Tuesday, December 3, 2013

bjp 1113 - dark and delicious

The leaves have all fallen from the trees, but are still alive in my imagination. I've given a nod to Mother Nature and painted my November leaf with the colours of the season. Sinfully rich, red, gold, bronze and rust, with just a touch of orange for contrast. The dark purple was a result of choosing the shell at night, in a room without proper lighting. I thought that it was either bronze or dark gold!!! But as I like to say, embrace the imperfections and then go with it! Someone once told me that if you don't like an element in a piece, add it a few more times, and all will be well! So I did exactly that and I think it works!!! Red and dark colours seem to be almost impossible for me to photograph properly, despite taking photos outside on a couple of different days. I just couldn't fully capture the lush, richness of the piece. Perhaps a photographic lighting course should be one of my 'must do' activities for 2014. Nah! Sounds too technical (at least, right now), so I think that I'll just embrace my own personal "imperfections"! All that being said, I think that 2014 will be a year of exploration, beading and paper. I'll try to fit some stitch in too, but probably in conjunction with other media. As I've mentioned previously, I just love my techniques!
Now more about the leaf! I started out with a rusty bottle cap that I found on the ground quite a while ago. I liked the band of red, so wanted to include it as the focal. Also included are a variety of beads from the stash, bugles (standing up this time), and a few bits recycled from old necklaces. The beauty of those old pieces, is that they just give and give and will end up in many future projects. But I digress! Stitches used are my regular posse of peyote, back, stacked and boucle/bocce stitches. For a texture boost, I also added a strip of Robin's ruffle stitch. There's not a lot of room in the leaves for me to go really crazy, but I still like the direction I'm taking, even though it forces me to be a little more conservative with my choices. No promises, but I think that I'll take this series into the BJP for 2014. An unexpected bonus of being a BJP participant, is that it has trained me to think in series. That will be a big help, if and when I submit my work to galleries. They do like cohesive series!!! I wonder what December will bring? By the way, here's a clue to my next post:

10 comments:

kaiteM said...

Firstly, before i forget, i have trouble photographing red also, both with my iPhone and with the Nikon. I think it might be a digital problem.

Your beautifully encrusted leaf is amazing, so much detail in such a small piece. And as for the teaser at the end, it certainly looks very special, can't wait to see more.

Anne Marie - Toronto said...

Kaite, I believe red is a known problem. I don't know if it was the same pre-digital, but everyone I know, complains about it, so I'm not surprised that you have a problem as well. Beth might be able to weigh in on this one when she sees the post.

Thanks for your comment about my leaf. As for the "teaser", I just couldn't help myself! That paper is just too yummy!!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

oooh - I think this has to be my favourite one so far (but I say that about every one, don't I!!!!). I love the purple and red together, and there's not a bit of red-hattishness about it.

Anne Marie - Toronto said...

LOL and thanks MA!

You are pretty consistant and I didn't even think of the red hat thing until midway through the piece.

Evanna said...

The coloour combination is gorgeous and I love and I love the encrusted drifts of colour.

Beth@IHaveANotion.com said...

I don't have any info on the color thing! It might be that your monitor may need to be calibrated....

Love the leaf!!! and the paper is going to be a bowl!

Judy Ferguson said...

I use a simple editing program for my photos and this works pretty good. But it is not perfect either. So hard to get true color without the expensive camera equipment and lighting. But, we get the idea. You do beautiful things.

Anne Marie - Toronto said...

Thanks, Evanna, Beth and Judy!

Beth,

No bowl for this paper!! It's too special to tear up. Perhaps a little book or two, but I expect it will need to rest for a while and just be admired.

Judy,

I prefer to take photos outside, on a bright, but cloudy day. Otherwise you get too much glare on the beads.

Rachel Murphree said...

A leaf series will be SO cool, AM!! love your work, of course!

Anne Marie - Toronto said...

Thanks, Rachel! I'm pretty excited about the leaves as well!!