Saturday 25 February 2012

Art


Hello; Happy Weekend!  My posts ususally come along at the weekend, which is when I get most of my crafts done.  I absolutely adore waking up on a Saturday and Sunday knowing that I can do whatever I like ALL DAY!!!  And the best bit of all is that I always want to create something and I get on and do it; unlike evenings when I don't get much done - and I could kick myself for it...  I get home from work during the week, have some supper and settle down for the evening and I could easily have 4 crafting hours...  but I'll think about it...  and think a bit more...  and look at what projects I have on the go... and see what is on the TV...  and as usual switch off the TV again...  and think it's now getting later... is it worth starting something...  and turn on my laptop... and browse pinterest, ravelry and blogs... and finally get inspired to do something and AAAARGHHH!!! It's bedtime!!!   Honestly I get so frustrated with myself and it's just because I have a limited amount of time available to me and not all day.  Am I on my own with this affliction or are there any more sufferers out there?  Actually, I think part of the problem at this time of year is the hours of darkness; I always feel more inspired during the daylight hours... 

But enough of that... today I want to talk about COLOUR...


I love it.  It affects my mood.  It lifts my spirits.  It makes me happy.  And part of the appeal of crochet to me is the colour play you get with creating stripes or fitting modular squares/hexagons/shapes together.  I can waste loads of time just looking at the colour explosion I have created with a hook and seeing particular combinations of colour within that I love, sometimes quite surprisingly.


But really 'just looking' at a piece of work you have created isn't a waste of time is it?  We don't put all this effort into making something that will be stored away and never looked at (well apart from the disasters anyway!)  And I feel varying emotions when I look at my work; I can feel pride, and accomplishment, and sometimes relief that it's done.  But because I love colour so much, mainly when I look at my work it lifts my mood and brings me happiness.  I think it can be classed as Art.  Britannica Online defines Art as "the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others."  Yes, definately Art.  So, with that in mind I decided to experiment with some crochet that doesn't have any use other than to be looked at; just displayed on the wall.  As expected my taste in art is very colourful.  So I decided to create a very simple striped picture.


I bought a very inexpensive stretched canvas, and a glue gun, and set about making a long rectangle of stripy goodness that roughly fit symetrically within the canvas.  I used my usual 4.5 mm hook and dk yarn and did 2 colour stripes of single crochet with 15 stitches until I reached the desired length.  I edged the whole thing with 1 row of single crochet in charcoal.


I'm not the most precise worker, so in order to aid me in lining my (blocked) crochet up visually, I stuck strips of sellotape along each edge of the frame to make the inner space smaller - this helped me to centre the crochet visually within it -


I then stuck the edges down with a hot glue gun.


And placed pins at the sides to keep in shape until dry.



The glue didn't take long to dry at all, and the 'art' could be hung on the wall within half an hour.







What do you think?  Is it art?  My verdict is that I like the idea, but not my sloppy execution!  I think the charcoal edging looks messy, and it looked better without it.  Worth more experimentation me thinks!  Watch this space...

There has been an amazing response to the Almond Blossom Bag and I've received lots of fantastic comments.  Thank you sooooo much!

Until next time; happy crocheting!
xx

34 comments:

  1. WOW! Again, absolutely inspiring. As cheesy as it is, just the basket with all the yarn completely inspired us! Happy seeing beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Art comes in many forms and yes this is indeed art and of the yummy and textured kind i think it looks beautiful and its such a lovely injection of colour to your wall. I to loved the photo of your basket of wool a picture of art there in its self. Have a lovely weekend, dee x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Crochet is definately a gorgeous art. I have framed some myself. Still working on it's finishing touches. I love the colours!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That't very cool. I love that idea. I just may have to mimic it!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think it looks perfect - it's your own personal rainbow. Have a great crochet day. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Amazing...what can we do just with few yards of yarn...terrific project.Love it !Have a wonderful week :0)

    Luna

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is simply stunning-I would love to have it hanging on my wall! I suppose I will just have to make one of my own-actually I can visualise this in all sorts of colour combinations-seascape, sunset, springtime.... thank you for the idea!

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a great idea! Hm now you have me thinking about my blank canvas down in the Wife Cave and the possibilities (as my painting attempts haven't been that successful).

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have been trying to teach myself how to crochet for about a year now and it isn't going all that well! I am a pretty good knitter but crochet seems to allude me and I really want to be able to do it! Any suggestion for tutorials? I bought the Chicks with Sticks Guide to Crochet but I still seem to struggle.
    Beth

    ReplyDelete
  10. lol! I agree with delia, the basket of rainbowy yarn goodness was inspiring enough!

