Painting with Yarn
I was listening to Episode "Green" (#12) from Brenda Dayne's Cast-on podcast.
It was gratifying to hear her talk about "painting with yarn."
In the section where she describes the sweater she's wearing, she doesn't.
She instead, tells of the mittens she had made.
She was knitting some mittens which used alot of different colors. As she described the process of looking at the picture she worked from and substituting colors she had, she experienced, for the first time, "painting with yarn."
Of just picking up a color that "just goes next" while following a "colorway" of lights and darks in the mittens; a theme which had inspired Brenda in the original mittens she was working from.
This was so cool to hear while I was trying to describe and relate my way of knitting. I've only realized lately that I am an artist. The light bulb went off after all these years (decades!) that I just was. I didn't have to be an artist anymore. Or try to be an artist. My colors came out of sentient emotion.
Whether I was adding a color because it followed an emotional colorway or added the color to be irreverent or experimental.
This reminds me of my brother Johnny and several friends who have told me how much my music mixes use to blow them away. That they never would have had the guts to mix into a part mix snatches of Mose Allison, followed by Bronski Beat, then with pop Van Morrison, Stevie Wonder, Genesis, Tom Waits and make it all work. Like painting with music, I loved to throw it songs just because the next one seemed right or to change up the mood irreverently.
That's what carried over into my fiber arts.
And now I can call myself an artist.
Whew.
This was something I was really trying to ponder and express as I described the process of my granny square blanket from stash scraps.
Or in the Process of my Fair Isle blanket in progress.
Or in the freestyle crochet boots which I was inspired by a 70s book "Creative Crochet."
And many more projects I can know go back to, photograph and discuss.
Come back.
You'll hear how I describe alot of these.
And other frugally minded moments of alchemy.
It was gratifying to hear her talk about "painting with yarn."
In the section where she describes the sweater she's wearing, she doesn't.
She instead, tells of the mittens she had made.
She was knitting some mittens which used alot of different colors. As she described the process of looking at the picture she worked from and substituting colors she had, she experienced, for the first time, "painting with yarn."
Of just picking up a color that "just goes next" while following a "colorway" of lights and darks in the mittens; a theme which had inspired Brenda in the original mittens she was working from.
This was so cool to hear while I was trying to describe and relate my way of knitting. I've only realized lately that I am an artist. The light bulb went off after all these years (decades!) that I just was. I didn't have to be an artist anymore. Or try to be an artist. My colors came out of sentient emotion.
Whether I was adding a color because it followed an emotional colorway or added the color to be irreverent or experimental.
This reminds me of my brother Johnny and several friends who have told me how much my music mixes use to blow them away. That they never would have had the guts to mix into a part mix snatches of Mose Allison, followed by Bronski Beat, then with pop Van Morrison, Stevie Wonder, Genesis, Tom Waits and make it all work. Like painting with music, I loved to throw it songs just because the next one seemed right or to change up the mood irreverently.
That's what carried over into my fiber arts.
And now I can call myself an artist.
Whew.
This was something I was really trying to ponder and express as I described the process of my granny square blanket from stash scraps.
Or in the Process of my Fair Isle blanket in progress.
Or in the freestyle crochet boots which I was inspired by a 70s book "Creative Crochet."
And many more projects I can know go back to, photograph and discuss.
Come back.
You'll hear how I describe alot of these.
And other frugally minded moments of alchemy.
posted by WhatWouldBetseyDo @ 5:57 AM
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