Food for thought: More and more

25 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by Deidhre Wauchop in Food for thought

Tags

fibonacci, jewellery, miyuki beads, ombre, pom-poms, reading, Rose the artist Sim, Tibor Kalman

I’ve managed a little bit of balance between the many pies recently. Here are some completed projects, some more in the offing and some musings.

Every sized pom-pom under the sun

I have a pom-pom maker for every size from 10mm to 115mm. I’m aiming to make the perfect pom-pom, i.e. perfect sphere, which means finding the perfect yarn and then perfecting the technique. All I need to do now is think of what to do with the pom-poms I make!

Square beaded wraps

My stash of beads is almost infinite, so I’ve made about 15 different designs for wrap bracelets, mainly featuring miyuki square beads—love the square! I’m aiming to get some colour-blocking, some ombre, some fibonacci and some cloud patterns happening but not quite there yet.

Artist Rose in Sim-Land

I have a new best friend in the Sims 3 Wonderland—Rose, and she is an artist and dancer. Rose is modelled on a very good friend and I’m interested to see how the nuances of her artistic practice differ from my own Sim.

I’ve been creating some patterns and textures to use in her house so that she can be inspired by her surroundings. Stay tuned to see what Rose gets up to …

Designers should read

Thanks to Austin Kleon for the following excerpt from writings by designer Tibor Kalman:

Visual literacy isn’t enough. Designers have to read everything.

Kalman said that “an enormous amount of graphic design is made by people who look at pictures but don’t know how to think about them.”

I started asking job candidates, “What have you read in the last year?” Because I suddenly began to realize that the difference between a good and a bad designer is how much did they know about everything else—biology, history. Because graphic design is just a means of communication, a language, and what you choose to communicate, and how and why on a particular project, that is all the interesting stuff.

Yep, reading and exploring and discovering more and more is important to this pie-maniac! Thanks for the inspiration, Austin and Tibor …

Food for thought: equipoising

10 Sunday May 2015

Posted by Deidhre Wauchop in Food for thought, Meta pie

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alkaline diet, Austin Kleon, equipoise, etsy, Etsy TooManyPies, Fiona Hall, grok, LPR, silent reflux, stash, Tjanpi Desert Weavers, Venice biennale

I like the way Austin Kleon communicates with his audience (Austin Kleon of Steal Like an Artist fame amongst many other tags and feats). Once a week he sends a newsletter via email with 10 things that have captured his attention. Many of the items relate to his own work and inspiration.

I’m always pursuing balance* and a list of weekly inspiration is a useful tool when dealing with my too many pies. Here are some of the things that have inspired the pies this week:

Foody food for thought

Image by Donnie Nunley

I’ve published my 4th post on the languishing blog FoodPromise! This post outlines a little struggle I’ve been having with LPR or silent reflux and the benefits of an alkaline diet to treat LPR.

The ever-growing stash

The image above—some of my stash waiting for a project. I’ve been buying up big on rabbits, fish and flowers. These are cheap charms but have a load of potential for use in knitting, weaving, beading and digital works.

Too many pies etsy outlet

My TooManyPies shop on Etsy is gradually getting stocked. Not quite ready for even a soft opening yet but it’s getting closer.

la biennale di venezia

Image by g.sighele

The Venice Biennale opened this week and I have been watching media reports about the debut of the Australian Pavilion. Looking forward to checking out Fiona Hall’s collaborative work with the Tjanpi Desert Weavers for the Biennale.

Grokking and *equipoising

I stumbled across two new (to me) words this week.

For anyone else who hasn’t seen the term grok used, it means to understand something intuitively, or to establish empathy and rapport with something or someone. My post about Susie Bubble on artistpractice.com expands on how I grok her!

Equipoising is to achieve balance when dealing with multiple interests, a useful term to add to the Pie Philosophy.

This week I’ve breathed, I’ve alkalised, I’ve stocked and stumbled across and I’m proud to say that I’ve equipoised…

My Imagination is suspicious

08 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by Deidhre Wauchop in About, Food for thought, Philosophy

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Cavendish Golden Hands Encyclopedia of Crafts, formulas, good teaching practice, imagination, patterns, spirograph

My Imagination is SUSPICIOUS of FORMULAS.

Image by Brian Jeffery Beggerly

I think of my Imagination as a co-conspirator. It’s been with me for a very long time. It’s great company—talkative, funny (sometimes absurd) and a terrific collaborator.

I realised at a fairly young age that my Imagination was also a bit opinionated and not very patient. I was given a spirograph set for Christmas and was really excited, until I played with it. I sat at the dining table after lunch with my new toy and had a go. After a while my Imagination became disgruntled, wanting to do more with it than it could, or that my 9-year-old brain had the capacity to make it do.

When I look back there are lots of other similar occurrences. My mother forked out money (though we had scant to spare) to buy me the full set of Marshall and Cavendish Golden Hands Encyclopedia of Crafts. I loved all the pictures and ideas, but following a procedure to make something the same as in the picture was way too tedious for good old Imagination.

When I was a teacher, Imagination only rarely let me teach the same content twice. I would have to create new and different programs and lessons every year, or at least clothe content in a new skin, an updated skin, or a skin that better matched the students before me. [Thanks, Imagination, even though it was time-consuming it was probably good teaching practice!]

Having an active imagination in my life is very good for making art. However, it can be troublesome when you are trying to develop techniques and need to follow certain rules, such as those that bring you success in using media (paints, mediums, glues, dyes, for example).

My Imagination should be commended though, for admirable effort in relation to my aspiration to build some skills in knitting. Not only is my Imagination suspicious of knitting patterns, it absolutely digs in it’s heels and forces me to work tangents until the work is uniquely ours.

Thanks, Imagination, love your work!

Cultivation

13 Tuesday Jan 2015

Posted by Deidhre Wauchop in Wannabe

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chillis, colour inspiration, courtyard garden, duranta, garden, herbs, pot garden, striking plants, wannabe gardener

Western courtyard

As a wannabe gardener, I’m pretty proud of some recent achievements. I’ve managed to keep lots of plants alive and encouraged them to grow bigger and lusher.

I’ve succeeded in growing some healthy plants from seed, particularly chillis, oregano and thyme. I’ve dried the excess oregano and thyme but still need some advice for preserving chillis.

Having success too, with striking jade, african violets, bougainvillaea and duranta.

It’s really fulfilling to turn a barren, windswept, western/southern facing courtyard into a lush little oasis. The first plants to inhabit this area have hung on through stormy weather, have become hardy, and now provide a screen and protection for more delicate plants that once would not have survived here.

My north-facing courtyard has grown up tremendously. Below you can see the difference between what it is now and how it started.

The colours in my garden inspire my artwork. I love the variety of greens, the dark greens particularly and then the pops of reds, pinks and violets.

Northern courtyard

Garden beginnings

Too Many Pies

Author Archives: Deidhre Wauchop