And so I have…here and here and here. The only thing better than knitting, is to draw or paint what I’m knitting or crocheting. I loved making this little painting of my hands knitting a scarf. Mind you, this lace scarf was begun several years ago…but I have finished it! And I’ll give you a proper reveal soon!
So here’s the photograph I worked from to create the above painting. I thought you might like to see the reference photo and how it gets translated into line and watercolor. I also thought you might like to see some of the projects I’ve been happily working on of late.
I knitted this little cupcake hat for my niece’s one year birthday back at the beginning of March, the early days of my U.C. diagnosis. That’s my beautiful sister with her fifth child, Brynley.
Then I finished this pair of socks, which I wore and wore through the chilly days. For some reason, I kept messing up on grafting the toe together. I’ve done the kitchener stitch successfully many times before, but a brain glitch prevented me from getting it right on both of these socks. Of course, I made it work somehow so the socks hold together without being uncomfortable.
So, on THIS sock, finished just recently, I was delighted to work the Kitchener stitch correctly! Yay! Maybe my recent surgery re-worked my brain as well!
And I love the colors in this yarn!!!!!
This is a random photo of the basket of yarns I used for my Resurrection Shawl.
And this is the beginning of another multi-yarned confection, all in creams and whites! I have quite a vision of this shawl in its finished state…we’ll see how it all turns out.:)
And a photo of me knitting on our front stoop. This was taken prior to being in the hospital, hoping and praying that the medications I was on would put the U.C. into remission. There’s something about this photo I like… 1. I love knitting outdoors, even if it means wearing a coat and knitted hand mitts. 2. Knitting became synonymous with “hope” during my recent illness. Knitting and Hope…I like that.
Well, that’s enough for now…I’ll share more “knitterly notes” with you soon. I’ll be stocking the Shoppe with some new items soon…more on that coming up!
**Thank you so much for visiting me here on Drawn2Life!! I can’t thank you enough for sharing in these creative ventures with me!
***And…if you ever wanted to take up knitting, try my little photo tutorial HERE. I haven’t yet transferred it over from Drawn2Knit. It will happen someday. For now, check there for free patterns and tutorials.
****ANNDDD….if you’d like to try your hand at drawing/sketching OR need a little boost or encouragement to get back into it…check out my Drawing Your Life Mini Lessons. These were offered last year and still receive a lot of traffic. I hope it’s helpful to you all!
When I received the diagnosis that I had Ulcerative Colitis, and the medicines that were intended to put it into remission, I had such hope of recovery! I wanted to make something through the recovery period that would be a part of my healing and then represent God’s faithfulness to me as I wrapped it around me. The above drawing is what I sketched out as I envisioned this shawl. I was also asking my Father that I might be well enough to wear it on Easter Sunday. I drew this in mid March.
As events played out, I was unable to wear this Easter Sunday. I had my colon removal surgery on Good Friday and was in the hospital on Easter. I couldn’t knit during the three weeks I was there, too many pic lines and iv’s going in and out to make it a comfortable endeavor. But when I got home, I began, very slowly to continue work on what I was calling my Resurrection Shawl. Here are some pics of different views of it. I have been so pleased with how it turned out. Crocheted flowers appliquéd onto a loosely knitted simple shawl. I used all kinds of things to knit with: lace, ribbon, and all sorts of colors and textures of yarn. A few things changed from the original sketch. It was so fun to see it come to life.
And this past Sunday, I felt well enough to go to church and sit with my church family to worship. I wore my Resurrection Shawl as a testimony to my Heavenly Father’s faithfulness to carry me through a rather horrendous ordeal. He is still carrying me…knitting me together one day at a time.
**I am beginning the process of combining my three blogs into one. It may take a while, but you will start to see some changes here at Drawn2Life as other Pages are added, and blog posts are slurped in. I’m very excited to have all my creative loves under one roof! Like the tagline I recently changed at the top: “Drawing, Knitting, Illustration, Crochet…it’s all Life, it’s all Good!”
Before I landed in the hospital, colitis had progressed to where my everyday life was pretty miserable. I was rapidly losing strength and weight, due to 15-20 visits to the bathroom a day. I couldn’t go anywhere. And I couldn’t find the energy to do even the simplest of things, like make dinner for my family.
Several women in our church, sweet friends of mine, made a meal for my family. It was such a huge blessing to have dinner provided and not have to muster the energy to make it. I got it in my head one day, that I wanted to do something to thank them for their generosity.
A favorite blog of mine is Attic 24, whose author Lucy, is all about crochet! She had just posted a tutorial to make a wonderful crocheted daffodil. Though she was using the daffodils for a wreath, she also showed the pin option, and I knew this would be a fun gift for my friends who had made food for us.
