Stash busting: even more Gloves

Much of this month has been spent stash-busting all the little partial skeins rolling around my bins and making up some different glove patterns. Above are most of the varieties that resulted. I’m currently working on a longer project, the Hitofude Cardigan, as a present. It is coming along nicely, but I kind of miss the much more instant gratification of fingerless gloves.

Things We Like: Richard Brendon’s “Reflect”

Seeing troves of orphan saucers collecting dust in antique shops, British designer Richard Brendon designed a brilliant way to give these objects a second life.

Brendon designed a blank bone-china tea cup—a ghostly stand-in of the Georgian variety—that’s finished off with a reflective surface. Like a Chameleon, the cup replicates the look of it’s supporting cast—albeit with a slightly broken, melting aesthetic.

Reflect is one of those rare gems that fills a need by repurposing discarded materials while also building on a visual legacy with a whole new look. It’s cheeky and rational, clever and satisfying, and the perfect mix of form and function.

Things We Like: De Kooning – “Untitled VII” – 1985

 

We love how this painting—one of Willem De Kooning’s last works—encapsulates all the best elements of his oeuvre. The overlapping swaths of color from his reckless 40’s and 50’s prime are beaten into submission according to his refined working methods of the 1980’s. It’s clean and simple, but not quite. There’s a tension there that keeps us looking.

What we find of particular interest is the painting’s resemblance to the bright, crisp product paintings of the Pop era. In some alternate reality, this could pass for a warped Rosenquist or a wrecked Wesselmann. Odd then that the sworn enemy of the rough-and-tumble, yet oh-so-sensitive Abstract Expressionists (i.e. Pop) ended up worming its way into the work.

Maybe it’s because he was the last AbExer standing or it’s his connection to Rauschenberg or his injection of  pop cultural or representational references, but somehow this just seems appropriate.

Knit Progress: Gloves and more Gloves!

The stash-busting and arts festival inventory-creating has begun! I’ve pulled out all of those little balls of leftover yarn and have had the best time creating fun combinations of colors and textures. I can’t seem to stop making variations on striped gloves. Since these projects don’t take much yarn, I’ll be able to make a few more solid color pairs too. I don’t plan to stop for another week or two. We’ll see how many I can do!