Exhibit: small works: SDA 2019 Member Exhibition

small works: SDA 2019 Member Exhibition
October 1– December 15, 2019

Arcade Building Contemporary Art Projects
Gateway Campus, Webster University
St. Louis, MO

Here's my piece that is in this group exhibition.

Squared Screen, Digital repeat printed on cotton, 10 x 10"

It's one of my Procreate experiments which I then had printed on 100% cotton by Spoonflower.
Next time, I'll do it on a synthetic so the colors will be richer. (Above image is the original digital file).

Chromatic Dots

This happened today:

It's (mostly) the web color chart as dots.
And I mainly did it for the socks:

I didn't intend to have different colored socks in the pair, but I kind of like it that way.

Redbubble link for everything available in this print.
Link for just the socks.

Vote! Spoonflower Cheater Quilt Challenge

A QR code and clouds. My submission for this week's Spoonflower challenge.

What site does the QR code jump to?
You'll have to aim your smart device at it to find out!

Cast your vote here! There are 550 entries!!!

The challenge, from Spoonflower:

In the hands of our imaginative designer community, this week’s 1-Yard Cheater Quilt challenge is sure to break outside of the creative box. Think beyond the traditional 6″ block cheater quilt; the 1-yard (42” x 36”) canvas is your playground for color, shapes, composition and style. Will your eye-catching quilt double as a modern wall hanging and offer a sleek aesthetic or maybe you’d like to cater to children? However unique you decide to go, keep in mind that your quilt should not be set to a centered repeat. 

Winners will be announced September 12

EXHIBIT: MATERIALITY & METHOD, A SMALL WORKS FIBER EXHIBITION

Group show of small format works on the theme of Materiality & Method by the members of Textile Arts LA

I have a piece in this!

Leopard x Black Plaid x Pink Stripe
paper weavings of color laser printouts, 4 panels
22 x 9"  ©2019  

DATES
Sun, Sep 8 - Sat, Oct 5, 2019
Pretty Smart
4117 East 4th Street Long Beach, CA, 90814
(map)

OPENING RECEPTION
Sunday, September 8, 2019
4 - 6pm
Link for artist list and more details.

What I wrote with my submission: 
These are small (3x3”) paper weavings from reject color laser printouts of my surface designs. I design prints for a mass market underwear and loungewear company. Since I create artwork for both women’s panties and men’s loungewear, I’m combining the feminine and masculine patterns into one weaving. I’m deliberately choosing combinations that “don’t match”. I started this project on 1/23/19 and since I have an endless supply of reject prints, the project will continue indefinitely.

100 days of Procreating

I reached my 100/100th Procreate texture doodle yesterday and Tumblr marked it as X-rated:

I appealed and they quickly let it post, but geez!
This design is now officially called "Sexy Spirals"

What's next? Will I keep at it and go beyond 100? I think yes.

I also want to figure out how to marry Stephen Sidelinger's surface design syllabus with teaching Procreate and pitch it as an e-course for Otis Extension.

#Fluevog Deee!

Fluevog link

It just so happens the Deee is very close to the colors in the Spoonflower Limited Pallette challenge:

A repeat is born:

Voting is July 11-16 -- there are 830 entries to wade through. Gah!

Paper Weavings from Day Job Detritus

Before this year's A-Z, I started doing paper weavings from reject printouts of my pattern designs at the day job. (I am a surface designer for a mass-market underwear and loungewear company).
I mentioned the process in the post about the Fluevog Faith.

First weaving, January 23:

View this post on Instagram

Got a #weaving idea this AM during my commute: use "reject" printouts of panty design combos from work. Fun! Now how do I get it to hold together? 🤔 #pattermixing #annembray

A post shared by anne m bray (@annembray) on Jan 23, 2019 at 9:47am PST

How did I solve my "hold it together" dilemma? Sticking a 4x3" mailing label on the back!

I diligently did this every morning through the first week of April,
until I started getting to work too late to be stealth about it.

This is the last batch, April 2-5:

[click on images to embiggen]

Parameters developed over the course of the project (as they tend to do for me):

• Mix a women's panty print with a men's lounge pant print
• Try to make the mixture as uncoordinated as possible

Here's a Camo / Blue Ditsy set from March 6-21:

I've got a lot reject camo printouts on large 11x17 printouts -- I was not having success color matching to a printed garment.

In fact, I gave up, since it became unnecessary.

I've since had to do two other colorways of the camo with even more reject printouts.

I could do a whole camo weave series at this point!

Conclusion: camo is hard to color match, especially to Pantone standard chips.

I've submitted this series to be part of the Otis 100 Projects. We'll see if anything happens.
I'm also committed to get back to weaving detritus. It's relaxing!

Smiley Safety Cones and Procreate

I've taken a breather from the Fluevogs this month.
Instead, I've been learning Procreate in an eCourse with Traci Bautista. It's been super fun.

This wacky print came out of experimenting with McGyvering a repeat in Procreate -- just to see if it was possible:

There were some issues in getting it into a real repeat, but I didn't have to totally rebuild it.

Now it's up on Spoonflower, because a friend wants to sew a raincoat with it.
I want one too!
[Not yet available for purchase, I have to go through the proofing sample phase first.]

