3KCBWDAY2 - Photography Challenge Day - Birch Bark Bernadetta in The River Birch

Well, a photographer I AM NOT!!!  I struggle constantly to get good photos of my work and then doubly hard to get acceptable ones for my gallery's website.  So today's challenge almost got substituted with the wildcard topic.  However, I decided to take this as a challenge and try to get photos (that is.....ONE photo!) that might possibly tell a story.  Of course, I am much better with words than pictures (except when I'm trying to learn something new!), so there has to be a story that goes along with this photo!

The scarf is one of my own, one that I will keep forever, but one that could be sold EVERY time I wear it!  I have sold a handful of similar ones to those who almost insist on my selling this one, and there is indeed a story to the name.  The Bernadetta Scarf has its own story, the likes of which can be found here on this blog if you are so inclined to read about the origin of the name.

But Birch Bark seems to be a very popular color combo, one that I have repeated over and over again.  So I decided to try to take a photo of this very popular selection of browns, taupes, cream, white, grey, gold and silver tones, and black among the branches of the only birch tree in our vicinity.  It's actually our next door neighbor's tree, but it occupies a sizable portion of our property along the golf course.  Yes, that's a bunker in the background.

This is a River Birch, not at all like the beautiful northern birches we had in New England, but it's the closest I can find here in southeastern North Carolina.  And it does have beautiful exfoliating bark.  My color inspiration, however, came from RI where we lived for 30 years.

So that's my story!  Other examples of the Birch Bark combination of colors include the pieces below, and additional photos of my original Bernadetta scarf are here and in the subsequent photos on flickr:

 

Knit & Crochet Blog Week - 3KCBWDAY1

Colour Lovers

"Colour is one of our greatest expressions of ourselves when we choose to knit or crochet, so how do you choose what colours you buy and crochet or knit with." 


Color (or colour, as our guide spells it) is the spice of my fiber arts life!  Along with texture, that is!  There is nothing that inspires me more than the rainbow of colors, tones, hues, intensity, spectrum, and other words used to describe color.  As one who has NEVER studied color theory, I often feel at a loss to explain to those who often ask me about my choices, decisions, combinations, etc. just HOW I buy, select, and utilize the colors in my stash.

Here are some facts about me:

• I LOVE color!
• When I travel, I always work around black and white....and maybe another color!  This most recent trip was an exception - it was all built around grey, white, and mauvy pink, colors I almost never wear.
• When I work at my gallery, I only wear black, and use that as the background on which to display my work.  It WORKS!!!  No one can sell my work as I can, and I'm sure that's very common.
• For many years, I was entirely committed to taupe.  That IS a good color, but when my students asked  if I had any colors besides "brown," I realized I had better think about my personal use of color.
• Now my wardrobe is quite varied, but I always gravitate to teals, hot pinks, black, gray, brown.  The only color I almost never wear is blue - except for jeans and whatever goes with them.

So....to finally get around to the topic of my stash and the accessories I create.....they are almost always in colors other than black, although I often use black as the accent color (or vice versa).  I have an almost unmentionable amount of yarn in my stash in every color, texture, and type.  It is mostly sorted by color and/or type.  I wish it were far more organized.  But I can usually find what I'm looking for and know what's in there - or somewhere!  LOL!  

I also have an huge amount of silk scarves and lingerie for use in my Upcycle Scarves - not knit or crochet but created entirely of recycled materials.  They start with t-shirts and from them as a base, I tie various silky materials, beads, yarn, ribbons, etc.  I now have a stash of men's tee-shirts in every color.  Those designs are VERY colorful and user-friendly!  Today I made two of them in colors that were inspired by recent acquisitions of some gorgeous, highly colored, silk scares.  I put their photos on Facebook, and they are now sold!

I LOVE yarn!  I hunger to see, touch, and even smell yarn in a yarn shop, but alas, my local ones are limited and pricey, so I have to resort to my favorite online, discount sellers.  So when I look at these website, I go crazy over color and texture.  Pinterest has piqued my interest for inspiration and the color I crave.  Ravelry has been another source of inspiration but also a wonderful place to find coveted yarns from other knitters who wish to stashbust.  Wish I could do that!  Flickr holds my inventory of completed work.  I think you'll find many examples there of my color sense.

Final thought for the day:  color is personal.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!  While I might like to concentrate on my personal favorites, this would be unwise for someone who sells her work.  I always have to remind myself that I HAVE to work with colors that I might personally dislike, because there is always someone out there who might love it!