So that filling the house with wet fleece won’t be too obnoxious!
My friend Nina got me about 5 kg of Gotland fleeces at a very fair price. Will be interesting to see how much is left after de-greasing. Not too much degreasing however, my experience of Gotland is that it flies everywhere and acts like mohair when it’s completely dry. It also felts if you look too hard at it. Combing may be a problem this time of year since our house is quite cold, and lanolin could get stiff.
I’m sorry there are no pix of the fleeces spread out, but it’s freezing outside and we had a bit of an accident this morning when the chimneysweep came round, the entire living room is covered in near-invisible soot. Walls, laundry, my art supplies, the white cat, spinning wheel, tables, plants, everything. OMG you should have seen the bottoms of my socks! (didn’t find this out immediately of course)
I’m quite pleased with the look of them so far though, looks like there’s no straw, as opposed to my first fleeces that are something like 25% VM.
Så har jeg fået en sæk med 5 kg dejlig Gotlandsuld der skal vaskes, farves og spindes. Har absolut ingen planer med det, men det skal blive spændende at prøve. Jeg skal prøve at vaske, så det ikke er helt fedtfri, ellers er der flyvehår over det hele, gotlandsuld er ret mohair-agtigt. Men jeg kan godt lide at arbejde med det ellers og især at farve den grå uld giver en god dybde.
Der kommer billeder af hammene senere, det var for koldt at fifle med udendørs. Og stuen er dækket af sodpartikler efter et lille skorstensfejeruheld i morges, gemalen havde været ved at fyre op trods forbud, og efterlod vist lÃ¥gen Ã¥ben mens der blev fejet….. Han er ved at støvsuge vægge und alles mens jeg slapper lidt af her efter at have sat alt vasketøjet over igen igen. NÃ¥, men sÃ¥ er der da blevet gjort julerent i rummet hele 2 dage i træk, mon ikke det kan gøre det?
Men de ser fine ud, ikke, slet ingen halm eller fnidder!
Time for another report from my ongoing quest to beat painter’s/writer’s block. I can’t say that I’ve done very much besides tend to a sick cat, get a skin biopsy on my face and knitting/reading/baking/cleaning to take my mind off it (well, the cat mostly, to be honest). But I did climb into the hayloft and found that I had quite a large pile of stretcher bars stashed up there, so I’ve ordered a roll of canvas. Just the cheap cotton variety for now, to take off the pressure of “ruining expensive supplies”. I obviously must have intended to get back in the game, since I’ve been moving these around for the last 20 years (and some of those moves involved very cramped quarters).
Another challenge is how and where to store my papers. Not just various unused watercolour pads, but the finished or half finished products such as my leaf prints. I want easy access to browse them in case I think of a project where I can use them, rather than stow away and forget. I feel this is important, but maybe it’s my overachiever speaking. My office is woefully small and very full… Spare room has my fiber in it, as much shelf space as I can possibly steal. (“Sweetie, those old OS/2 manuals aren’t really required anymore, are they? Fancy a trip to the dump? And what are these, 386 motherboards?”) Score: I just discovered a lot of VIDEO TAPES on one shelf, it’s not like we even have a player anymore…. And, well, I can’t deny that I sometimes think up plans for one half of the sideboard under the tv. To those of you who think “poor man”, well, his only hobby is his job and can be done in an office half the size of mine. Besides, he’s got a mouth and a throat, I assume he knows how to make noise with them if he feels inclined.
All the leftover, non-coordinated furniture…my shrinking book collection, every time I get something new I have to throw out.
As I was tearing up old sheets into rags for use when painting, I came to think of another tool to spark creativity: Boredom. In fact I had to take a break already halfway through the first sheet to come out here and begin this blog post! Much to the delight of the kitten, who thought I was making a new toy for him on the floor….
There simply isn’t anything like boredom, or being unable to get to your art supplies, that creates ideas like a stroke of lightning. Showers, driving, visiting boring relatives, cleaning your office. So if sitting in front of your canvas for 3 hours doodling doesn’t do the trick, try the opposite. 😉 (although that sounds pretty boring too, but it needs to be the doing-something-boring kind to work I think)
I even managed to smear some orange onto one of my starter canvasses (finding in the process more old brushes filled with hair and gunk), before whipping myself into obedience and ripping up more sheets. Although I was tempted to hop back online to shop for brushes and other cool stuff (gotta get the most out of the postage, right?).
