unleash the power of inspiration...

                                         unleash the power of inspiration...

Please check back next month to find out what my latest fascination is.

See you next month!       
Fiona xxxx

On-line, On-nine
Monthly post on the 9th of each month! 
On-line, On-nine June 9th 2015

Artists Signatures

When we study the body of work of an artist or designer we can usually pick up reoccuring themes, they are usually fairly obvious, and each artist is probably fully aware of their own pre-occupations - I know I am.

But what is even more interesting is how each of us develops over time a "signature" to our work, something that the viewer can instantly recognize as being associated with a specific individual, almost like a fingerprint.


Last week I attended a lecture on Andy Warhol's work, specifically his work with textiles. The lecture was given by Dr Blake Gopnik as part of the Textile Museum of Canada's 40th anniversary exhibition Artist Textiles; Picasso to Warhol. I always find these kind of lectures illuminating and the guest speaker was an authority on Warhol, in fact he is writing a biography on him. So he had pared down his knowledge and framed it for those of us with a particular interest in textiles. His research included very early work from Warhol's time in art school right through to his much later screen printing days. From this he was able to show us, not only Warhol's themes, but also showcased a number of re-occuring layouts that he seems to have favoured. In fact when viewed from this perspective, one of the images, of a very early work done for a student magazine, accurately recorded the genisis of the Cambell's soup can series for which Warhol became so famous.


Since the lecture I have been pondering how we come to develop these signatures within our work. I know that if I flip through a knitting magazine I can usually tell which work belongs to which designer and maybe you do that too. People have also said to me "oh yes I knew it was your design- it's clearly a Fiona Ellis". This puzzles me.  I cannot see my own signature and I certainly am not conscious of what it is that I include, apart from maybe the obvious cable work, that makes it specific to my body of work. Of course, I incorporate my own design aesthetic into my work and I have things that I feel passionate about, some of which I have discussed in these pages...is that where a signature is developed maybe?


With this in mind I have made a mental note to look at the designs that I am working on as part of the Web's yarns Designer in Residence program, to see if after a year I can somehow put my finger on what my signature is.


I hope that you enjoy this month's photos - from my collection of colour blends and tone-on-tone combos.

I'm thrilled to see the trend for graduating colours being offered by many indie dyers. I have long loved those graduating & ombre effects. I think this comes from having worked as a cosmetic formulation scientist in what I refer to my former life. I always enjoyed eye colour palettes containing dark, mid tone & light shade of one hue. But look at how we are surrounded by these effects...and of course Mother Nature always does it best.