Texas Happenings

I have been wanting to update for the past two weeks, but somehow time escaped me.  While you may not believe it, it actually takes a bit of time to update my blog.  Between taking photos, editing them and then figuring out what to say, it can consume a good chunk of time. Which is why, as much as I want to update on a weekly basis, that just may not happen.

A couple weeks ago some pretty scary weather hit my area of Texas, causing freezing temperatures, icy roads and a school day off.  I took advantage of the day off and was able to get quite a bit done.

The first thing was starting a pair of gloves for my mom.  The yarn, Mountain Colors Twizzle, was picked out by her for this project.  I was able to cast on the gloves the evening of the day off and have since finished them.  They will be in the mail this week and I know she will love them.

I was also able to finish the third pairing in my triptych, which has been on my easel for far too long.  When I took on the full time position at my school a few things got tossed aside, mainly  my studio time.  But I am slowly making time to work on my paintings again.

Working Title: "Red Sea"

Speaking of full time, this past week I did a little painting activity with some of my students that involved learning about color values.  We took a color, added white and black to make shades and tints and are making pretty skies for our pictures.  Look how much fun we had!

The dye studio also saw some time that day, as I dyed up several skeins of my "light" yarn - 100% sw merino fingering - in my two new colorways. I also reserved a couple of skeins to just splatter leftover dye on.  I'm calling these "paint water" and ironically I sold those 2 skeins before I even made labels! My knitting group just loved it.

Sometimes life just gets busy, but I always thrive on being busy so I really don't mind.  Maybe I am tired a lot, but somehow I get through the day pretty well.  Remembering that I have the drive and ability to create and share my creations is always something that keeps me going.  What about you?

~Lisa 

2017: The Year That Was...

2017: The Year That Was...

1) The start of a new tradition: knitting journals.

Gifted from a fellow knitter, I have spent the year chronicling every project I worked on and cannot wait to do it again in 2018.  I just wish I didn't have to retire this really nice journal.

2) An (almost) successful attempt at keeping my feet forever warm.

You can see all my projects here!

I am happy to report that I finished 11.25 pairs of socks.  The December pair is still on sock one, as I just cannot speed up those cables.  But I plan to finish them by the end of January, which was when I declared the goal to begin with, so that counts, right? 

3) A major inspiration in my painting world.

With these beauties being my most successful to date (although I am kinda sick of looking at them), I feel like my art is going in a new direction and cannot wait to see how 2018 goes!

(Also, I recently sold the Originals!)

4) The start of many new and exciting things.

I cannot believe I only started this dye journey in March! It feels like I have been doing it for so much longer.  But I guess when you find something you love, time seems to fly.  I have truly enjoyed this new endeavor and cannot wait to introduce my new colors (last 2 on right) and new ideas in 2018!

I have two shows coming up already! One in March and one in June.  I cannot wait, but that means more work for me...

--

What else can I say? I went through and re-read all of my posts from this year and am very impressed with myself on how consistent I was and my ability to share what was happening.  Thank you to everyone who read and commented this year, it always means so much to know someone is listening.

I'm leaving you all with this song, which is from a movie I saw last week.  The lyrics are stuck in my head and are very inspirational for me as an artist.

Bring on 2018!

~Lisa

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We all know what time it is? Christmas....BREAK! Ok maybe I'm a little excited, but the knowledge of having the next two weeks off from school is a pretty nice feeling.  Even though I will be traveling home for part of it, it's still nice to have a little bit of time for myself before I go.

I have had a good amount of time lately to tackle some projects, and I wanted to do a quick post about all of them.  Many of them were started yesterday, my official day off for the holidays, but some have been ongoing.

The December socks are on the needles and taking their sweet time.  The pattern is Lowry Crossing by one of my LYS owners, Petra, and the yarn is from Kimerie's Knit Knacks that I purchased last month.  I love the way these look, but the cables are really tedious and thus slowing me down.  

This will be pair 12 for me and I gotta say, it's been a trip.  I'll do a recap at the end of this pair of each one I've done this year.  Safe to say, I'm worn out and definitely need a sock sabbatical. 

Handmade gifts are also happening again this year, in the form of these cute woven coasters.  I have been spinning mini-skeins on my drop spindle from a grab bag of fiber and then weaving those minis on my small wood loom to make the awesome coasters.  It's been really fun seeing the random stripes and designs my handspun is making!