What is helping me "stay the course" (because I'm a terrible ecourse learner) is I turned my class experiments into a "100 a Day" project on Instagram. Today I'll be creating #52/100! More than halfway done! Mostly I've been creating "background" textures -- the cones are a definite anomaly! A couple of Fluevog motifs snuck in there as well.
Here's where you'll find them all: #100_amb

Have you tried Procreate yet?

Linking with
Catherine's #ShareAllLinkup
Shelbee's On the Edge of the Week

[update 6/1/19]

View this post on Instagram

@annembray.art If I get any closer, the camera will 💣🧨💥❤️❤️❤️ @spoonflower #safetymaterials

A post shared by sjkurtz (@erniekdesigns) on May 31, 2019 at 7:12pm PDT

#AtoZchallenge 2019 Reflections

My third year of drawing and creating repeats of Fluevog shoes (and boots!) alphabetically went smoothly, for the most part. There always seems to be ONE shoe that gives me a hard time and this year it was Miss Jodie:

I worked on a stealth version of the repeat at the day job, but was not satisfied with the results:

The printout, with hand drawn "possible additions" has been pinned to the wall next to my computer since 4/12:

Wait, let me give you a wide shot of my workspace:

Ha! Feel better about where you blog from?

OK, enough about Jodie. 
And my messy desk.

Allow me to opine upon the A to Z Challenge.
Well, what can I say? I work well with parameters.
The A-Z helps me zero in on getting a body of work completed, or in the case here, started.
Every year, through the challenge, I discover new blogs to follow, catch up with blogging mates, and generally have a blogging good time.
This year, I added an A-Z blog roll at the footer here [see bottom of page], as well as an A-Z Pinterest Board.
I used to use Bloglovin', but haven't gone over there in eons. Maybe it's the interface.

What's next?
I hope to keep my Fluevogging momentum up and get these repeats uploaded to Redbubble, Spoonflower, etc soon. [I get a commission for sales. Thanks for your support!]

Have any favorites that you'd like me to do first? Let me know in the comments.
Here's my A-Z Fluevogs 2019 table of contents, in a randomized alphabet form.

#AtoZchallenge Z is for Fluevog Zachary

A men's style ends our A-Z Fluevog journey:

Fluevog Zachary link

Have you enjoyed the adventure? In case you didn't notice, there is are sets for 2018 and 2017.

And if you're curious about how others worked their ABCs, here's the A-Z Challenge master list.

#AtoZchallenge Y is for Fluevog Yolanda

Fluevog Yolanda link

#AtoZchallenge X is for Fluevog Xie Xie

Fluvog Xie Xie link

#AtoZchallenge W is for Fluevog Watusi

Fluvog Watusi link

There was a movie with a good Watusi scene. Anyone remember which? Was it Hatari?

#AtoZchallenge V is for Fluevog Victoria

Fluevog Victoria link

This was a special request from Century, a Facebook Fluevog Friday member.
(I seem to have been blocked from the group. Sigh.)

She saw my sketch and wanted to purchase it.
I decided to offer her a fully painted illustration:

She bought both!

#AtoZchallenge U is not for Fluevog Ursula, it's for Ucayali

Fluevog Ursula link

Silly me, I did this one last year -- which I didn't realize until late in the day.

I put out a desperate call in many Facebook Fluevog groups and Nikki came to the rescue.
She's been working on an extensive Fluevog archive on Instagram.
Here is her entry for Ucayali:

View this post on Instagram

#fluevog #vog_rivers #vog_ucayali #nolongeravailable

A post shared by Find Your Fluevogs! (@findyourfluevogs) on Sep 5, 2018 at 7:55pm PDT

Thanks Nikki, this one's dedicated to you!

RESTART!

Fluevog Ucayali link

#AtoZchallenge T is for Templeton

Fluevog Templeton link (black) | (teal)

#atoZchallenge S is for Fluevog Safia

Fluevog Safia link

#AtoZchallenge R is for Fluevog Ros

Fluevog Ros link

Another redraw required:

#AtoZchallenge Q is for Fluevog Quincy

Fluevog Quincy link

This one is a men's shoe.

#AtoZchallenge P is for Fluevog Portage

Fluevog Portage link

This one required a total redraw:

#AtoZchallenge O is for Fluevog Odette

Fluevog Odette link

From Fluevog:
"Having quite the soft spot for misfits, John created The Esoteric Temptations Family to prove that even outsiders can find a common home – as Fluevogers of course!  The Odette is an homage to every misrepresented Witch of the West there ever was. Virtually commanding a double take from every angle, these outstanding mary janes feature the supplest of leather, a dramatic 3" heel to die for, a subtly bumped toe and a custom skull buckle. A perfect fit for the bold, unafraid and unapologetic, these shoes/statement-makers will have routine skeptics thinking: Dorothy who? Temptations…be vigilant, protect your sole."

Odette is part of the same family as Fantine, which I drew two years ago. 

I recycled Fantine's repeat elements:

#AtoZchallenge N is for Fluevog Nap

Fluevog Nap link (blue) (XO pattern)

I could use a Nap. How about you?

#AtoZchallenge M is for Fluevog Malibran

Fluevog Malibran link (blue)

Yet another Fluevog with lots of colorways:

Since these were a special request from Aimee, who has several pairs,

Aimee in her beige Malibrans. Not beige. [from Instagram]

I chose the beige color to put into repeat: