Nine More Inches to Go....

..... Or really less than that, since it's been about three weeks since I measured the shawl. Actually, I probably have about nine rows left before that shawl is finished. Yes, I've been neglecting this blog for a few weeks, mostly due to me starting a new job and trying to get used to a new schedule. But I will be working on this more now that I've gotten used to how this new job is going to be scheduled. I also had an idea for a weekly feature for this blog called "Blogs, Books, and Food", where I will share some recent books and blogs that I've been reading along with some recipes I've tried recently. I didn't want to do something with more general links because I already put those on the Facebook page. I'll probably start that in the next few days. 

Angelica

https://www.facebook.com/wabisabikomorebi

Instagram @wabisabi.komorebi

(All photographs ©Angelica Ricci and may not be used without permission.)

Julia Margaret Cameron Exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Image Source: http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/view?exhibitionId=%7b79EB91E1-D244-4348-A0E6-16A692A72049%7d&oid=268709&pg=2&rpp=20&pos=22&ft=*

I came across this article on the internet a few days ago: Julia Margaret Cameron's Victorian- Era Celebrity Photographs. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has an exhibit of her work that will be up until the beginning of January. I remembered her name from the history of photography class that I took in college about two to three years ago and I remembered liking her work. For those of you who have not heard of her, Julia Margaret Cameron is a well known Victorian photography whose main focus was portraiture photography. She did not start photography until after her children were grown; her daughter was actually the person who gave Cameron her first camera in 1863. Many of the people she used as models were from British artistic and literary circles but she also photographed people she found "beautiful or full of character."(Rosenblum, pg. 80) All of her work that I've seen are Albumen prints, which I will explain the process of when I can dig my book of alternative photo processes out of the bottom of my bookcase :) (I have too many books which leads to me having to dig stuff out of rather than just being able to access them easily as you should be able to get books from a bookcase).

Angelica

*Note: The information above on Julia Margaret Cameron is from the text book that I have from my history of photography class: "A World History of Photography" (Fourth Edition) by Naomi Rosenblum. You'll often see me cite information like I'm writing a paper because that's the easiest way for me to remember to give the source of the information since I'm in the habit of doing it that way from my college classes.

New Name and Fixed Facebook Page

So, you may have noticed that the name of this blog changed. When I started this project, I knew I wanted to include Wabi-Sabi as part of the title since I had been reading about that idea and found it to be interesting. I've been working on teaching myself Japanese (mostly because I love the writing), so I decided to keep it simple and make the name "Wabi-Sabi Gijutsu". Then a few weeks ago, one of my friends shared a link to an article that had a list of words with words in other langues that cannot be easily translated into English (you can read the article here: Eleven Untranslatable Words from Other Cultures). One of the words on the list is a Japanese word: "Komorebi", which is described as what you see when the sunlight filters through the trees. This reminded me of one of my drawing classes in which my professor asked my class if any of us had noticed how nice the light was at the time of year (I believe it was autumn when I took this class), specifically talking about when it filters through the trees in the morning. I got some very puzzled looks from classmates when I agreed with him (I had been admiring the light filtering through the trees when I drove through the residential areas right by the college, in the morning, for several days at that point). Besides that conversation, light plays a large role in photography, which is the main type of art that I work with besides fiber arts. Light also plays a role in fiber arts as well, although a different one than the role it plays in photography. I remember reading recently that it's a good idea to check any thread, fabric, or other fiber-based supplies that you are going to buy in natural light rather than the florescent lights that stores have as the colors will look different in natural light. So I decided to change the name the "Wabi-Sabi & Komorebi", since my main focus in my works have been keeping things simple and uncomplicated, and light always ends up playing a large role in them, in one way or another.

You also may have noticed that I changed the layout for the blog. I've also fixed a major glitch with the Facebook page and updated some things on there. That's still a work in progress but you can view it here: Wabi-Sabi & Komorebi.

Angelica

New Macro Photos

Angelica

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Instagram @wabisabi.komorebi

(All photographs ©Angelica Ricci and may not be used without permission.)

