Lines: a page from my studies 3

I’m trying to out wait the rain. I’ll post again as soon as I have new pictures. In the meantime…

I’ve been thinking about a post that Gwen Magee did near Christmas on Symbols at her blog Textile Arts Resources. I haven’t explored the list of resources in this post fully but it’s one that I keep going back to everytime I have a little spare time. Many thanks to Gwen for putting together such a great resource.

One thing my design teacher wanted me to realize was that even a simple line may hold symbolism that will convey a meaning. The color of the line definitely impacts that symbolism but a plain black line may convey some symbolic meaning.

The basic lines are stitched an labeled in the first photograph below. The vertical line tends to makes me think of spiritual things. The horizontal represents stability. A diagonal tends to convey movement and direction. When I look at the free form line I stitched it looks like calm seas; the erratic, mountains. Especially the last two lines seem to be so easy to move into something else. If I’d stitched them differently, I can imagine them conveying threatening waves and unstable conditions, respectively.

This second photograph is one of the pieces I did on lines for my design class. My teacher assigned the characteristics that the lines were to convey. I tried to stitch these lines with appropriate colors. The photo cropping and colors are a little off. The decisive and growing line looks black on my monitor but it is actually green. The creeping line is a dark gray. Prickly is a deep purple.

Alternation: a page from my studies

Last time I did a post from my studies the topic was variation in repetition. Alternation is another way to deal repetition. This is something I use to do without even thinking about. But when I learned think about it, it helped me to understand why some design worked or didn’t work. It allowed me to think about a whether to make the alternation pronounced or just a whisper before I stitched.

In this first example I used three different size rectangles. Think of numbering each size box in order of appearance. The pattern is 123332 and repeat.

This is the next alternation. The line size is exactly the same but the direction of the line causes the alternation. The repetition pattern becomes 1234567 repeat.

Here is an alternation based on shape and position.

The first flower and leaf are repeated exactly but in a different position than the first flower and leaf. For the repetition pattern I’ve assigned them 1a and 1b. The next object is a flower without a leaf and is assigned a 2 for the repetition pattern. The pattern then becomes 1a 1b 2 repeat.

Here the alternation deals with texture and position. Rather than explain it, I represented it visually beside the drawing. The position of the number reflects the position of the squares, the square’s texture is indicated by the number itself.

Please remember I’m not an expert in anything I’m presenting here. I’m reviewing a design class I took a couple of years ago as part of my work for this year.

Repetition and variation: a page from my studies

I learned valuable lessons today. Label photographs so one may easily find them again. I had one more post I wanted to do on lines, but I couldn’t find the photograph. That lead to the second lesson, have a post in readiness in case of the above disaster or some other emergency.

Here are a few interesting exercises that I had to do for my design class. I love patterns and repetition. This practice made me realize the value of variation in the repetition. Is the second sketch the improved one? If so why? What elements can be used to give variation in repetition? These sketches hint at some of the things my teacher was trying to explain to me.

Above the shape of the flower is constant, but the lines are varied. Below the lines are constant but the shape of the flower is varied.

Below the shape is the same but the size is varied.

Which fence top is more interesting? However, what kind of fence do you want around your house? I think I could hazard a guess as to which one my dad would say more closely approximates his ideal.

In other word, there is value in using variation within repetition, However, exact repetition may also convey a meaning that is more important. If I want to say something about the owner of the house by the orderliness of the unvaried, repetitious fence, then perhaps the flowers or hedges along the fence line might lend interest. However, if the flowers and hedges reflect the same message as the fence, the ideas about the owner are intensified.

The practice sketch below is to give a small idea of what part texture or value may play in lending interest to repetition.

Lines: a page from my studies 2

There are so many interesting things about lines and their properties. This post is about one of my favorite lines exercises from a design class I took a couple of years ago. In that practice I was to take two different lines and make them equal in weight, size and value and then work to make one line dominate over the other. Briefly, one theory I was exploring is that contrast in the lines brings in tension or interest but to achieve unity dominance needs to be established. One line may be emphasized over another by size (length), value, weight or repetition.

Think about two identical horizontal lines all by themselves on a page. Not too, interesting. After all how much more worthy of being looked at is one than the other? But remove one of the horizontal lines and replace it with a vertical line, much more interesting. But what if the two different lines are the same size, value and weight, then they both vie for your attention, right? Below is a quick, simple idea. On the left, one line is vertical; one, horizontal. But they are both the same in size, value and weight. On the right, size has emphasized the vertical line.

In this next example on the left the size, value and weight of the two lines are the same. I attempted to establish dominance by decreasing the value of the horizontal line on the right. I’m not positive how successful I was in this since the horizontal overlays the erratic line. If you saw all my exercises you would see how sometimes, as above, I allowed a very large emphasis in one line above the other. In other examples, I was trying to get away with the smallest margin of dominance. I wanted to see if the difference in the size of the margin caused a difference in my feeling about the unity of the piece. A very subjective thing to attempt to test, I suppose. How much tension am I comfortable with?

On the left, both the erratic and vertical line have the same weight, value and size. The dominance is established by repetition on the right although now the erratic line is much longer than any one of the vertical lines.

In the last example, the size and value of the lines are the same but the weight of the free form line makes it dominant over the diagonal line.

This is only the tip of the ice burg in all that there is to consider about lines. Please keep in mind I’m not an expert in this area. But I found these exercises helpful in both looking at my own work and the work of others. Sometimes when I can’t seem to follow the principles in my own work, it is nice to look at what others are doing and say to myself, they are doing just what my teacher was talking to me about and it works.

Lines: a page from my studies 1

It’s exciting to think that SharonB’s 2008 Take it Further challenge (TIF/TIFC) is now underway. Sharon has detailed the January challenge. I’ve got my color chips out and have already been thinking about the “someone you admire” concept. At this point, I’ve decided to post as I go along in the process. I’m going to be working on some ideas this week and plan the first post for next Tuesday (usa, west coast). I’m looking forward to all the TIF posts that will be springing up both in blogs I visit now and those new-to-me that have joined in Sharon’s challenge.

Since the TIF challenge is focusing on design this year, I’m reviewing material from work I did in 2006. This gives me a refresher and reduces the some of the stitch samples I might otherwise be doing. I have a concern about how much stitching time I’m committing to with TIF and some of my other projects that are getting underway now that I’ve finished working on TSTC. I hope you enjoy seeing these exercises that I plan to post about once a week.

Please, keep in mind I’m not an expert or a teacher in this area. I’m a student. I’m not planning to or qualified to write at any depth about the issues in the exercises. They are merely exercises that helped me think about what a needle and thread on a ground (fabric) could do.

Today’s page is from a restricted exercise. I basically had to show motion and speed with one long straight line and three to five much shorter straight lines.

tumble

soar

divide

stop

tread

I’m not sure why such simple things always makes me think, “what if”. What would I choose to help amplify the meaning. What color, value, weight and texture for threads? What stitches to use? What fabrics? No wonder I like exercises where my options are limited.