Time for the Carolina Designer Craftsmen Show

It has been a busy past couple of weeks.  In the middle of November I exhibited at the Piedmont Craftsmen Show In Winston-Salem.  There was a good crowd and it was good to catch up with some old friends and make some new ones.  Sales were good and I  received 2 commissions to top it off.

I was able to get one of the commissions done since the show.  This client had purchased a small still life piece from me previously and wanted another, this time an apple.  She collects pear and apple art/craft.  I had some Cortland apples in my fridge waiting to become pie.  (My mother always made pie with Cortlands and I have to agree with her on this one, they make the best pies.)  Back to the point... I set my apple out and went to work.  The finished piece...

I've started the other commission and I'll talk about that in a future post.

Now to the get to the titled subject of this post.  The Carolina Designer Craftsmen Show opens this weekend in Raleigh.  For more info click here and watch a youtube segment of the show and get all the info.  If you're able to go be sure to stop by and see my newest work. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yet another bird...

I'm having a great time with these feathery creatures.  I just finished up the latest.  Here he is all framed and matted.  I again, as with the previous birds, struggled with the eye.  They are just SO tiny.  I am happy with the way it turned out.  He looks so knowing.

Dye workshop

A week ago I taught a color class. I did a thorough walk through of the Color Wheel Company's color wheel.  Have you ever read ALL the information it contains?  It is a whole lot of good stuff packed into one handy little tool. Every artist, no matter their medium, needs to have a color wheel!  We discussed primary, secondary and tertiary colors as well as tint, tone and shade.  Also discussed were color harmonies and value.  After my students had been totally overwhelmed I sent them home to absorb and rest.

Color Wheel Company colorwheel

 Yesterday I did a follow on class.  Using what we learned the previous week and applying it in the dye pot.  First we did a simple color wheel, primary and secondary colors only.  In doing this we had to decide what primaries we would use.  Because  we were trying to imitate the Color Wheel Company's color wheel we chose Prochem 351 (bright red), Prochem 119 (sun yellow) and Prochem 490  (brilliant blue).  We then had to decide what amounts of yellow to add to red to make orange.  It ended up being a 4:1 ratio of yellow to red.  With the green we used a 4:1 ratio as well, yellow to blue.  For the violet we did a 1:1 ratio.  The only secondary that I felt was not quite right was the orange.  It needs a tad more yellow.  It leans towards the red-orange side.  Here's our results in a photo.

They look a lot brighter and truer to color in real life.

We then did some toning of colors using the colors complement.  Here we have the mixing of Prochem 808 (raspberry), a red-violet with Prochem 719 (grasshopper), a yellow-green. This is the grouping on the bottom row.  In mixing various amounts one gets a beautiful array of complex colors.

The top row is a combination of 228 (saffron), a yellow-orange and 401 (colonial blue), a blue-violet.

We then just did some playing to make some beautiful things...