnLine.com.

One link to share: I have never done any crazy quilt embellishment myself…but looking at SharonB’s current work in progress makes me want to start!  The colors and textures are just gorgeous!

And, work on Illuminata continues; I will have another peek to share soon.

If I’m able, after finishing a design, I try to allow myself the luxury of a day of ‘unscheduled’ work… meaning that whatever I might want or need to do, creatively or otherwise, I do… without thinking, for 12 hours or so, about deadlines and the like. Necessarily, I clean up from the last project. Not a big deal, but absolutely essential, especially whilst working in my much smaller winter studio space.

It’s amazing how much accumulates during the course of a needlework designing project: sketches, fabrics, flosses, beads, metallics, stitching tools, printouts of chart sections (both discarded and marked with corrections), working color codes, working symbol sheets, trial printouts of the final layout, reference books for specialty stitches, etc. There’s always a box full of stuff to go through at the end of a project.

After all of the stitching supplies are put away, I go through all of the paper, and keep enough to place in a “file” which I then put into one of several drawers devoted exclusively to storing “creative records” (as I grandly call them). I do this in case there are any questions in the future about the originality/sources of my designs or if I am asked a question about a specific design, and I must refer back to my original patterns/sketches. I’ve done this since I began designing more than 20 years ago. Please don’t get the idea that it’s neatly organized or in any way archive-like. It’s not. It’s pretty much a mess. But, it’s all there.

So, when I add a new “file” to the repository, or if I need to search for something, it’s quite bizarre to dig through years worth of paper… to skip down memory lane: re-visit the process of how I designed years ago, see how my designing style has changed over the years. And to see, even though I started designing with the help of a computer years ago, I still use as much paper as I ever did when I designed without one! Of course, if I had everything organized, any searching I might need to do could be accomplished in a snap. You know: efficiently.
BUT….

In that process of rooting through… (It occurs to me that I’m using terminology usually reserved to describe swine looking for truffles?! I’ll ignore that.)… I am almost always inspired. After not looking at some of my original design sketches for years at a time, some of which never made it past the idea stage, I see them with fresh eyes… and new possibilities strike me… either for new designs or for more fully developed pen-and-ink drawings.

It’s nice when a mundane task can lead to inspiration. Very nice indeed.

It’s always such a relief to finally get a design *totally* finished.  By totally I mean not just finishing the stitching (which is wonderful, of course!). There’s quite a bit more that must be accomplished before a design makes its way to retailers’ shelves and hopefully, into the stitchers’ hands.

The model must be prepared for photography or scanning.  Cleaning, pressing, stretching and whatever else need to happen so that the stitched piece is presented properly.

Then there’s layout, which includes instruction writing, diagram creation, and of course, chart manipulation/division.  This part is tremendously time-consuming, and not nearly as much fun as stitching!   It usually takes a few days, depending on the size of the design, and how much fiddly stuff there is to do…like diagram creation…which I do in a drawing program (not the same program I use for designing the chart itself).  Then I place everything into a page layout program, along with the instruction text (which takes me forever to get right). In the course of getting a design into marketable form, I (usually) use 4 different software applications:

VectorWorks: for designing and chart manipulation
FreeHand: for diagram (vector-based) creation
Photoshop: for raster image manipulation
Quark: for layout and .pdf file generation

But I’m not done yet!

Next, I must get the files into the hands of whomever is doing my printing.  This used to mean an appointment with my offset printer for photography of the model, and reserving time on the presses for both 4-color cover sheets and b&w booklets.  Now, it means either scanning models myself or making an appointment to get a large model shot/scanned by a professional, finishing the cover layout, and delivering the files (burned to CD) to my on-demand printer.

Within a few days, *if all goes smoothly*, I pick up my printed materials.  Then I begin putting together chartpacks, and packing orders for shipment to previously contacted shops and distributors.

Then I update my website.
I hope I didn’t forget anything.
Oh! Right!   Miniature Winter Sampler is now *finished*.

No, nothing’s wrong… I’ve just been really busy.

Miniature Winter Sampler is now at the printers, and I’ll be sending out shop Automatics by the end of the week at the latest.

Income tax info. is now organized and ready for the Accountant. My silly business accounting software decided to act up, and delay things there.

Otherwise, we’ve been extremely unfortunate to avoid the very nasty flu-like stuff that’s making the rounds. Keeping fingers crossed!

Illuminata is back on the stitching frame, and won’t come off again until it’s finished!

On that note, there is a product I’d like to mention which makes removing/replacing stitching on those scroll bars (with the fabric webbing attached) a breeze. It’s called E-Z Stitch No Basting System from American Dream Products, and I *love* the stuff! There are two parts: a strip of material with a sticky backing that attaches permanently to your scroll rod, and the other side, also with a sticky backing that attaches to both ends of your fabric. When you put the two sides together, there’s a velcro effect. Trust me, the tension on your scroll bars *never* loosens as you’re stitching. Yet, it’s easy to peel the fabric away from the bars when you need to. Since the material strip is very narrow, you just cut it off when you are finished stitching; there’s a little over 3/8″ fabric waste on each end. Many retailers carry it: I did a Google search and lots of retailers popped up.

And now, I’m off to stitch!