You have to know, that all along the way, I kept thinking “I’m going to be better soon! I’m going to be better soon!” I had received the diagnosis, Ulcerative Colitis, and all the medications that were supposed to make me better. I just wasn’t improving. But I held out hope. Making these little daffodil pins were part of that hope. In between runs to the bathroom, crocheting offered a distraction from how I was feeling, and gave me something to focus on. I could lounge in a chair and make something simple. Creativity is a wonderful gift when you’re sick.
When I had to go to the hospital for more potent meds to stop the colitis and to arrest my dehydration and lack of nutrition, the meals kept coming in for my family. It was so amazing. But I was unable to keep track of who all was bringing a meal OR to even make the daffodils. There comes a time when it becomes impossible to properly thank those who are selflessly giving of their time and lives to help. This is all part of the lavish grace of God…you can’t repay it, you can’t thank Him enough for it, and will never be able to give thanks in equal measure to the outpouring of mercy you have received.
I am a recipient of grace and mercy. Lavish, generous, overwhelming grace for which there is nothing to do but to cheerfully receive with gratitude!
I don’t think my cat, Lucy is too worried about me though! Truth be told, I’m sitting under that mound happily working at whatever my hands need to be doing at any given moment. Well, maybe there’s the odd groan of frustration from time to time. But in case I’m scarce around blogland in the coming weeks, you’ll know why! :0
A little pink bird sits in the Christmas tree in my studio sunroom. He looks out at me from the white branches (fake table-top tree:) as I sit every morning to sip guzzle coffee, to read and reflect. This is one of my newly acquired ornaments this year. I’ve spruced up this little tree, as it is “my tree”.
I announced to the family two years ago that I wanted to have, instead of a Frasier Fir tree, a white fake tree for the living room. I had seen this absolutely gorgeous tree in a friend’s photograph of a Paris store window and I wanted a bit of Parisien holiday in my house. But my family revolted! Gasped in horror. No way I could win. So, just like my dear grandmother, I decided I would have my own little table-top tree, white for me (hers was green) and decorate it however I like. It is in process…I hope to add a new decoration to it every year.
This year, along with the pink bird and a few other ornaments, I added a crocheted tree-skirt. I’ve typed up a little FREE pattern for it, so that any crocheters who’d like to can make it for their table top trees. My tree is nowhere near what I remember the Paris shop tree looking like…but I like this little tree so very much, with it’s pinks, lime greens, and blues, a very happy site in the studio!
*The second drawing I made December 2010, when I first got the tree. I remember now that it sat on a table very close to my drawing table and wound up with art supplies underneath it. Now it sits in one of the many windows in the room to be enjoyed by those driving or walking by on my neighborhood street. I’m prolly stretching it…but perhaps it’s a teensy bit of Paris for my Kernersville street.
“How in the world do you do what you do?” This is an interesting question I get either verbalized or emailed to me. I’m always surprised at the question. I wonder what it is they perceive I’m doing or accomplishing, since USUALLY I’m thinking I can’t do anywhere near what I’d like to do or accomplish. Crazy isn’t it?
Typically my first thought is: I have no idea. In the past I have said, “I do it because it’s my sanity.” And that is true. I’ve also said, “I do it because I have to/need to.” And this too is true. I’ve also responded, “I do it because it’s so fun!” True too! But recently it has begun to form in my mind, the real “how” of all the creative stuff I love: drawing, painting, knitting, crocheting, designing, illustrating Genevieve, blogging, writing poetry every now and then, and the occasional collage. If this seems too self-oriented, then do just click away from this post. I only write it in hopes that it might encourage or inspire you in your creative endeavors! Here goes:
How do I do a creative life?
1. Look for Beauty. So honestly, this is the crux of the matter. Without something beautiful, I haven’t any reason to draw or paint, to knit or crochet, to write in prose or poetry. Sometimes I’m struck by a lovely thing without looking for it. Many times, I purposefully look for beauty in and around my little life. And on days when I’m hard-pressed to find anything of beauty, I search for it. It’s actually a discipline, this artist’s life…to scour your world for the Beauty you know is there even in unexpected places or places where we don’t think beauty could be found. Beauty can even be wrapped in painful or discouraging circumstances.
2. Find a way to express it. So for me, merely looking for, seeing, and noting a thing of beauty (whether it’s the inside of my dishwasher or the gorgeous fall trees in my neighborhood) is not enough. I must record, express, celebrate, honor, capture, harness it in some way. Most times, that way is drawing in a sketchbook. Or painting the faces and places in my life or in others’ lives. Other times it is writing. And yet others it is knitting something in the colors I’m seeing out my windows. There are many many other ways to express the little beauties in your life: photography, music, composition, dance, theater, etc.
