Thursday, August 30, 2007

Threadsketches and Sonny & Cher


Flower Pot Moon: mixed media on watercolor paper. The crescent moon has words from music sheets that serendipitously reads: fadeless flow'rs shed a fragrance rare, one by one down the stream of life.
Pansy & Rose: mixed media on watercolor paper. Some of the collage is from a French play that some student long ago was transcribing and in pencil wrote "bold-spirited". Thanks to my pal Jes who had passed along the effy.


Totally outside of my own self-impopsed box I took a flying leap yesterday and much to my own suprise landed strongly on the ground in an upright position. Crop, Paper, Scissors arrived in the mail on Monday, I gobbled it up on Tuesday and on Wednesday dove into a threadsketch. I am remiss in remembering the author/artists name who did the article, but I remember thinking "hmmmm, i can do that." And am I glad I did.


See, I'm a seamstress, too. I spent ten years operating a sewing & design business. I made wedding gowns, bridesmaids dresses, curtains, bathing suits, mittens, purses, tea cozies...whatever someone wanted no matter how hideous (or beautiful) it would be. I burned out. I put away my sewing machine. I kissed it goodbye. Then one day recently I heard it whisper: "Miss Tammy, I'm over here." Over six moves last year I always brought the dang thing with me. I stick it in a corner of a spare room and look at it sideways wondering why I've dragged it along. Now I know.


Ten days ago I stitched up a purse in about 2 hours. It went together like Sonny & Cher I tell you. I could feel my heart open as the time flew by and joy filled me. Sewing is a huge part of me. And yesterday as I put the machine to use on these two paintings I wanted to cry. The joy creeped in again and soon I was giddy. My dear friend Rhonda was so patient with my little screams of bliss.

I owe the author/artist of that article a whole world of gratitude as I begin exploring this concept of threadsketching. In the meantime a question to all of you experienced artist bloggers: How the heck to you get your pix so clear. I scan mine directly, edit just a bit and then drop them in but I never get a clear pix or a close up. What can I do to remedy this? Should I be taking pix directly?





6 comments:

Leah said...

these pieces are so awesome, tammy!! perhaps you can show me how to work a sewing machine sometime. :-)

the pictures you've got here look good to me, but perhaps you need to adjust the settings on the scanner if you're having trouble getting the details you want?

Melanie Margaret said...

I am excited for you...Love hearing that you are blissfull!

I scan my pictures too. Sometimes I have to clean the scanner to get it sharp and sometimes I have to cover what I am scanning with a piece of cardstock because too much light gets in the scanner.

The best pictures I see of merchandise on Etsy I know are either taken by a camera outside or a light box is used.

:)
XO,
Melba

Susan Tuttle said...

Very colorful mixed media pieces--I really like the yellow!

Definitely check out Stadler Gallery the next time you pass through Kingfield--it's a great experience.

Susan

Jen said...

the yellow background looks great with the pink...someday, I will get a scanner...your pictures today look clear to me.

Unknown said...

I love learning that you are a talented sewer. I have a decent machine and really want to learn to be more proficient, but I am still terrified of it. Thanks for the push. I love the new artwork too!

a Bohemian Market said...

Hi Tammy:
I love how you mixed water colors with the saemstress in you!!!
I take pictures upload them directly to my desktop, re-size them and upload to my blog. So much easier than scanning : )
Be nice to Miss Sewing machine : )
Your pieces are REALLY artfull!!!
Cheers
carole
The photographs look good that you have scanned. When I enlarged the 2nd one it is super gorgeous!!!