This is impossible to work with, enough!
For those of you who think I’m not very disciplined, well, I can be if the need arises. I just don’t think ripping sheets is going to save the whales, so I’m cutting myself some slack. Besides, after I decided to test how many layers I could rip at once, it all became a bit more fun and was over pretty quick too. After Arthur was done playing with the pile, I even sat down and folded my rags to put into one of the Expedit boxes! 😉 Then I got rid of the gunk and covered my yellow painting in a coat of white. And then writing this I realize those rags probably have cat hairs on them now – doh!
Doing something tedious but productive with your hands like Heidi mentioned for my last post, such as spinning wool, also helps by just touching and working with the materials. You get ideas for new yarns, the colours of the new yarns my remind you of something and ooops, a painting is pushing its way forward. You need to learn to not think of your grocery shopping list while you do this, however. The idea is to empty your mind to make room for new, if writing down your old ideas in a notebook didn’t work.
Slaughtered an old book to use for mixed media doodling and discovered that glued pages all tend to come loose once you rip out a couple, may have to find one with a sewn binding and cool pix in it to incorporate.
So next trick is hands on: Learn/do something new. If you paint but can’t get into gear, learn to knit, speak French, cook, take a photography class. If your new thing IS painting, it may not work. Anything that gets your juices flowing, make you feel a bit more alive is guaranteed to also set your creative wheels in motion. New stuff has a better chance of achieving that compared to silly old tv shows and Friday nights at the pub. (ok, I admit that I have no idea how inspired you can actually get at the pub, the question is, do you remember your ideas the day after and are they still as good as last night?)
I think I forgot to mention: collect resources. If I did indeed mention it, forgive me for repeating. Every time I see a neat picture, colour, motive, skill, anything that moves me, I consider saving it as a reference. Not to publish or copy, just to look at for inspiration. This works great in this day and age, 20 years ago I had a shelf full of binders, such a waste of space compared to a harddrive.
At the moment I seem to be into collecting skies among other things that happen to appear in front of me. I never really use any of them as an explicit reference, they just get me started. Such as:
–>Â
I hadn’t actually looked at the photo in a while, and as you can see I got it totally wrong, but it was nevertheless my starting point. (sorry about the flash – it’s so dark here at the moment) And then I began thinking up other skies at all sorts of odd hours. I’m not sure why, since I actually thought I was going to be painting abstract/intuitive like. But as I’ve been advocating, gotta go with the flow, follow the red thread as we say in DK. Skies it is. Until it isn’t. I’m not going to show you the finished painting just yet, because then I wouldn’t be publishing this post for quite a while. So it’s all WIPs.
Next on the program is refreshing my theory and daring to blend “dirty” colours. Just so I don’t keep hurting eyes out there. 😉
Something that can also be fun is to ask other people for themes. Ask them to make up a random sentence or word (or read a random page in a random book). Illustrate that somehow, not necessarily paint something that looks like a horse, or, if you do get a bunch of random words, combine three. “Blue horse on fire”. – “Usually you just feel him passing, sir, but I have seen him twice, in what would have been the flesh, if he had any.” Your turn! Send me a theme or challenge in the comments below and I promise to post the results of the ones I try out.
And when all else fails, a quote that I snarfed from Tintina’s blog:
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” -Arthur Ashe
Been making a bit of progress on various projects, some ups and downs such as making the waist decreases on my sweater at the red stripe only, to find out the yarn is so heavy that it’s actually more the brown stripe that is at my waist. But it’s got a comfortable amount of ease all the way up, so I’ll leave it, maybe block it a bit. Right now the sides are only loosely seamed with cotton to test it on, so it’s looking kinda lumpy. I’m knitting an inner collar of silk (Shetland is scratchy), then I’ll have to spin more yarn before I can continue to the sleeves. This was expected, I just didn’t realise what a quick knit this was on 6 mm.