3. Do what I can, with what I have, where I am. This is actually a quote by Theodore Roosevelt. It is incredibly helpful for someone like me who has more ideas I’d love to see come into being than I know what to do with. I can get really stuck in thinking: well, I CAN’T do X, Y, or Z (due to time or money or ability) so I just won’t do any of it at all. I camped out with this block for nearly two years a few years back. I was wanting to make it big-time as a professional artist, painting big paintings, being represented by a gallery or two, entering exhibits all over the region, etc. And when it seemed to be way out of my reach, I just stopped drawing and painting altogether. What ended up happening during this period, is that I picked up my needles and yarn and began knitting and crocheting like a fiend:). But one day, I literally ran into the book ISH, by Peter Reynolds, and realized that all I really wanted was to draw, no matter whether it became a professional thing or not. You can read more about that here. And you all know of my desire to travel to France, a longing to have a life that allowed for this kind of travel, (both in time and money), only to realize the amazing beauty of my own little town of Kernersville as I began to look for it and draw it!
We tell ourselves that we don’t have enough money for canvases or paints, when a cheap sketchbook and watercolors is sitting underneath a stack of books somewhere. We tell ourselves we have no time, while we sit in a car pick-up line for ten minutes and could sketch something or knit a few rows. We tell ourselves we are too tired at the end of a long day, when the very best restorative medicine is a swoosh of color on a page, or a few rows of crocheting that blanket.
4. Blast through resistance. I’ve been reading (and re-reading) a book by Steven Pressfield titled The War of Art. In it he defines what resistance is and how it keeps us from doing the thing(s) we are really longing to do and need to do. I highly recommend this book! I am continually learning all the myriad of things that resistance throws in my path to keep me from being creative. In some ways, this fight through resistance is very difficult! But in other ways it’s really simple: I put on my artist armor and hack through the underbrush of weedy resistance. I show up to the page, the yarn, the blog. Whatever it is, whatever it takes, for however long I have to give it (10 minutes or 2 hours) I SHOW UP.
5. Relish the FEW creative projects I have going. It is good discipline for me to limit how many creative balls I juggle. What has happened to me time and time again, is that when I have too many going on, my energies are splintered, my focus grows fuzzy, I feel overwhelmed to the point of paralysis, and I can’t seem to accomplish or finish anything. Boundaries are good. Limitations are actually an ASSET!! Disciplining the bouncy, creatively ADD, artist child within you is necessary to a slow-but-steady-progress kind of life. AND it actually allows me to RELISH what I’m doing NOW, being present in the lovely creative moment, instead of hurrying through it to get to the next thingS on my accomplish list.
Well, there it is. An answer to a question you may or may not have wondered. It has helped me to write it down. It’s a touchstone for me. A way to remember why and how it is I do what I do. Perhaps it will help you as well.
**Addendum: If any of you saw my recent Instagram photo, you would see that I’m not doing that well with #5! Oi! What’s a girl to do?!!
Forgive the dreadful photos (especially this one)…I was drawing/painting in the wee hours of the morning (have no idea why I’m up so early these days:( ) and taking photos at that time is near impossible, but there it is.
The blankets are out in full force around our house and in use! Perhaps for you too. Most of our blankets I’ve crocheted at one time or another. My favorite is this big, huge granny square blanket made with lots of leftover yarns. To see a couple of other drawings of this blanket, click here and here. Should you be a crocheter and want to make this blanket, click here! It’s one of my FREE PATTERNS available to you!
So I thought I’d show you a drawing in process where I’ve made use of a page that I began for another drawing (see this Knitting Brown drawing). I drew the knitting needle and decided to abandon ship and start over. Why? I don’t know. Hm.
Anyway, I started a continuous line drawing on the abandoned page. Continuous line is lovely for early morning drawing: restful, thoughtful, meditative. It should be noted that I have several continuous lines on the page. I typically take a line as far as I feel it can go. Then pick up my trusty Bic pen and begin somewhere else. I just love that way of drawing. It frees me from feeling I have to have everything “correct” or have to have every detail. The witchy looking thumb was weird…but oh well, not gonna stress about it…let it go!
Then I splashed on some watercolor. When I have lines on a page, no matter how wonky looking, I tend to be very loose and free with the paint. Choice of colors is aligned with similarity to the local colors around me. For instance, the chair I sit in to think, write, draw each morning, is burgundy. It has a matching twin. The closest color on my palette to “burgundy” is quinacridone magenta, a favorite delicious color which is much more exciting than burgundy. I have a yellow pillow in the same fabric as the hassock, but they aren’t quite so bold a yellow as I used here: cad yellow is way more vibrant and fun! So this is how I “think” when I paint. I do not attempt exact colors of my surroundings. I let my surroundings guide me, but pick what is close but perhaps more jazzy.
