Baskets Inspired by Nature's Colors

I was invited by two groups on FB doing once-a-day-for-5-day-challenges. One challenge was "Nature Photos" the other was called "Creators Art" challenge. I decided to post a series of photos showing how many of my color combinations have been inspired by nature.

Maple leaf rose with leaves and fall colored reed (top left), dried rose buds from Sydney Eddison (lower left) and "Back Door," 16.25" x 12.75" 2015.

Connecticut sunset, oak leaf hydrangea leaves and a "hairy nest" 3" x 6."

Autumn leaves in my driveway and 2 "hairy nests," each 3" x 6."

"Ocean Inspired Seagrass," 15" x 12" 2013 and where the ocean meets an island off the coast of Norway.

Water lilies and Croton leaves at the Chicago Botanic Garden with a "hairy nest" 3" x 6."

Baskets Share NBO's Cover with Rainbow Carrots

The National Basketry Organization's Quarterly Review is out. Their president, and fellow basketmaker, Lois Russell, wrote a great article about my home and work, with an unusual slant. In line with NBO's purpose "to promote the art, skill, heritage and education of traditional and contemporary basketry," Lois wrote about how basketry is only a part of my life. We talked about how nature, travel, and photography also have a role and significance in how I approach my work. Seeing the architecture in plants and how I view details through a camera lens, also feed into my creative process. She quoted me as saying, "It is all about paying attention ... [and] noticing the little things that get you excited." 

The article is loaded with basket photographs and includes a peek inside my greenhouse where I do the encaustic. Since the greenhouse had an exhaust system to draw out excess hot air, it provided an appropriate, ventilated space in which to work with the wax fumes. The photo shows the skillet in which I melt the encaustic, a combination of bees wax and damar resin, the brushes I use to apply the molten medium to my work, and the heat gun used to melt the wax/resin into the reed.

   

I spend a lot of time in the garden with Emma (in the photo below) and Kitt, the Cat, paying attention to colors and textures. Another source of basket inspiration is viewing and editing photographs on Instagram using online photo applications where I can experiment with color combinations. The basket in the lower left, is a result of one such experiment.  

  

A client sent me a grey and orange tile to suggest colors for a custom set of baskets. I worked on a series of dye lots for her, then wove the pair of baskets shown below.

Finally, on the right, is information about a workshop I'll be giving at the North Country Studio Workshop (NCSW), in Bennington, VT at the end of January 2014. In this class students will be encouraged to experiment and take their basketry beyond strictly functional vessel forms. NCSW is offering 13, 5-day workshops in various media taught by nationally recognized craft and fine art professionals in a range of media. You can go to their website for more information.

 

To see my work in person, I'll be exhibiting in 2 juried craft shows this fall. The Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show will be open November 6-10, and CraftBoston will be December 6-8. I hope to see you at one of these shows. You can see the work I'll be bringing on my website: karilonning.com.

"Winter into Spring" (greens)

The colors this spring have been intense. I don't know if it's because winter seemed to last forever or if it's because I'm just noticing more. Some days I'm nearly breathless with the beauty. Every day something new blooms along the trails or in my garden. It's been very hard for me to stay inside to weave.

I was supposed to be working on a commission. I had double-dyed a very, dark grey that helped me focus, since I really wanted to work with it. (Sometimes its the colors of newly dyed reed that inspire a basket.) The shape I started to weave was too shallow for the commission, so I changed ideas. Here's what I made. In retrospect, I see the linear, neutral colors of winter accented with the fresh, green leaves of spring (with a little orange for interest).

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After 30 odd years of making baskets and many more of gardening, the idea that I can live a life weaving together the colors I see around me, me makes me pause and think. My life isn't perfect, and I'll probably never have a lot of money, but I appreciate that I have eyes that can see, hands that can make things, and an imagination that keeps me curious and motivated.

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And ... I share this time with Kitt and Emma.

Delayed Inspiration

What does this scarf have to do with my baskets? It's an example of how everything I look at feeds into the collected information I use for inspiration. I'll begin with saying that I'm drawn to stripes, from wallpaper to textiles. As I was working on my new striped basket I realized that it reminded me of something. I went upstairs and found this scarf. I'd bought it in Norway two summers ago.

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For this basket, I wanted to weave bold stripes in a just-dyed, dark grey reed. I needed an accent color and remembered one I had dyed after studying the colors in a photo of peeling birch bark. Unfortunately woven together, the series of natural colors I created looked like mud. Not all ideas pan out.

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I put that basket idea aside, but found that my favorite color, a warm neutral was what I needed to play off the cool grey. (The basket is 20" x 15".)