The remaining sweater yarn is sitting on a quick improvised scarf I did for my mum with some leftover DROPS, nice warm silk and baby alpaca for her vulnerable neck (disc surgery). It blocked way longer than I anticipated, so it could have been wider (used up the yarn to within 20 cm), but I’m not going to redo, I have another scarf on the needles for her. Different yarn, same fiber combo. She needs them light and small as she’s not a very big person. (just under 5′)
Det gik hurtigt med at strikke min tykke sweaterkjole, måske lidt for hurtigt, for jeg fik lavet lidt for kraftigt sving på taljen og lidt for tidligt, garnet er tungt og elastisk, så det var svært at beregne den endelige længde på trøjen. Nå, men der er ikke noget der strammer, jeg lader det være, måske blokker lidt eller kigger på sammensyningen. Lige nu er den bare løseligt rimpet sammen med bomuldsgarn for at kunne prøve den. Jeg er i gang med at strikke inderhals af silke, så jeg ikke bliver kradset helt op, og så skal der spindes mere garn før der kan blive ærmer, men det vidste jeg godt.
Er også i gang med tørklædeproduktion til min lille mor, som skal have varmet sin opererede nakke med florlette silke/alpaca ting. Den grønne er bare improviseret med en rest, og blev noget længere end beregnet, så det kunne godt være blevet bredere, men det fungerer. Jeg brugte vitterlig alt garnet, så ingen rettelser der heller.
In addition to the Beginner’s mind post, I wanted to see how many games I could come up with to trick the mind into creative mode. Here’s what I have for you so far, I hope some of it works as well for you as it does for me.
Grab a pile of paper, doodle while you watch tv, meditate, talk on the phone, or simply with a pencil and your eyes closed, run a long line round and round on the sheet, completely random. When it’s full, look for shapes and draw them in with a pen. Usually for me it’s cartoon figures and animals that emerge, could be flowers, anything. Colour in the best ones with markers, crayons, pencils, maybe start a new drawing with those images as the base idea.
Play with marbling (requires inks, a flat tray and wallpaper glue) or leaf prints. Then tear up the results and make collages. Or use them for greeting cards, decoupage, scrapbooking backgrounds, covers for notebooks. That’s not painting you say. No, but by doing something with your hands, ideas have a tendency to creep up from the back of your mind. We’re just trying to get into playmode here and away from overachiever mode.
Glue fabric, leaves and photos onto your painting, then keep painting.
Experiment. Does the salt trick work with acrylic paints like they do for oils and watercolour? Indeed it can, but don’t put salt all over, it’ll just look like the painting got measles.
Read travel books, with or without pictures, fantasy novels, “coffee table” books, watch National Graphic tv, do a google image search for a specific location or topic.
Go somewhere you’ve never been before, something fun could be happening in the next town over. I’m really, really bad at not doing this, I keep saying it’s no fun without company and it’s hard to plan when you share a car with someone else. (meaning, the car isn’t always there when you want it) But really, those are just excuses for being a homebody.
Try new tools or medium. Brushes, stuff to make prints with, paint a whole image using sponges, ink, magic markers, plants.
I found these silly brushes in an online shop by accident and just had to order set.
And something that may seem completely opposite from the intuitive process: rehearse your paintings. I sometimes have ideas for nearly finished images, but I’m unsure if it’s a good one. Why not make a small version on paper first to SEE if you like it, instead of trying to imagine if you do? I know the old masters did this, so why can’t I?
So now you have all the good ideas and intentions, but you keep pushing it until tomorrow, or you actually sit down to paint a little but nothing happens. This is actually normal from what I hear. I’m a person who knows a bit about nearly everything (ok, a lot anyway), but I’m not any kind of expert on anything. What I am though, is a Master of Procrastinastion. I get seated, I remembered to pee, got my coffee, walked the dog, open up Writer or WordPress to get started – and then I get this sudden urge to trim my nails. Your subconscious can think up a million excuses to prevent you from taking on any kind of challenge. I don’t know why, I’ve even tried to sit down to have a little talk with (at) it, it keeps happening.
The thing is, it doesn’t seem very likely that you’ll beat this tendency with sheer willpower. Maybe some can, most of us can try to a certain extent. So what you do is, you go with the flow in this instance too. You stay seated. You doodle and fiddle and take another potty break, but you do not pack up your gear and give up.