Another note about color: I’m always thinking about connections…between colors of each of the “things” in my drawing. I love looking for the echoes of burgundy in the blanket, the hints of green in the blinds, the blues showing up in shadows of the burgundy chair. Making color notes in your drawing this way allows it to be cohesive and a whole unit. That’s also why I love splattering…splatters of colors from the blanket over the chair area allows them to be connected to each other. I love connections…in BOTH continuous lines AND in color!!
*I also went back into the drawing with my Bic pen to add the tip of the Bic pen. Sometimes continuous line doesn’t allow some necessary details you may want added in later. Tee Hee!
I wanted to add oil pastels to this. Just a bit of the juicy dark colors, especially in the blanket since oil pastel has a natural textured look which mimics the look of yarns. Defined the cropped out area too, as this was my first focus in the drawing. It kept spilling outside the borders of this drawn rectangle. I don’t mind these things…I just go along with Pen wherever he goes. Oh, and the oil pastel over the cropped box, helped the witchy thumb look less, well, witchy.
In the end, I decided to go back into the drawing with Bic pen to add a few of the lines on my sketchbook page. And by this time, the light is a bit better in the house for taking a photo and I think you’re getting a better look at the color.
So, draw up a chair, a blanket too, and sketch what you see. Splash on some color. Add a few accents. Redefine what you need.
Did you know that I love yarn?? Did you also know that today is “I Love Yarn Day“? Woo! Hoo!!!!
I haven’t shared much of my yarn goings on these days…so TODAY is the day!! I finished a vest that is waiting to be blocked and buttons added. I need to do this as the weather is just about right for it! I’ll show you when it’s all done! And with what I had leftover from the vest, I’m knitting a simple lace scarf.
Can you see why I love yarn?? Color, color, COLORRRR!!!! And Noro yarns are some of my all-time favorites!! If you’re interested, you can read about my love of yarn here and here and here.
Did you also know that I like to design my own knitted and crocheted things? Check out my new page for the FREE patterns you can download!
Does it have something to do with the brown mess of twigs and sticks, mud and leaves, tenderly assembled into a home?
Is it the wonder of these little creatures so diligently crafting their home to house and hold their little-ones-to-be?
Is it the pretty, soft-colored eggs that lie there in expectant waiting?
Does it represent hope? new life? spring? future joy?
Perhaps it is all this and more. Perhaps it’s the perfect picture of an exquisite everyday exclamation! A monumental mundane! A typically UN-noticed and hidden jewel perched precariously in a tree, exposed to wind and weather, yet enduring.
When we peer into a Bird’s Nest, do we see ourselves? our lives? our life’s work?
I don’t know. All I know is that I love to draw them. Love to knit them. Love to crochet them. Somehow they speak to me of Spring. Of Hope. Of Life.
2. A question follows on its heels. How can I make that shape in knitting?
3. Paper & folding ensues. Ahh…so that’s how!
4. Another question pops up. What can the shape be used for other than a sachet?
5. Leaving shape open on one side. Yeah, righto. A gift box!
6. Yet another question. How can I make it festive?
7. Jar of leftover bits of yarn, ribbons, and raffia says “Use Me!” Oooh, yes!
8. Button bin starts yelling too! Even brads work pretty well for a gift box! (Lime green polka dots are brads!)
9. Et Voila!
To view and/or purchase this knitted pattern...CLICK HERE!!
**A Note on Baby Steps: It needs to be said that each Baby Step I’ve posted here, actually has SEVERAL baby steps imbedded in the making of each one!! So, for instance, in creating a pattern for others to use, you have Step One: Idea. Step Two: Working out the idea ( in pen & paper, yarn & needles, etc.) Step Three: Sitting with the completed “prototype” to see if you are satisfied with it, or whether it needs something else. Step Four: Typing up the pattern in humanly readable terms rather than the chicken scrawl you have on a throwaway piece of paper. Step Five: Photographing the finished project. Step Six: Adding photo and EDITING the pattern for mistakes. Step Seven: Downloading pattern to Yarnworks site, Etsy, Ravelry, etc. Whew!!
The KEY to creating by the Baby Step method: DO NOT let yourself look ahead to all the zillions of steps you need to make. JUST BE PRESENT IN THE ONE STEP YOU NEED TO MAKE NOW!!! This helps me so so much! I get too overwhelmed by all the ideas swirling in my head and all the steps necessary to make the idea a reality. I have to HAVE PATIENCE and MOMENT PRESENTNESS. Not easy for me. But it is so rewarding to see the idea come to life and to share it with others!
