2012-2013 Knit Pillow Sampler - My Work

This summer I wanted to try out a different pattern for my beginning knitters to learn on for this school year.  I showed off the results a couple of posts ago if you want to scroll down.   Usually we do a scarf with each square a different knit stitch.  Then they sew all of them together into a scarf.  But I love to try out new things.  So I received several e-mails about what my sampler looked like that I showed the kids before they started.  So here are my 2 samplers below.

I mentioned the other day that the kids learn about 8 pattern stitches, the most difficult being Intarsia.

In the first sampler above (brownish tones)I used cheap store bought yarns but in this sampler above I pulled out some hand dyed,  hand spun yarns from my stash.

Carla Sonheim Drawing Class - Day 1

Test Day Drawing  - Closed Eye Drawing (above)

Day One

Draw a Silly Object with your Non-Dominant Hand (my left)

A couple of weeks ago I shared that I'm taking an online drawing workshop with Carla Sonheim.  It's a 21 day class that has already ended, but sadly I've only advanced as far as Day 1.  I know, such a slow-poke.  Plus I have a really bad drawing block which is why I'm forcing myself to take the class.  You can see how well that's working  LOL

Anyways, here's Day One.

Carla asked us to draw a silly object that we weren't real familiar with.  

So I scavenged thru my desk and found these really fun pieces.

The next thing was to draw them using only our non-drawing hand, for me that's my left hand.  So of course for days and days I put it off, then one day I bravely sat down and tried it.  To my surprise and delight this little cutie below turned out really well.  

So with some confidence under my belt I tired it again, and I actually really enjoyed the process.

It forced me to really slow down, and I wasn't able to erase because she told us to do it with a black marker using only a single line.

I ended up loving all three of my drawings, and I'm going to use this as a warm up exercise next year with my drawing students.

Hand Knit Pillow Samplers

In my Intermediate 3-D class my students learn to dye their own yarn and to knit.  If you recall the last couple of years, I've had the kids knit up scarf samplers with their hand dye yarns and homemade knitting needles.

But I enjoy changing things up every couple of years to keep myself fresh, so this summer I designed a knit sampler in pillow form.  In the pattern the kids learn both knit and purl garter, seed stitch,  2 x 2 ribbing, mistaken rib, intarsia, free form log cabining, how to pick up edge stitches, how to sew pieces together and striping.  Also included in the unit is learning how to single crochet so they can put an edging stitch around their pillow.  And lastly, they must make their own pillow from various fabrics, and stuff and close a pillow,

then whip their knit sampler on top.

Phew...that's a lot of work!  Yep!!!

So let's look at a few of the finished pieces.

The one above was made by senior Ashley Chowdhury.  I love that she thought to embellish hers with buttons, really makes it extra special.

Below hers is senior Tiffany Lee.  Notice the beautiful colorways these girls have dyed. I buy the yarn from Knit Picks, it's their most inexpensive dyeing yarn.  I believe it's called Wool of the Andes.  It's a very nice quality yarn and takes the food color dye (Wilton's) we use really well. 

Senior Amy Hsu has done a stunning job with the pillow colors above, and I love the colorway that senior Sheila San Agustin used, very warm, fall colors.  The buttons are nice too. 

What's really amazing is that knitting is a very difficult global skill to learn and many of the kids really struggled at first.  But I told them not to give up, because once you learn it you have the skill for the rest of your life and it's also highly relaxing once you "get it".  Now I see these kids knitting up their own stuff in the hallways before and after school, plus I also watch as they teach their friends.  So Cool! 

My Crafty Husband

Ever since I've known Jim, he has been handcrafting walking sticks.  He uses them occasionally when his back is acting up and it helps him as he walks the dog around the block.  So last year he started a new Xmas tradition   After Xmas instead of giving our tree to the garbage men, he cut off the dead branches , sawed and filed off the nubs, whittled off the bark, sanded the wood, stained it and then varnished it.  My favorite part on all his sticks is that he tries to find something unique to put at the ends.  I believe he picked up that cool carved ball from a thrift store or maybe it was from Home Depot.  Can't quite remember, either can he.  LOL  

Anyways, they are beautifully crafted, and he, I  and my son Zach, are working to get my shop up and running so that he can put up a few of his sticks for sale.  So watch for the shop to open soon.  The unfinished stick in the photo is from this years little stumpy tree we had.  Can't wait to show it off when he's done turning it into a gorgeous walking stick.

Burrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

We've had a lot of weather here in sunny Southern California.  Lots of rain and cold, into the low 30's at night.  Although I just spoke to my son today who is in Toronto and Montreal, Canada this week for his work, and he says it's -20 degrees there, so I know I shouldn't complain.  It's just that it's cold enough to really mess with my flower garden.  

Actually I've really enjoyed this cold spell, I get to wear all my woolens that don't usually get to come out.  Although,  I need more then that late at night when I take Princess Sophie for her "poop" walk.  Here I've got on 4 layers of jackets, 2 are mine and I also have on Jim's down vest and his fleece coat, plus my new mittens that senior Lauren De Belen gave me for Xmas.  They came in real handy Lauren, thanks!

With it being winter and all the leaves covering the sidewalks, I've been noticing how they are leaving their mark/print behind after the rains.  Ever since I took the Eco-Dye Workshop with India Flint, I'm always looking at the ground for wonderful windfall, and that's when I noticed the recent prints.  Pretty darn cool!

