PATTERNS AND TONES

"Home as Hat: Amanda Quinn Olivar" 2019 Digital inkjet print and yarn 40 x 40 in. This final "hat" was created from one of the first photographs taken for this series. Walking around Beverly Hills, we spied this Tudorbethan style gable,  a subset of the Tudor Revival architecture of the 1930's. Once I began to stitch this piece together in yarn, it was evident to me that a drab brown color of the timbers was not going to pop against the wild shrubbery and couldn't possible compete with the dominant patterns in the incredible coat created by Zandra Rhodes which Amanda had on, so I chose the color red. Amanda, who is currently producing a feature documentary called " Seeing is Believing: Women Direct " and the play & film " Paint Made Flesh ", is also an editor for the online magazine Curator . She recently interviewed me about my work as well as my thoughts on this series. You can read the interview here . I am delighted to ...

"Home as Hat: Andrea Minton" 2019 Digital inket print and yarn 40x40 in. There are four 40x40 in. digital inkjet prints in the exhibition which have been stitched with yarn. Embroidery floss would have gotten lost on this large image, so I tested different types of yarn, rope and thread to see what would work best. I ended up using both a combination of a merino wool and regular cotton to construct this piece. This simple line stitch was a perfect counterpoint to the busy houndstooth dress Andrea is wearing. It also helped to tie together the architectural element behind her into a hat she is actually wearing. I had originally thought that I would weave another hat for her as I did in the second Home as Hat: Andrea Minton Part 2  7x7 in. print but once I had laid down the first horizontal lines with the only multicolored yarn in the show, I knew it was just the right accent for this piece. It also looks like a party hat and since my 50th birthday is tomorrow, it seeme...

"Home as Hat: Andrea Minton" 2019 I originally started stitching this series of images with regular thread and came to the conclusion that I needed to use the thicker embroidery floss so that the colors would pop out from the background. Since I am working on an exhibition of this body of work, I decided to redo some of the earlier works that only used regular thread. This portrait of the lovely Andrea Minton was originally shot in 2016. As you can see in the original  Home as Hat: Andrea Minton , the regular thread I used was too small to have any impact on the "hat" I was trying to create. Looking at the structure of the roof in the photograph, I realized weaving the floss would mirror the asphalt shingles. I have not woven the thread before and feel that this treatment worked perfectly for this particular image. Julie Green April 27, 2019

Six years of Patterns and Tones!  After my yearly break in January, I am delighted to start working on my weekly blog again. Today marks the 6th year I've posted to this blog and as long as it continues to be a creative inspiration for me and others, I will share my thoughts and images with you. On every anniversary I like to present the top 10 most visited blog posts from the previous year. I like to split subjects into two main categories: Patterns (artwork) and Tones (portraits of musicians).  This years award winners in the Tones department ran the gamut from LA's Permanent Green Light and The Checkers to Seattle's finest The Fastbacks. But the most viewed blog entry went to "A Rave Up with Ron and The Reapers!" . This blog entry on this amazing band of musicians continue to see lots of traffic on a daily basis! You also really enjoyed reading my Caspers , New York Portraits and Sun Shadow series. But it was "Flora as Fashion: Lory...