With my day off yesterday I was able to start on a bunch of things, including a new colorway in my yarn.  Based off the painting "Early Snow Flowers", the colors on this are very warm, considering the name.  Why did I name that painting the way I did? Lol.  But seriously, this is a nice change for me, although the red dye is a little potent. 

On the subject of starts, I also managed to begin the 3rd painting in my triptych.  While I can't get all three in a row on my easel, I am able to at least get the two.  The one on the right - the new one - will be very pink.  I like that I could hang them all separate if I wanted, but that they are also a continuous work. Merging from red to pink, this has been a fun challenge. 

Playing with pink, I also have this "spa cloth" started yesterday that I am going to gift to my future sister-in-law for Christmas.  I'm planning to make two of these, each with Cascade Ultra Pima. I've had a couple of cloths made in pima cotton for a few years now and they hold up so well.  I highly recommend it!  For this gift I am planning to also gift her a bar of soap from my favorite soap maker - RAH soap. She does some amazing scents and varieties and I always have a very positive experience buying from here. 

And finally I decided to do some playing with my dyes.  I had a bunch of end pieces from winding skeins to sell and made some 10g minis.  I laid them all out, grabbed the squirt bottles that already had dye in them and just went to town.  While I'm not selling these (they're for something else), I am thinking of doing this again with larger skeins and calling it "paint water" - as in whatever dye is left in my bottles after a dye session.  Always changing and always fun.

----

I hope everyone has a fabulous holiday.  Whether traveling or staying home, make sure you give yourself time for yourself and your craft, as well as family.  Self care in today's world is really important, and sometimes we miss out on that during the holidays.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!

~Lisa

Bombs Away

There's something about the concept of yarn bombing that just cracks me up.  Maybe it's the colors people tend to use - bright and out of place.  Or the whimsy it adds to a location.  Of just the title itself.  Yarn Bombing.

It seems like lately I've been enjoying this concept on a whole new level, by utilizing it in my artistic practice.  Bombing, or taking over, a place is a fun concept that I have been applying to locations around my area in a way you may not first think about.

When I booked a show for this month at my local (and favorite) cafe/gallery, I knew I wanted to do something that would appeal to a huge audience and make them smile.  I had been playing around with painting on old postcards and decided to try doing the same thing on my own photos.

 The ones you are seeing as you read this are just a few examples of the 50+ that I completed for this show.  Some are serious, some are funny, but all should bring a smile to the viewer's face, especially when they see all of them lined up like below.

I've placed oil paintings along the other walls of the cafe, so overall the show looks nice and cohesive.  The official reception is this Thursday and I think it's going to be a good turnout.

In other news, I recently booked my first Trunk Show! During the Hill Country Yarn Crawl, various shops stay open longer hours and host indie dyers to share their yarns.  A shop in Wimberly, TX, reached out to me via Instagram and asked if I could come sell some of my yarns with her one weekend.  Of course I said yes! So now I am in major sample mode, making things with my newest colors to encourage buyers.  

The willow cowl seemed like a good fit for this yarn, and a quick knit.  I chose to use my Mushroom Petal Bloom colorway and so far the variations and pooling are looking so amazing.  I really do feel like I am meant to do this. 

August FO's

A few weeks ago I talked about all of the WIPs I had on my needles and how I seemed to just keep casting on more and more things.  Well I'm happy to say today that many of those WIPs have found their way off my needles, with plenty of time left in the year to make even more things!

The biggest of these is my Fallen Moon Drops Cowl, which I designed myself with my handdyed yarn.  I was really nervous about this as I got to the bottom as I wasn't sure how the holes would work out with the feather and fan, but after blocking they turns out perfect! I even discovered a new bind-off that is perfect for any type of lace knitting.  The Frilled Standard Bind-off is a great way to end any type of wavy lace design and stretches so nicely.

The next thing that I finished is a bit of a miracle. But knowing my knitting skills, maybe not so much.  I mentioned wanting to knit a pair of socks for my little sister using some Neon sock yarn.  Well I was able to cast on those socks over my long weekend last week and finished them in exactly a week! I ended up not using that neon yarn as it was scratchy and she gets irritated easily.  So I went with some self striping that I had scraps of and paired it with black mini-mochi to make up the difference. I had just enough to finish the pair and gifted them to her this past Sunday.  She didn't try them on there so hopefully they fit!