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One thing I enjoy about using rattan reed is how I can alternate between weaving flat and "hairy" textured baskets. I wanted to work on a flat surface and make a larger basket after having finished a small, very bright "hairy" basket. All this is in preparation for an upcoming craft show in Boston from March 25th to March 27th. For more information and directions you can click here.

A New Year's Resolution and Shades of Winter

January 1st has come and gone, 2011 has begun. I don't like to make New Year's resolutions because they can be so disappointing if not kept. And, what if something more interesting presented itself? I approach starting a new basket the same way. Usually I have an idea before I start weaving, but I often modify it as I work. The shape may suggest a different pattern, or an unexpected color combination could set me off in a new direction, so I give myself permission to see where it will lead me. (My training was in ceramics, but I prefer the flexibility in weaving baskets.)

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After a busy fall and all the comings and goings of the holidays, I'm looking forward to a quiet January. The soft shades in this Bridgewater, CT lake and the clear colors in Sarah's photo from Chicago make me want to weave. I want to design something so that I can play with these color combinations.

A few days ago I came across this birch tree. The bark's natural beauty and complexity exceeds human design. It made me think about working in textured papers and fabric, but it also made me feel humble about calling myself an artist. I want to go back and study it in different light and marvel at it's beauty. It's hard to explain, but framing these photos and then being able to appreciate all the layers and patterns in a two dimensional format is more exciting to me than going to most of the museums I've ever been to.

Contemplating the colors in the above seascapes touches me emotionally, and being able to appreciate the textures in this bark reminds me I am but a small part of something greater. As an artist and naturalist, I will try to share and preserve the beauty of what I see around me. This will be my New Year's resolution.

Inspired by a Montana Landscape

The idea for this basket started with looking at the colors in a friend's photo and a postcard of a dried, grass meadow in Yosemite. I was intrigued by the transitions from peach to indigo, and immersed myself in the colors and clouds. I played with the dyed reed as a painter would play with paint, and used more than 15 dye lots, a few of which were decades old.

As I wove, I started thinking about about the darkening sky, and stars. The stars would be woven into a dark, inner basket. Weaving a double-walled construction seemed to be the solution. People ask if I design each basket before I begin, here was a case where the whole concept changed mid basket. (A photo of the "stars" is on my website.)

As I wove a not-quite-big-dipper constellation into the inner basket, I remembered a sci-fi movie I saw where a woman woke up one morning and saw two suns in the sky and realized that she wasn't home anymore. While my hands are busy weaving, my head is free to indulge in making up stories. All I need is an idea to start with, then the curiosity, patience and perseverance to make it happen.

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The title for this basket is "An Alternate Starry Night." For more information and a photo looking into the basket, click here. The basket measures 10.5" x 10.5"

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Last year I wove a basket inspired by a painting by Leslie Baker.

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Here is the other basket inspired by the same landscape in different weather. The soft colors were the inspiration. (Having Kitt show up and be a part of the photo, was a bonus.)

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My display at Craft Boston and a peach flower ...

Craft Boston is finished. Between having a wonderful place to stay (with a friend and her 2 dogs), lovely, upbeat neighbors to pass the days with, a group of baskets I was proud of (including the one I made for the Fuller Craft Museum which they had on display) and my sister's help at the end of the show, I sold a few baskets and made a couple of good contacts for the future. It was a good show.

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On the way to the show one morning, I saw a flowering quince and next to it, an almost painfully-beautiful, peach-colored flower growing between a driveway and the brick wall of a rough building. The delicate strength in the flower and its color, haunted me for the rest of the day. The unexpected, vulnerable color reminded me of why I work with color. I love it, and I can immerse myself in this passion when I weave baskets. By surrounding myself with gardens, I get to celebrate all the color and textures when they appear in nature. I was asked if I'd gotten a photo of the flower, but I hadn't. I don't think a photo could live up to the impact that color had on me. I feel very fortunate to live the life I do. (And then there's the new cat who has adopted Emma and me, but that's another story.)

Google Satellite Photo as Inspiration

This is an only-minimally-enhanced satellite photo. It represents about 1.3 miles of cultivated fields and rocky outcroppings out in Montana. The geometry and sense of open space for a New Englander, who is used to trees and construction, inspired awe. About the same time I looked at this, I learned about the plight of the wild mustangs and I fantasized about buying up canyon lands for them to roam free on. The basket "Protecting Wide Open Spaces" was inspired by these thoughts. Here is a postcard I am working on where I've combined this landscape with the basket.

Basket Tribute to Leslie Baker

This basket (2 sides of the same piece are shown here) was inspired by Leslie Baker's painting "Blue Shed." She has an opening at the Shaw Cramer Gallery in Martha's Vineyard on July 24th. This basket and a few others will be on display out there as well.