Terra Incognita

Nikolas Schiller is a cartographer who has turned maps into art. Two years ago, the Washington Post described him as a sly, rebel cartographer who “makes maps that look like quilts, masks, feathers, acid trips.” He has been creating these since 2004. I happen to think they are gorgeous.

One of his categories is called a Quilt Series. He also has a Mandala Series (the Jefferson Mandala is my favorite), a Star Series and many others you can explore for yourself.

Just for fun, I went to Google Maps and picked a place randomly. You may, or may not, be able to decipher the location. Schiller, of course, would not use Google Maps. He would use something like U.S. Geological Survey, or a source only a professional cartographer would have access to.

This is the Google map I chose:

Google Map

And here are some patterns produced from the map:

Satellite Design 1

Satellite Design 2

Satellite Design 3

This could get addictive! And, if you take a glimpse at Daily Design Papers, in my case it already has. You can find design sources, as I have said before, EVERYWHERE. You can produce a design from ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. That is part of the addiction: you want to achieve that. You know it is impossible, but you can’t stop trying. EVERYTHING is a very challenging amount to deal with.

A Print a Day

Be sure to check out Yasmine Surovec’s A print a day. Her post for January 15, 2009 is a short & sweet tutorial on how to take simple black and white shapes, develop a color palette from a favorite photograph or magazine page, and  then use those colors to jazz up the black & white originals. This results in a collection of color coordinated design papers.

I gave it a try with a simple triangle design.

Triangle Design 1

I created a palette from my Four Leaf Clover design paper.

Four Leaf Clover DP palette

Here are a couple variations.

Triangle Design 2

Triangle Design 3

Triangle Design 7

Then, of course, you can put the two together in different transparencies, and voila!

Triangle designs combined

It was great fun. Thanks, Yasmine!

Oh, oh! Mama has a New Baby and is Neglecting the First Child!

I have been having a great time with my challenge to myself–to take a photo and turn it into a design paper, every day! However, I suddenly realized I had not put a post into Silverspring Studio for 4 days! My rhythm has been thrown off. It feels very much like when I had my second child, and sometimes felt that all the energy needed to attend to the infant didn’t leave adequate attention for the first child!

We’ll see how long I can keep up the design papers. I have a sense that it is something I need to do. And I received such great encouragement from Jane Dunnewold, saying that I should forge ahead and follow my heart! So, that’s what I shall do, because right after I saw her Daily Visuals, creating my Daily Design Papers site became an absolute imperative.

Gotta go, the baby’s crying!

Incubation and the Art Process

I have an insightful friend/artist, who asked me a very pertinent question about the poetry I write. Let me tell you that when discussing things with her, you had better be prepared for razor sharp penetration to the heart of an issue. It is one of the things I love about her. I had mentioned that I wasn’t writing much anymore, because I was so focused on quilt making. Here was her question/statement:

“Surely the contemplative nature of its incubation could be a productive part of your art process?”

That question left me speechless as it echoed in my skull chamber. I was tempted to smack myself on the forehead, but I have learned to accept that sometimes we are oblivious to the most obvious things about ourselves. It takes the probing of another~a loving, sentient being~to help us achieve certain realizations. Thank you Margi!

I put Margi’s insights together with Tammy Vitale’s November 21st offering, over at Women, Art, Life, of  a poem that touched others, as well as myself.  It is titled Dream. Ellie, responded by sharing  a poem of her own. She also said she once played piano! Leah liked the poem and when I went to her site, I was very taken with her work! It has the quality of visual poetry! Then I found this page by Tinkerings. The water lily is a favorite image of mine, and this hand is beautifully rendered.

So, I am going to crash the music playing, poetry writing, image making party with a poem (and image) of my own. But first, let me say that I played piano at one time (years of exams and festivals) but gave it up to pursue art and poetry. I simply didn’t feel I could spend the hours needed, any more, to keep my technique up to the level required to do justice to Bach, Mozart, etc.

As for this poem, I don’t know if it’s finished; it was in my head when I woke up yesterday morning, around 5 pm, and hurried to the computer to capture it. I may decide I have to change some words, or entire lines in the future, but I’m going to publish it anyway. The image is part of my Daily Design Papers practice, though I didn’t publish it on the blog.

Our hope would have it

There is something
within us,
something golden and round like a holy
yolk that seeks to break
free.    It’s not

that this structure    of
skin and bone lacks
comfort or
familiarity.  It actually seems
alive.    We pet
and groom it,  teach it
tricks,  entice it
with treats.    But inevitably
the pins that hold it all
in place let loose     the soft shell
crumbles.    What walked
and talked now proves
itself a mere

container.    That precious
orb within is still
intact     at least
our hope would have it
so     despite
its perfect    absolute
inscrutability.    Or,
perhaps,

because of it?

© Carol Wiebe

Perfect yolk

I Ponder What to Do with the Daily Design Papers

I will probably have to start another blog, or these daily design papers will take over this one. That’s what Jane Dunnewold did (smart).

Here is today’s offering:

Photo

The berries and leaves have a lacy, delicate look on the snow. Their random placement is pleasing, as are the gradations of white to blue.

Berries in the Snow

Daily Design Papers

Two things have converged in my mind to present myself with a challenge. The first is Maggie Taylor’s work, which I discussed in the post before this one. Maggie uses many layers of scanned images to produce her work, but I prefer to use photographs. I do not have a large collection of vintage photos, nor do they necessarily suit the kind of artwork I do. Besides, Ann Baldwin~who does wonderful collage paintings, as you probably know~talked about the fact that after amassing her collection of vintage photos, someone else grouped some of them into copyrighted products! The safest way to avoid copyright issues is to only use your own work (or get permission for that of someone else).

The second thing that impressed itself upon my brain for this challenge was Jane Dunnewold’s Daily Visuals. This is how she describes them:

On November 10, 2008, I committed to a year-long photo-journaling practice. As an artist, I believe it is valuable to spend time every day looking at the world around me. To this end, I committed to posting a daily photograph and a few thoughts when applicable – on color, design, spirit and making. While this is primarily a witness to processes that help me go deeper into my own art-making, it is also a practice worth sharing. I invite you to comment, if you are moved to do so. And thanks for joining in!

I especially love the comment Jane makes on her December 4th offering, which is papery bark on a tree, where she muses that “Every artist faces a myriad of possible considerations when it comes to representing an image drawn from Nature. The challenge is to recognize the elegant choice.”

Well, I’m going to do my own daily visuals, and see how many I can turn into design papers, as I am wont to call them. I will dub this practice my Daily Design Papers. That is my personal challenge. If you are interested in trying this as well, I have some ideas that could make it quite interesting. We could do swaps, for instance: you send me one of yours and I’ll send you one of mine. Later, we can share artwork where we’ve incorporated them. Sound like fun?

Fun is the operative word: anything goes. Do not let perfectionist tendencies stop you from taking, or posting, pics. Nothing is too mundane to photograph. Recognizing the elegant choice does not always happen immediately!

I am going to start with my hand reflected in the window on the door in my studio.

Hand reflection in studio window

After  a few quick duplications and flips in Photoshop Elements, the selection turns into this:

Hand reflected design 1

Rather argyle sweaterish, non? Combine things a little differently, tweak the colors, and you get this.

Hand reflected design 2

Now it’s your turn!