100 Paintings

In my Painting I course we had to do a project were we set up a still life and had to do 100 paintings from it in seven days. These are the two from that project that I thought came out the best.

Angelica

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Instagram @wabisabi.komorebi

(All photographs/design work ©Angelica Ricci and may not be used without permission.)

Project Update

I'm about half-way done with green shawl (it's about forty inches long). I also finally managed to figure out how to crochet. It took looking at about half-a-dozen different "how to" instructions. Does anyone else find that? That when you're trying to figure out how to do something that it takes more than one source (and usually more than one type of source; I kept going between written and picture based instructions)? Anyway, I've just started making a giant granny square since I had some multi-colored yarn in my stash from my grandmother (and I'm not a big fan of multi-colored yarn so I just wanted to use it up), so I'm going to see how big of a granny square I can make with that.

It's about double the size of what it was in the second photo. Hopefully, I'll get both of these finished up soon.

Angelica

https://www.facebook.com/wabisabikomorebi

Instagram @wabisabi.komorebi

(All photographs ©Angelica Ricci and may not be used without permission.)

I Have Not Forgotten About This Blog!

I really haven't. I've just been running in circles trying to do too many things at once and I keep saying I'll put posts on here.... and then I keep putting it off. Since I've finally gotten a few things sorted out, tomorrow I'll be able to start catching up on that.

Spring has Arrived!

I just went on a short walk the other day because it was so nice out and while I was out, took some pictures on my iPod touch and just edited them on Instagram. It's nice to just keep it simple sometimes and not have to download fifty photos onto my computer and have to go through them on Photoshop. I consider the camera on my iPod plus Instagram like having a digital version of a Holga camera :).

Foliage Macro Photograph

Angelica

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Instagram @wabisabi.komorebi

(All photographs ©Angelica Ricci and may not be used without permission.)

Drawing

These are just some of my better pieces from the two drawing classes that I took in college. Drawing isn't my thing but I was able to get some good results with a lot of work.

Charcoal

Mixed Media (Ink, Pencil, Charcoal, Wax)

Charcoal

Macro Photography

Angelica

https://www.facebook.com/wabisabikomorebi

Instagram @wabisabi.komorebi

(All photographs ©Angelica Ricci and may not be used without permission.)

Origin of the Expression "Snug as a Bug in a Rug"

This is an interesting post from Two Nerdy History Girls. It talks about "Bed Rugs" that were used in Colonial times and how their use led to the coining of the phrase "snug as a bug in a rug." If you're a history nerd like me you'll find it interesting :). Check it out here: Snug as a Bug in a Rug, c. 1760.

Angelica

Facebook Page

A few days ago a figured out how to get buttons to appear on the bottom on each post for quick sharing to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter (for a technologically challenged person like me, that was a major accomplishment). I also just set up the Facebook page for this blog, which you can view here: Wabi-Sabi Gijutsu. So if you have a Facebook, please 'like' the page, as it will have some things that will not be on here, but I will be working on linking all the blog posts to the Facebook page. Thanks!

Angelica

Traditional Japanese Dyeing Techniques

The other day I came across this entry at the Textile Arts Center blog the other day, http://textileartscenterblog.com/using-the-katazome-dyeing-technique/, which talked briefly about two traditional Japanese dyeing techniques. While the main methods talked about in the blog entry were Katazome and Katagami, Shibori is also mentioned. So I went and looked at some of the links to examples for each method as well as for some books on each of these methods. Some of the examples are gorgeous:

Photo source: http://ise-katagami-ma.blogspot.com/

Photo Source: http://ise-katagami-ma.blogspot.com/

Katagami is a process where stencils are cut and, traditionally, used to print designs on Kimonos. Katazome seems to be the actual process of using stencils to print (http://www.johnmarshall.to/H-WhatIsKatazome.htm). For a very basic overview, wikipedia has an entry on this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katazome. There is also an entry on Shibori: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibori.  These are definitely some techniques that I will try to read some more about to see about using them in the future. Below are just a few books that I will be trying to read that I found from searching on the internet:

