New Forum (July Challenge can be found on previous post)

For a little while now I have been using my blog to write up the challenges. I found it easier to use than the Yahoo site which hosts my challenge site. I have decided to open up a new blog as a Forum for the purpose of writing up the challenges and also to enable everyone to see the work that all our talented members create each month. I am hoping that even if you are not a member you might like to drop in from time to time and take a look at what will be a showcase. I hope that if you do drop by, you will leave a comment or two, it's always good to get feedback.
This will mean that I can have my own blog back, even if I do mention what is happening from time to time on the Challenge blog.
It's early days yet and I am in the process of waiting to hear from challenge members what they think of the idea. It will all depend on members as to whether this idea will work. I see it as a way of showing what the challenge ideas each month can achieve from each individual member. It is much easier to post to blogger than it is to Yahoo. I will still use Yahoo but I hope it will be more of an administrative/archival use than the Forum will be.
The Forum will be more friendly and easier to see. The facility of being able to write something next to photos in itself is much nicer than having to look up someones work and then try to find the write up about it in the messages.
This is what I hope the Forum will look like, a typical page entry might look something like this, not my best work but just an example:
June Challenge: Art Deco

Shown above is a page in my sketchbook of drawings that I made of Art Deco Textile patterns.
The picture below is of a small felt postcard (unfinished) based upon the drawings above.




Yes, I hope this will be the way forward for a much more interesting Textile group experience for everyone involved. If you are interested here is the link, just pop back when we are hopefully up and running. Go Create now.... Tricia x

July Challenge: Impressionism/Post Impressionism.

Thanks to Ruth for suggesting Van Gogh and Sue for her suggestion of Impressionism I have decided to cover both this month as Van Gogh is representative amongst others of the period just after Impressionism.
There is plenty of scope with this months challenge. Please feel free to choose either of the movements as inspiration. I am including two links one for each. From these two pages on Wikipedia you can choose to research further because there are plenty of links to other sites. The good thing about Wikipedia is that it will define what that movement is all about and which artists were involved.
So for Impressionism click here and for Post impressionism click here.
When you are thinking about the work that you might produce try to consider the essence of that movement. For instance you could focus on how Seurat mixed paint by combining different colours separately on the canvas, in other words he would for instance place red and yellow dots next to each other to give the impression of orange when viewed from a distance. This is just one of the elements but Seurat was the master at this so he is a good example to illustrate what I mean. If you were to use this idea you could mix your colours in a similar way, for example with seed stitching.
When I talk about inspiration this should not just be limited to making a copy of a painting, you could use the style to produce your own image. At the very least, if you do feel you would like to depict water Lillie's (Monet style) then do try to find your own image of one, it will not only stretch you but be much more interesting to create.
Please try to make some quick sketches before you start if you have the time, this will ensure that you choose the best angle/composition/image to work on in textile.
Most of all enjoy! OK get creating...... Tricia.