Her entire birthday gift! She turns 11 tomorrow!

I also finished those dishcloths I mentioned and gifted them, and the crochet tank I had is currently in time out, likely to be ripped, as it doesn't stretch and is too small.  I guess you can't win them all.

With all of these things done, I've been working on my Breathing Space sweater, which is turning out really nice.  I plan to cast on my September socks soon too, but I can't settle on a pattern or yarn.  Sigh.

My final FO for now is a painting that took me over a month to complete.  With school starting, the dye business going and just the realities of life, it's been hard to really focus on new paintings.

Currently untitled, this painting is an extension of the glowing tidepool-esque paintings I have been working on.  I like this one with the blue, but I feel the first three were more successful.

---

I hope everyone is having a good start to the month and if you had the day off yesterday, you were able to enjoy yourself. I got quite a bit done so I can't really complain.

~Lisa

July Projects

And here's August.  I say it every month and mean it every time: Where did the time go?  At this time next week I'll be in teacher in-service for another school year.  Really....

I wanted to just take a moment and discuss the things I've finished this month, which has been plenty despite how fast it went. 

On the knitting front, I have a couple projects off the needles. The first was "Gray Gardens", a cowl/shawl hybrid that I really enjoyed making and enjoy wearing.  The shape is nice because you get the drape of a cowl without having to deal with it falling off or trying to find a place for those ends.  My only complaint is that I wish I had bound it off looser, so the lace edging wouldn't curl in so much.

The other project off my needles for July is my pair of socks - "Striped Panda Socks" - with some left over panda sock yarn I dyed to stripe a bit.  I thought I would enjoy these more, but somewhere around sock two I got anxious.  So much that I ended up making the foot too long and binding off too loose.  Soooo instead of ripping out I tucked the toe in and sewed it.  That's how much I wanted to be done with these.  Can you even tell in the photo? (Hint, it's the sock on the right)

Probably the biggest accomplishment of the month is the completion of my latest oil painting, thus completing the series.  The "Glowing Tide Pool" Series is officially complete! And I love all three together so much.  The are definitely my strongest works to date and I plan to play with this concept more coming soon. 

PS: You can buy prints on my Etsy if you want!

And finally! I dyed more yarn this month and settled on a Launch Date for my yarn selling.  This Friday, August 4th, I will be officially listing my handpainted yarns on Etsy.  Word of warning though: It will only be available to those near me for the first weekend or so, so that I may give those who have been supporting me the most a first pick and so that I may hand deliver it.  Whatever is left after that launch will be made available to the whole internet community.  And after that I'll be dying more!

(2 of the 4 colorways I'll have)

Starting a small business has been an adventure so far, and based on reception among friends and followers, I can tell I'm in for a ride!

--

How was your July? Did anything exciting happen? Any great FOs?? Do share!

~Lisa

Fiber Art Defined

What is "Fiber Art" anyway? I'm sure we all have our own definition.  Those who do simple scarves with knitting or crochet could be considered fiber artists, but in the eyes of the "professionals", maybe they aren't as much.  And those professionals can be loosely defined as well, as people who choose to create something fancier, more unique or just plain crazy that one wouldn't be likely to wear to Walmart. 

A good definition of Fiber Art that I found is: 

"Fiber art refers to fine art whose material consists of natural or synthetic fiber and other components, such as fabric or yarn. It focuses on the materials and on the manual labor on the part of the artist as part of the works' significance, and prioritizes aesthetic value over utility."

Where am I going with this? Well, I've always considered myself a fiber artist, despite the fact that my paintings have no physical fiber in them.  It can be argued that my scarves, shawls, etc are all fiber art, but I wouldn't put those in a gallery show.  My paintings, however, depict images of knitted forms and are created by looking at a still life created from the actual knitted forms, so shouldn't they be fiber art?  

I've never really worried about this until now, and I haven't had much opportunity to display my works in a fiber art show.  But as of late it's been on my mind a lot, as a local gallery in town is hosting a juried fiber show and, to quote a good friend, "A fiber art show in Downtown Bryan without Lisa Urban in it is just wrong".  

I've experimented a lot the past few months with what I want to do to enter this show, as my normal oil paintings just won't cut it. I've tried attaching knitted thread to create "clouds" on top of my paintings.  I've tried physically knitting a panel and oil painting on it.  I've tried sewing threads in certain spots of a painting.  None are convincing enough for me.  I was about to give up when I had the honor to teaching a "kids fiber arts" camp a couple weeks back.  Teaching the kids some techniques gave me an idea.

