Hello everyone. I have not written in quite a while, but have been designing and creating like crazy. I was laid-off from my full time publishing job in Boston at the very end of February and then a member of my family was extremely ill. I have been sketching and illustrating like crazy and have updated a lot of my designs on my textile page of this site. Due to my emotions of being out of work, I have been pouring my emotions into design. I have also been learning how to sew clothes. (My own designed, hand clothes will be coming this fall/winter - launching by October 2016). In the meantime, I have opened a Shopify website where t-shirts, tanks, bags, pillows and mugs that have my designs on them and be purchased. The website is www.shopstratchko.com. Be creative everyday! Have a great day! :)
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Since my last post, a lot has changed in my life. The company that I had worked for for ten years recently laid-off 4,000+ of us, including me. As a result, I have dug inwardly to my creative zen zone of my life and am currently experimenting with a lot of new things. I have been introduced to Silhouette, Cricut, and Brother Scan-n-Cut fabric and paper cutting computerized machines. I have been having a blast! A whole new creative side has blossomed. Below are a few things that I have made so far. I have also learned through www.Skillshare.com through Bonnie Christine how to make my own repeating patterns and turning them into clip art. Now, it is amazing that I can take my own photo and turn it into a piece of clip art and/or a repeating pattern.
I have also explored pet portrait thread painting with my Baby Lock sewing machine. Below you will see a thread painting that I am working on of Izzy my beloved dog. Have a blessed and amazing day. Due to my addiction of watching Project Runway, I have become completely inspired to face my lifetime adventure of rising to the challenge to learn how to make clothes. I was extremely excited reading the sales folders for Black Friday this year. To my amazement, I found in Jo-Ann Crafts flyer their Super Saturday Doorbuster sale had sizable dress forms on sale for 60% off! Yes, I rolled up my sleeves, got my comfy shoes and waited 2 and half hours in line to pick up my dress form. (Rich bought it for me for Christmas and believes in me!) Soooo excited! I feel that my skills are transferrable from graphic design, desktop publishing, and illustration. I have named my dress form Blue Betty. Now, my two famous quotes for inspiration is, "Make It Work!" - Tim Gunn and "Do Your Job" - Patriots. My first item I am planning on making is a tank top. November has been a very busy month. I had been living between two locations (Massachusetts and Maine) due to kitchen construction and my father had surgery. My father is recovering very well from surgery and the kitchen construction is still on-going. During my stay in Maine, I was able to find wonderful fabric at Marden's for a baby shower and other fabric I found close to home. I wanted to keep the baby quilt design light and airy. Holly, the happy expectant mother-to-be, likes a light colored palette, likes chevrons, and wants the sex of the baby to be a surprise. She had also mentioned that she might like an elephant theme for the nursery. Below is the resulting elephant baby quilt. It filled me with joy making and giving this quilt.
I have had a lot of energy today. I began the day with an early morning mediation. This design was created and adapted from one of my pastel drawings. I cut and copied elements in Photoshop and continued working with the shapes in Illustrator. I love working with color. I am exploring a part of me that has not has been discovered before. Learning patterning in Illustrator is really enlightening! I have been taking lessons through Skillshare.com. I believe my life is changing, through my work, my weight loss journey, and the environment around me. I am finding a new calmness through caring for others, as I continue to lose weight that I never had before. I have a new energy, new patterns to designs, and new things to experience.
Over the past few weeks I have been in Portland, Maine helping take care of family. My father had a serious surgery with a few months of recovery. I have helped care for him and my grandmother whom still lives on her own. I love Maine, I was born here. I am very inspired with everything around me. The golden trees this time of year and the nearby park on the south side of the city is beautiful. Above is my recent abstract of my next pieced panel. My next step is to begin the free-motion stitching using colorful thread.
I have also been sketching and working on becoming a textile designer. Below are my recent photos and sketches. I am working on completing a cohesive portfolio. I have become so inspired in Portland, I have decided to set up a studio here. I am excited to be working between Massachusetts and Portland, ME now. My creative spirit is blooming as the golden leaves continue to fall. It has been quite a while since I last wrote. This is my latest piece. I have become very excited over free-motion quilting. This is an abstraction I have designed from a photo I took with my iPhone of my mother's petunias. I did some editing in Photoshop and transformed it to fabric. I was inspired by artist Tammie Bowser from the show, Sewing with Nancy at http://video.wpt.org/video/2365398396/. I learned her technique and used my own artwork. I discovered a new world and am on my way in new creations. Below were my steps. I have also been inspired to learn canning for the very first time. I live near an orchard and went apple picking. I thought how I would love to eat the local, sweet apples in the middle of a Nor' easter this winter. Below are my first pictures of my canning.
I recently finished reading the book, "Gone Girl" - wow, what a book! The August summer weather has really put me in a calm mood. I enjoyed working on the middle pattern and could not believe how great those two flowers came out, once bringing them into Illustrator. The green dots are based on the many clovers that grow in my yard. I kept going with the dots which eventually morphed into a black and white that looks like juniper. I hate to begin to think of winter, but it is soon to be around the corner. Next, I have to begin to think of coordinating, simple patterns that are not as busy to complete the look. The Summer Winds have been fine and am already missing the beach. Below is the photo of a beginning sketch.
This has been an amazing summer! My artwork outlook has changed a lot. I am moving forward with my illustrations and learning about the world of pattern surface design. This summer through www.spoonflower.com was inspired by the work of designer, Bonnie Christine at www.goinghometoroost.com. I took her 3-day intensive course of pattern surface design and my world has quickly changed. I am loving the world of Adobe Illustrator once more! This has awakened my soul to drawing, coloring, painting and illustrating. Nature, flowers and the beach have also had a great impact on my art.
Boy, what a February! The record breaking snowfall amounts in Massachusetts, NH and Maine have made new records and have crippled the MBTA in Boston. My boss in Boston and the boss from NJ ok'd for us to work from home due to the inclement conditions. During the down time, I focused on new activities in the fiber arts, quilting, sewing and design. I have also read the popular book "Fifty Shades of Gray". Fifty Shades was an extremely easy read, one hot and steamy story. I actually read the book in a day and half - a first for me. The book certainly spiced-up Valentines Day for Richie and I. I am now reading the first book in the series of "Game of Thorns", which is expertly written. The complete opposite from Fifty Shades (lol). Below are my projects that I have dabbled in. Learning sewing has been very fun and challenging. I have also learned how to sew with yarn for boarders in an applique technique. My new inspiration artist is Rose Hughes. Rose an amazing mid-western fiber artist. She must have been inspired by Georgia O'Keefe - I can see it in her artwork. Please see her link http://www.rosehughes.com/ Below are the pictures of the projects I created in the past month. I almost forgot! I also did some painting. I normally work with oils, but I wanted to try acrylics for the first time. I did ok, but I prefer my oils and I also like watercolor for illustrations and 2-d graphics. Below are the pics of my paintings.
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