(http://www.amazon.com/Shibori-Knits-The-Exquisite-Felted/dp/B009683JR8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362180348&sr=8-1&keywords=Shibori+Knits)

(http://www.amazon.com/Traditional-Japanese-Stencil-Designs-Clarence/dp/0486247910/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362278297&sr=8-1&keywords=katagami)

(http://www.amazon.com/Shibori-Designs-Techniques-Mandy-Southan/dp/1844482693/ref=pd_sim_b_1)

(http://www.amazon.com/Woven-Shibori-The-Weavers-Studio/dp/1931499675/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362266544&sr=8-1&keywords=Woven+Shibori)

Angelica

When You're Stuck on Campus for Photo Class....

....You end up doing things like taking pictures of the Christmas lights they hung up around campus (not that those can't come out well).

Angelica

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Instagram @wabisabi.komorebi

(All photographs ©Angelica Ricci and may not be used without permission.)

Photography, Copyright, & Charity.

If you're like me, those three words being used together probably brings the word "How...?" to mind. Until yesterday, those three things wouldn't have had too much of a connection to me. Then, this happened: http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2013/02/25/after-dispute-with-humans-of-new-york-photographer-dkny-donates-to-ymca/?KEYWORDS=DKNY. DKNY stole photos (a lot of photos, actually) from photographer Brandon Stanton ("Humans of New York") and used them in a display in one of their stores in Bangkok. Someone notified him of this and in response, Brandon asked DKNY to donate $100,000 on his behalf to the YMCA in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn so that children can go to summer camp. DKNY donated $25,000. Brandon is now working to raise the remaining $75,000 for the YMCA. It's not often that you see someone being this good of a person anymore and I think it's awesome that Brandon is being the bigger person in this situation and using something bad happening to him to better other's lives rather than turning it into something ugly. You can visit his Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/humansofnewyork, or his website here: http://www.humansofnewyork.com/, which has the information about how you can support his fundraising effort. 

Anne Springs Close Greenway Stables

Angelica

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Instagram @wabisabi.komorebi

(All photographs ©Angelica Ricci and may not be used without permission.)

Pratt Institute Fire

I just heard about the major fire that happen at Pratt Institute Friday morning (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/nyregion/pratt-institutes-main-building-damaged-by-fire.html?_r=1&) . As a fellow artist, I can't even imagine how these students had felt upon discovering that everything they had worked on had just gone up in flames. This page has information about a sale being held in New York City to help support the students affected by this event: http://textileartscenterblog.com/pratt-fire-print-sale/.

2D Design Class

In order to get an art degree at Winthrop, you have to take what are referred to as foundation classes. This is some work from the two 2D Design courses I had to take:

Letter grid collage from 2D II

Letter grid collage from 2D II

Line Design from 2D Class

Color collage from 2D II

Color Collage from 2D II

Grid Crystallographic Balance painted design

Painted Radial Balance deign

(Note: please do your best to disregard the grayness of the background of these designs. I can recall several discussions at school about how switching computers can make your work look different but this is a case where they look fine on Photoshop but are uploading with the background not looking white on here, and I'm not switching computers. I tried several things but keep getting the same results. If anyone knows how to fix this, please leave a comment with suggestions.)

Angelica

https://www.facebook.com/wabisabikomorebi

Instagram @wabisabi.komorebi

(All photographs/design work ©Angelica Ricci and may not be used without permission.) 

Color Macro Photography

Angelica

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Instagram @wabisabi.komorebi

(All photographs ©Angelica Ricci and may not be used without permission.)

Color Macro Photography

Angelica

https://www.facebook.com/wabisabikomorebi

Instagram @wabisabi.komorebi

(All photographs ©Angelica Ricci and may not be used without permission.)

Origami Crane Earring

Angelica

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Instagram @wabisabi.komorebi

(All photographs ©Angelica Ricci and may not be used without permission.)

More Landscapes: Downtown Rock Hill, SC

Angelica

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Instagram @wabisabi.komorebi

(All photographs ©Angelica Ricci and may not be used without permission.)