I was teaching the kids to weave one day on small, cardboard looms and the next thing I knew I was joining in on my own little wooden one.  Using handspun yarn scraps, I created a few small coasters. I got to thinking that they'd be cool to sell at the shop I work in, and considered making more.

But then something clicked and I realized I had a solution to my fiber art problem.

Little woven canvases! I have a ton of this old rug warp and linen yarn that a friend gave me.  I never thought I'd use it, in fact I debated donating it or selling it at one point.  I'm so glad I didn't!

Using scrap sock yarn as the warp, I'm weaving with the linen (I think it's linen) yarn to create little squares on my little wooden loom. 

Once the squares are created, the ends are woven in and a small coat of primer is applied to the front side.  I am then using gouache to paint a small version of my knitted landscapes directly onto the surface.  the result is a surreal, woven painting.  I showed this to several people and they all agreed this is a clever, cute way to create 'fiber art' that is unique to me. 

The four blank ones above are going to be my next ones, with the color scheme of the painting matching the yarn I used to warp.  The final projects are then mounted on a black square of mat board and placed in a simple frame.   Along with the local show, there are a few other shows I think I may enter if I can pull this idea off.

What do you think? What is fiber art to you? How fun is this idea? 

~Lisa

Summer of Art

Being out of school for a few months sure feels nice.  I've been able to travel a bit, get some major knitting done, and most importantly - make some new art!

I decided today's post is going to be about the art that I've been working on as of late, since it seems like it has been a while since I've shared anything from that side of my life.

First up is an oil painting I finished last week.  "Green Sea Tears" is the first in a series of at least three 20x16 paintings where the viewer is looking down and one of the forms is glowing.  I think I pulled it off well.  I do plan to make the next ones have a bit more of a glow to them. 

The second one has been started.  I have decided this series will have paintings that are all radically different in color from each other.  I haven't done a straight up orange painting in ages, so it's about time.  For this one the top right circle will be the glowing form - I just haven't added the yarn on top yet. 

Figure drawing group is every Wednesday night and I get to run it for my boss. It's given me a chance to really hone my drawing skills (and enter some shows - see here).  I really enjoy this style of layering all of the night's poses on the paper.  I just wish photographing drawings on white paper were easier.

Finally, a project I'm working on for my solo exhibition in September at the Village Cafe (pictured above).  As it will be my three year anniversary of moving to Texas I am going around and taking photos of places that have held significance to me during this time and then "yarn-bombing" them.  The cafe has this one wall that I plan to just plaster with these photos.  It's been fun so far!

Art is a thing that will never leave my life, no matter what form it decides to take.  I'm just too creative for my own good sometimes.  What about you? Do you ever create anything that isn't knitting? Any art happening? I'd love to hear!

~Lisa 

PS: For anyone interested, I recently changed my artist website again. It's a lot cleaner and more  professional looking. 

Let's Talk Art

Today's post is about something a little different: my art.  

Ok, not that much different, but I don't have a lot happening in knit world right now so I decided to take a moment to talk about ideas I've had recently within my paintings.  Hopefully you've seen my art.  But if you haven't, here's a quick refresher:

My art is all about the imaginary worlds inside my head, filled with knitted forms (mostly knitted balls). This initial concept was based off the idea of looking at illustrations and Disney scenes to use as my inspiration.  Lately it's become more about creating floating forms within a water-scene, which for me is basically floating the forms in a fish tank to use as my still life.

This past weekend I rented the new Disney Movie, Moana, which I have seen twice in theaters.  But anyways, as I was knitting and watching, something happened.

There are so many amazing water-based scenes in this movie, and they all have phenomenal color schemes. What if I decided to go back to using Disney as my inspiration, specifically scenes from this movie?  It wouldn't be a literal copy of course, and my knitted stuff would still be in there, but it's a fun idea.There are enough different colors/moods in these scenes I could get a whole series form it.  

It's on my mind, whether or not I choose to do it, time will tell.  I have some other ideas I'm playing with in my oil paintings right now so it's hard for me to think about switching gears to this, but it could be worth a shot I guess.

I hope you enjoyed my quick art-centric post.  I needed to get it out.  :) 

Have a great week friends!

~Lisa