Sometimes it may take a whole hour to get into workmode, so it’s important to have set up enough time to get past that fiddly resistance if you know you have days like this. Other days I know exactly what I want to do, some days I even get so many ideas just standing in the shower, I don’t know which one to pick first, so I have to write a list so I don’t confuse myself (another procrastinator!). On those days it’s easy to just sit down for half an hour, fill a few pages with words or colour and then go clip those toenails if you really must. But you’re bound to run into some of the others as well, and the thing is to keep at it until you’ve done at least something. Doesn’t have to be brilliant, it just has to be.
So what have I got to show for it you say? Well, I ended up knitting, as you may have noticed. But next on the list it tidy up office and desk, so I wonder if I could procrastinate on that with a sudden urge to paint?
Please share your ideas on how to call on that imagination when it seems to be hiding!
Nogen gange går hjernen lidt i stå, selvom man egentlig har lysten til at male. Så jeg bruger små tricks for at sætte fantasien i sving, der kommer hele tiden nye til.
Tegn kruseduller med blyant, gerne med lukkede øjne, bare rundt og rundt på papiret. Kig efter figurer, som tegnes op med pen og evt. farvelægges.
Der behøver ikke være et motiv, man kan lege med marmorering, plantetryk og andet, rive det hele i stumper bagefter og lave collager, kort, indpakning, bogomslag og andet. Det handler bare om at bruge hænderne og farverne indtil der kommer en ide til et billede, eller bare en lyst til at starte med en bestemt farve på lærredet. Man kan ikke rigtig tænke sig til det, men det går nemmere når man involverer kroppen.
Man kan teste forskellige teknikker og redskaber, bare for at få en fornemmelse for, hvad man kan, og så ender det måske alligevel med at se helt godt ud. Ellers maler man bare ovenpå.
Nye oplevelser er også godt, det kan være en spændende bog, et naturprogram, en udflugt til et galleri eller et nyt sted (det er jeg ikke så god til at tage mig sammen til, der er lidt langt til alting herude på bøhlandet). Man kan også bare rejse rundt via Google!
Og endelig er det jo ikke nogen skam at lave kladder af sine mÃ¥ske-ideer, det gjorde de gamle mestre ogsÃ¥. PÃ¥ den mÃ¥de kan man mÃ¥ske fÃ¥ luget ud i godt og skidt…
Og hvis det stadig ikke virker, er det vigtigt at blive ved. MÃ¥ske tager det en hel time at “komme i stemning”, sÃ¥ det duer ikke at starte 20 min. før ungerne kommer hjem og vil have mad fx. Læg mærke til alle de undskyldninger din underbevidsthed finder pÃ¥, kaffepauser, opvaskemaskinen som lige pludselig trænger til at blive tømt prompte, accepter det, men pak ikke dine ting væk, hent kaffen og bliv ved med at dimse til der sker et eller andet.
Jeg fik lige pludselig lyst til at strikke, og det er ok, men næste punkt pÃ¥ listen er oprydning af kontor og skrivebord, sÃ¥ mÃ¥ske maleri bliver min overspringshandling for at udskyde det…. Jeg er verdensmester i overspring, og da jeg ikke altid kan bekæmpe det med viljestyrke, har jeg valgt at tage det med som en del af pakken, men blot prøve at være opmærksom pÃ¥ nÃ¥r det sker.
Del gerne jeres tricks til at kalde fantasien frem, når den gemmer sig!
Just a bit of entertainment while I work on something else 😉
I want flatlands I never cared about money and all its friends I want flatlands I want flatlands I don’t want precious stones I never cared about anything you’ve ever owned I want flatlands I want simplicity I need your arms wrapped hard around me I want open plains and scattered trees I want flower fields I want salty seas I want flatlands soft and steady breeze bringing scents of lined-up orchard trees dripping heavy with pears and dancing leaves I want flatlands will you go there with me when it’s said in the dark and you know it’s always there when it’s dead in our heart but your mind is unafraid when it’s said in the dark and you know it’s never coming back when it’s there in your heart in your mind you set it free
(well, actually I want forest, lotsa trees, but otherwise…)
Så har jeg fået en sæk med 5 kg dejlig Gotlandsuld der skal vaskes, farves og spindes. Har absolut ingen planer med det, men det skal blive spændende at prøve. Jeg skal prøve at vaske, så det ikke er helt fedtfri, ellers er der flyvehår over det hele, gotlandsuld er ret mohair-agtigt. Men jeg kan godt lide at arbejde med det ellers og især at farve den grå uld giver en god dybde.