    And absolutely it's art! I think it would be a great display for a craft room or a comfy nook of the house!

    ReplyDelete
  11. What a super gorgeous basket of wool and the colours are so pretty. I do like your wall art with crochet, I've been thinking of making a few crochet motifs and then frame them somehow but at the moment I have 3 or 4 projects on the go so can't really start a new one yet.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love this wall art and also your lovely colourful basket of wools! Maggie xx

    ReplyDelete
  13. you are so smart ,I admire you very much! So glad you are having fun - those colours of yarn are just amazing! abercrombie looking forward to all the good things your blog shares.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I am actually coming to your site re. the Follower linky blog hop. I AM FOLLOWING YOU *** WILL YOU FOLLOW ME BACK ? Thank you so much when you do.

    There is also a link party on our blog, where you can feature 'your best creative work'. There are some great projects to see already, but we want to see your work!

    This url is both to FOLLOW and to PARTY:
    http://www.FineCraftGuild.com/party/

    Hope to seeing you around!!
    Have a happy, creative day!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hallo!^^
    Du hast einen wundervollen Blog!
    Ich komme sehr gern wieder.;O)
    Liebe Grüße aus Deutschland,*Manja*

    ReplyDelete
  16. Helo dear!!!
    Wonderful!!!!
    Kisses to Brasil.

    ReplyDelete
  17. ohoh Nice
    I love it :D
    Best wishes from Chile

    ReplyDelete
  18. Karen,
    I love all of it! Gorgeous colors and I don't think it looks sloppy at all! Your blog is wonderful- I so appreciate your generosity in sharing your lovely patterns- so much inspiration here, but now what project to start with?! Thank you, Karen-- you've found a loyal blog follower. :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hello Karen! I recently found you on Ravelry and am happy to find your blog. I am enjoying catching up on all of your beautiful posts. I like your work of stripey art very much -- brilliant idea!

    ReplyDelete
  20. A really simple idea (although not one I would've been creative enough to have thought of!) but absolutely beautiful. Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Your striped piece looks wonderful! Colors always inspire me too!

    As for your leading paragraph, I feel that way almost every night! I do have the weekends too, but somehow housework, hubby, mom, etc. always win out. Sometimes I get things done, but not too often!

    ReplyDelete
  22. So glad I found your blog! I was inspired by your genius art application and decided to give it a try myself. I wanted to make a birthday gift for my 3 year old Granddaughters new bedroom. I used a 12 x 18 inch canvas and made a Granny bobble stripe piece for the center and edged all around that with Garden Granny Squares. The colours I used were pistachio, hot pink, turquoise and white which is the colour scheme for the room. I love how it turned out and thanks for sharing your talent!

    ReplyDelete
  23. What a beautiful idea! Yes, the fiber arts are art, and your crochet piece is worthy of being called art. All you need to do now is sign it.

    ReplyDelete
  24. What’s up everybody, here every person is sharing such familiarity, therefore it’s good to read this webpage, and I used to pay a visit this web site every day. Feel free to visit my website; 토토

    ReplyDelete
  25. I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your website to come back later. Many thanks Feel free to visit my website; 온라인카지노

    ReplyDelete
  26. Terrific post thoroughly enjoyed reading the blog and more over found to be the tremendous one. In fact, educating the participants with it's amazing content. Hope you share the similar content consecutively. Feel free to visit my website, thank you! 사설토토

    ReplyDelete
  27. I am a new user of this site, so here I saw several articles and posts published on this site, I am more interested in some of them, hope you will provide more information on these topics in your next articles. Feel free to visit my website, thank you! 온라인카지노

    ReplyDelete
  28. I just got to this amazing site not long ago. I was actually captured with the piece of resources you have got here. Feel free to visit my website, thank you! 파워볼게임

    ReplyDelete
  29. Excellent Blog! I would like to thank for the efforts you have made in writing this post. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well. I wanted to thank you for this websites! Thanks for sharing. Great websites! Feel free to visit my website, thank you! 카지노

    ReplyDelete
  30. Please continue to post good comments. l come every day. Please. 먹튀사이트

    ReplyDelete
  31. Appreciate it for this post, I am a big fan of this website would like to keep updated. 안전놀이터

    ReplyDelete
  32. I didn t know there was such a good place. I will visit often from now on. I hope your business thrives. 온라인카지노

    ReplyDelete