Showing posts with label Winter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Winter. Show all posts
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Frosty webs
As I begin my new project I am looking everywhere possible for inspiration, and after a particularly frosty spell I stumbled across spider webs covered in hoar frost, they were the perfect oppertunity for me to build up images of webs, here are a select few photographs:
Friday, 19 February 2010
Snow had fallen, Snow on Snow …
With ‘In the Bleak Midwinter …’ progressing nicely I began translating my designs and work into knit samples.
As I had chosen to study ‘Trees and Hedgerows’ within the project and how they are affected by snow I concentrated largely on texture within my sample development. Thinking about the textures of trees and bark and how these appear when covered in snow. I considered the rough bumpy texture of bark and began to consider a colour scheme that related to the snow, ice and frost which covered the trees. I also thought about trickling water and ice in cracks and how they all affect and change trees. This all became a basis for my design work. A line from the Christina Rossetti poem from which the project arose echoed regularly in my mind ‘Snow on Snow.’ Leading to the idea of layers and giving the visual impact of snow upon snow upon texture.
Here are a few very early scraps developing my ideas, choosing my yarns, colour schemes and preferred techniques etc:
Below: Random FairIsle pattern created using my grey/blue wool and a cream and blue acrylic mix, then felted. Knot created by hooking back on the machine after casting off.
Below: Created using a tuck stitch pattern, hooking up and ladders.
Below: Tuck stitch with Ribbon knitted in.
As I had chosen to study ‘Trees and Hedgerows’ within the project and how they are affected by snow I concentrated largely on texture within my sample development. Thinking about the textures of trees and bark and how these appear when covered in snow. I considered the rough bumpy texture of bark and began to consider a colour scheme that related to the snow, ice and frost which covered the trees. I also thought about trickling water and ice in cracks and how they all affect and change trees. This all became a basis for my design work. A line from the Christina Rossetti poem from which the project arose echoed regularly in my mind ‘Snow on Snow.’ Leading to the idea of layers and giving the visual impact of snow upon snow upon texture.
Here are a few very early scraps developing my ideas, choosing my yarns, colour schemes and preferred techniques etc:
Below: Random FairIsle pattern created using my grey/blue wool and a cream and blue acrylic mix, then felted. Knot created by hooking back on the machine after casting off.
Below: Created using a tuck stitch pattern, hooking up and ladders.
Below: Tuck stitch with Ribbon knitted in.
Monday, 15 February 2010
Sixty Degrees North …
With ‘In the Bleak Midwinter …’ in full swing and progressing nicely I attended a lecture given by Phil Brooks. The lecture was the first I have ever attended with people from mixed subject areas, I believe it was open for anyone to attend. Kay urged us to attend, I left my knitting quite reluctantly, feeling that I was on a roll so to speak, but after 5 minutes of the lecture I was listening intently and felt very interested and involved.
The subject on which he gave his lecture was his 14 year venture ‘Sixty Degrees North’, A photographic study of life between 60 and 70 Degrees around the world. I felt engrossed in the topic, his landscapes especially interested me. His social commentary images were also very rich with culture and message, but artistically I preferred his landscapes and cityscapes.
I think I felt quite a close connection with the lecture as travel photography is something I’ve always wanted to do, although travelling through Russia, Greenland, Iceland and Lapland etc in those incredible temperatures is a step beyond.
The imagery of his lecture was brilliant, I’m not sure it really made me consider my project in a different way, but it did appeal to me from a photographers perspective. And seeing those icebergs on such a grand scale and such vast icy bodies was quite inspirational in an artistic sense.
In all I thought the lecture was a fantastic insight into a practicing photographer living his dream, even if he admitted to not making any big bucks at it. But after all that’s not what it’s about is it? There is a difference between having a job you love and having a job that pays, a big difference.
The subject on which he gave his lecture was his 14 year venture ‘Sixty Degrees North’, A photographic study of life between 60 and 70 Degrees around the world. I felt engrossed in the topic, his landscapes especially interested me. His social commentary images were also very rich with culture and message, but artistically I preferred his landscapes and cityscapes.
I think I felt quite a close connection with the lecture as travel photography is something I’ve always wanted to do, although travelling through Russia, Greenland, Iceland and Lapland etc in those incredible temperatures is a step beyond.
The imagery of his lecture was brilliant, I’m not sure it really made me consider my project in a different way, but it did appeal to me from a photographers perspective. And seeing those icebergs on such a grand scale and such vast icy bodies was quite inspirational in an artistic sense.
In all I thought the lecture was a fantastic insight into a practicing photographer living his dream, even if he admitted to not making any big bucks at it. But after all that’s not what it’s about is it? There is a difference between having a job you love and having a job that pays, a big difference.
In the bleak Midwinter …
A new semester and a new project begins, and still I’m attempting to catch up with my blog to focus on current work, a task that there just doesn’t seem enough hours in the day to accomplish!
The project, much to my delight, is entitled ‘In the Bleak Midwinter …’. The subject is very fitting as the assignment was given to us on a day thick with frost and snow, the landscape on my journey to university was the image of ‘bleak’, yet I did find myself, as always, looking to the trees and their bare twisted shapes on the snowy horizon. ‘Id love to do a project printing tree silhouettes and gnarled shapes’ I pondered, congering up all sorts of ideas in my mind. After displaying my work for assessment I received the next assignment, excited and eager I returned home to begin it.
After a little investigation I soon discovered that ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ was a line taken from a Christina Rossetti poem. Being a Pre-Raphaelite obsessive I jumped at the chance to drag my favourite art movement into the equation in some minute way. As the idea of the poem began to escalate I found myself painstakingly writing out the poem, one line on each page, with the intention of it being a running theme and a mild commentary on my work. Pleased with my flow of ideas (even if I was creating excessive work for myself as usual) my enthusiasm for the new project was quite simply anything but ‘bleak’.
The project, much to my delight, is entitled ‘In the Bleak Midwinter …’. The subject is very fitting as the assignment was given to us on a day thick with frost and snow, the landscape on my journey to university was the image of ‘bleak’, yet I did find myself, as always, looking to the trees and their bare twisted shapes on the snowy horizon. ‘Id love to do a project printing tree silhouettes and gnarled shapes’ I pondered, congering up all sorts of ideas in my mind. After displaying my work for assessment I received the next assignment, excited and eager I returned home to begin it.
After a little investigation I soon discovered that ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ was a line taken from a Christina Rossetti poem. Being a Pre-Raphaelite obsessive I jumped at the chance to drag my favourite art movement into the equation in some minute way. As the idea of the poem began to escalate I found myself painstakingly writing out the poem, one line on each page, with the intention of it being a running theme and a mild commentary on my work. Pleased with my flow of ideas (even if I was creating excessive work for myself as usual) my enthusiasm for the new project was quite simply anything but ‘bleak’.
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