newest pattern sketch

I've mentioned before how I've had a bit of a block about Making Art (that should be said with a booming and intimidating voice) and how my sketchbook is full of ideas that, for whatever reason, don't seem to leave my sketchbook. I've come to the conclusion that part of my problem is that I'm beating myself up so much over what I'm not doing that I'm not seeing the great things that I have been doing. Like the pattern sketches.

I posted this one a couple of weeks ago. Here's another:

image: s.h.h.

I have a bit of a love-hate relationships with pattern and design. I really love playing with pattern but I beat myself up over not making more conceptual work. I have some thoughts floating around about how maybe the pattern is the concept, and that meaning can grow from there, but at this point I think it's important to keep moving forward. Ultimately, if playing with pattern is where things are, then that's a great place to be.

What do you do when you know you're getting in your own way?

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coming soon!

I've been working on getting my new dinner napkins photographed and available in the shop.

I'm having a hard time deciding on my favorite.

I love them in candy apple / trellis...

dinner napkins : candy apple / trellis

hand dyed batik on linen/cotton blend : 19" x 19

And bottle / chevalet too...

dinner napkins : bottle / chevalet

hand dyed batik on linen/cotton blend : 19" x 19"

What do you think?

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my creative space

I sewed up this quilt top months ago. I kind of didn't like it, kind of wasn't feeling it... the whole thing was kind of meh, so I threw it in my "to sew" basket and promptly forgot about it. After not looking at it for a while, I found it again and changed my mind. Here it is all layered, basted, and ready to be quilted - horray!

5 o'clock crows hand dyed batik on 100% cotton sateen

quilt dimensions: approximately 64" x 90"

Lately my studio emphasis has shifted from making tons of new work to finishing up what's already been started, so I'm rediscovering all sorts of old work I thought I didn't like. With a few notable exceptions, I don't see what was so bad about it in the first place. Isn't that always the way?

Don't forget to peek in on some of the other creative spaces today!

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botanical prints

I've loved botanical prints for as long as I can remember.

Irises are my favorites. These are especially gorgeous!

 

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percolating

I've been playing in my sketchbook a lot lately, and things are starting to take some shape. I think I might be coming to the end of my "Art-block". Horray!!!

I imagine this as a "filled plane", layers of different things that fill all available space. The filled or filling plane has been one of my themes for years now, and here it is, popping up again.

I think there's a lot of room to play with batik and applique here. I really want to use bleach discharge. And maybe I can finally use some of the dyed silk chiffon I've had lying around and play with some transparency too. Would embroidery be gilding the lily?

I can't wait to get started!

my creative space

I've been spending loads of time on the computer this week. So my creative space has changed from my worktable to this:

I'm really looking forward to getting back into the studio next week.

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flags

{ When I was cleaning out my image files, I found this picture of some of my flags that I took at one of the holiday markets last year. I love how it's like a suspended stack.  }

new tea towels : trellis

Last week, I posted some of my new colors in my Chevalet pattern. Here are some new tea towels in Trellis.

aubergine

botanica

marmalade

 

plumeria

I love the Marmalade, but I do wish I'd dyed some linen in Candy Apple. I think the red and white would be striking in Trellis. It's on my to-dye list for the next batch, for sure.

What color combinations would you like to see?

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thursday : my creative space

I love peeking at other people's studios and workspaces, so as you can imagine, I was over the moon when I discovered My Creative Space at kootoyoo.

This is the first Thursday that I'm playing along.  I've missed the deadline the last few weeks, so I'm super-excited!

Here's my work table this week.

This is a small part of my table, but it's a pretty representative shot. I try to make sure I clean up at the end of the day so that I can walk into a nice clean inviting table in the morning, but within 15 minutes of my arrival, it's usually covered with all kinds of fabric and other 5occ stuff.

I've been working on taking pictures of all of my fabrics so that I can get my shop up to date, as well as my comprehensive color and pattern catalog. When I took this shot, I'd sorted a selection of fat quarters and then unwrapped a few of them so I could press out the package fold lines for the top-down pattern shots.

What is your creative space like? Do you like it messy, are you super-organized, or somewhere in between?

Don't forget to peek in on some of the other artists who are playing along this week!

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a few new tea towels : chevalet

Over the last few weeks, I've been busy making up some tea towels in new colors, and even a new pattern!

These are a few of the newest Chevalet towels.Which do you like best?

plumeria (very pale lavender under peony pink)

lemongrass (light and summery yellow-green and white)

 cantaloupe (light coral and white)

marmalade (tone-on-tone terracotta orange)

candy apple (fire-engine red and white)

aubergine (grapey purple underneath deep eggplant)

I'm pretty smitten with Candy Apple because it's my perfect red. I've been hunting for that particular shade for a long, long time. horray!

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monthly goals and petite de lis

hand dyed batik on linen

I'm late again with posting my goals, but at least I'm failing a little better every time. Without further ado, here are my summer goals, and how I'm doing so far.

Firm Deadlines: 
- finish wholesale order (woohoo!)
- June, July, August BRAM
- art show entries from calender ("art" seems to be my latest hangup. I have a sketchbook full of ideas that are ready to go, but somehow keep "not making time" to do this. Some re prioritizing is in order.)
- line sheet / catalog  (by August 1) (done! now I'm adding my newest colors and patterns to my catalog)
- submit to design blogs (by September 1) (ready to go for this month!)
* - new - get catalog completely updated


Projects that have been hanging out on the list for too long and need to get crossed off so i can move on with my life:
- write up 3 patterns (for blog / submission) (still nope)
- finish orange quilt (i looked at it, but no credit, again)
- art quilts / small texture language pieces from sketchbook (photos and show entries) (still in the starting stages)
- photos of all new items taken, edited and posted (still working on this, but I'm making good headway - partial credit)
- full size samples (i've built up enough inventory to divert a representative selection. done!)
- photos of quilts already finished (nope, again)
- how to batik for blog (video / pics?) (nope, again)

Ongoing: 
- maintain ongoing marketing efforts (yes again!)
- check with biz and marketing plans, evaluate progress and direction (done! both plans need some editing and revisions)
- follow up on existing store/gallery leads (3 done, 3 in progress)
- 5 - 10 new store/gallery leads (This will be done by Friday)
- 5 - 10 new deadlines added to calender (done!)
- (new) revisions to biz and marketing plans
- (new) fleur pattern into production, build up inventory (done!)
- (new) 3 more new marketing/promotion ideas
-  (new) improve online conversion rate (I've not yet reached my goal, but I've seen some improvement in traffic, new visitors, and conversion rate over the last 2 months. Partial credit, horray!)
 
Holidays: (NO! d'oh!)
-determine what to carry for holidays and how much (how many markets?)
-design new patterns and dye swatches for new holiday / fall / winter colors (I've been working on this a bit, I need to step it up!)
-full-size samples
-photos
-begin production

All in all, I think I've made decent progress. I can't wait to see what July has in store for me!

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I'm pretty sure I've said before that one of the things I really love about the arts market is meeting the people that like my work. So I thought it was perfect timing when Stacey Halphen of Petite de Lis Paperie featured my tea towel on her lovely blog a few days before the market. Since Stacey is a Baton Rouge local, and a regular attender of the Arts and Farmer's Markets, it was a perfect opportunity for us to meet up. Horray!

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