Farewell 2nd Quarter 7th Graders

Today will be my last day with my sweet 2nd Quarter young ones.  I am very sorry to see them go, they have been a fabulous bunch, and I've only just begun to show off their work.  So as they depart we will continue to see what they created for at least another month.

These are their Charcoal Cones.  They had to include at least 3 values of grey, a cast shadow and horizon, plus deal with the back and foreground.  It continues to amaze and delight me that each of these students have developed their own unique shading style.  Let's see whose is whose.

Above we have a very nice piece by Raymond Ouyang.  I like how his horizon is wavy. 

This next piece above belongs to Margaret Yiu.  Notice her subtle horizontals and verticals in the back and foregrounds.  Very sophisticated Margaret.

Below is the artwork of Kristina Dorsz which has a very strong feel of 3-dimensions because of how she's wrapping her shadows around the cone.

Next we have Jessica Mones stunning cone.  I really like how she brought texture into the foreground, and her creative horizon.

And lastly we have the very eye-catching piece of Julie Guan, so beautifully crafted!

Terrific work all of you!  A pleasure for sure.

Ian Paul at The Drawing Board

Yesterday I posted about the college art students that were featured at The Drawing Board Gallery in Yorba Linda recently.  The other artist that caught my attention was Ian Paul.  His work was so much tighter and darker then Andrea Ruygt but it still was really intriguing.  His attention to detail was remarkable as was his use of value.

But it was his crows that really caught my attention.

Especially this one below on cardboard with a bit of pen and ink work.

I feel that Ian has really found his niche' for one so young.

One of these days I hope to find mine.

The Artwork of Andrea Ruygt

A couple months ago the Drawing Board Gallery in Yorba Linda was showcasing the artwork of students form Cal State Long Beach and Cal State Fullerton.  And I really like the paintings by Andrea Ruygt.  So much so that I purchased the portrait below.  Her style in  both paintings feels really good to me, there is a lot of movement created thru the brushstrokes, and her color choices are very sensory to me.  I also really like how the piece directly below tells a story, and how it's divided on the canvas.  Highly interesting to me.  In fact, it inspires for an upcoming assignment for senior Laura Kadi who is in my Advanced 2-D class.  Oh boy Laura, it's gonna be good!  LOL 

The portrait that I purchased below is about 36" by 40".  

Huge!

I love it.

On March 16th The Drawing Board Gallery in Yorba Linda, Ca. will be hosting a non-profit gala event and art auction to raise funds to go out into the community to families that can't afford or get to places of arts education to give them performing and visual arts.  We are having food trucks, art action, musical theater show, dessert bar and art tables for people to create!  Cost is 25 dollars.  We are also looking for sponsors!

Thank You!!!!!!

The Drawing Board / MOVING heARTS Foundation

  Classes, Gallery, Wine and Art / Outreach

   owner/director - Jamie Kough

   (714) 693-7156

   4945 Yorba Ranch Road, Yorba Linda, 92887

   www.thedrawingboard.info     

7th Grade Graphite Spheres

Here we are again with the work of my 2nd quarter 7th graders.  

This is their 2nd assignment:  to draw a sphere and shade it in with one light source which also includes a cast shadow and horizon.  Then the rest of the piece is open for interpretation.  This is a 3 day assignment.  One day to practice and 2 days to complete the piece I will grade.

Above we have Manan Shah with his very sensitive drawing.

This next piece was done by Julie Guan.  She has put in incredible range of value (which I encourage), and very smooth transitions.  But what makes her piece especially nice are the ribbons and hearts.  Lovely Julie! 

And below hers is her partner in crime, Margaret Yiu.  These two girls are inseparable   They come into my room at lunch, glued at the hip, giggling so sweetly to say hello.  You can see that Margaret is coming to me with some very strong drawing skills already in place.

Wonderful job all of you!

Leftovers to Dye For

What do you get after you lay out your windfall...

brew it up ...

unravel it, you ask?

These amazingly organic, fascinating leaf and petal structures.  But instead of throwing them out, I've been saving the more interesting ones and drying them out.  

Then putting a bit of Modge Podge over front and backsides, and  

wella! A bas relief sculptural piece to be used down the road, so stay tuned  :)

Just A Quick Peek...

at a project made by my Beginning 3-D kids that I haven't had a chance to photo yet. They are called Charm Chains and they've already been packed away  to keep them nice for Open House, and I don't want to disturb them until then.  So it's gonna be a while before I can really show them off.  Just know that my Beginning 3-D kids are working their hearts out for me, and I'm crazy about them!

Finally... Meet My 2nd Quarter 7th Graders

It was love from day one of Second Quarter when these 30 sweet babies walked in my door for the first time.  So tentative and shy, so wanting to please, so sweet and well-behaved.  Are these 7th graders???  Yep!

Okay, I can do this  :)

These pieces are from their first assignment, their value scales.  In this piece I'm able to see what their design skills are like, as well as evaluate their craftsmanship.  Like First Quarter, I'm seeing a lot of talented kids.

Adriane Tam starts us off above with a very solid composition .  I like how she fills the whole piece of paper with design. She also has very nice craftsmanship skills and a textural shading style.

Next we have Raymond Ouyang with this fun hot dog.  I like how he bordered this piece and how clean his work is.  His shading style is very soft.

Kathleen Vo also knows how to fill the page and she has a lovely shading style.  The kids only had to do 5 value steps, but Kathleen was able to show me 9.  Way to go little one!

And then there is Margaret Yiu, a remarkable young artist who not only did a phenomenal job with the assignment, but then went on to create another below.  Wow!!!

Highly impressive young one  :)