Rust, Peeling Paint and the Beauty in That!

Above and below, the two pieces I've been working on, and which are now finished. Textile and mixed media, including, dyed, printed, stenciled, painted fabrics, plastic netting, cording, free machine stitching and machine embroidery, and fabric crayon.

Below, a selection of the photographs that I took in Dungeness a couple of years ago. I have abstracted the colours, shapes and textures from the derelict fishing huts to build up the compositions for the two pieces. I particularly like the contrast of the hard, rusty metal winches and rigid plastic bait boxes, with the soft draping  folds of the fishing nets and ropes. The textures and softer colours of the peeling paint from the rotting wood has also informed some of the background shapes and marks.

Colours, Shapes and Textures of Dungeness.

In my last post I showed the beginnings of the above piece. It's almost unrecognizable now, and I'm wondering if I've overworked it. I've definitely changed it drastically, but it just wasn't what I was trying to achieve before! The colours were too bright, so I've sprayed it with acrylic paint, and added netting and cording, lots of free motion stitch and machine embroidery. The insides of some of the derelict fisherman's sheds at Dungeness were absolutely full of old nets, plastic trays, ropes, rusty winches, planks of rotting wood where the sides of the sheds were collapsing, and plenty of contrasting shadows and shafts of light pouring in from where the windows used to be!

This is a second attempt, not finished yet, but my aim for this piece is that 'Less is More'......ha ha ha!

Goodness, two posts in one week.....that must be a first!

Ally Pally, Knitting, Stitch and Inspiring Textiles.

Outside the entrance to the Knitting and Stitching Show, 2013 at Alexendra Palace today, was this black cab, wrapped up snugly in all this incredible knitting! Unfortunately, as it was beginning to rain, I didn't hang about, and forgot to find out any details.

Last year I was lucky enough to do a five day workshop with the Canadian textile artist Dorothy Caldwell, whose work I just absolutely love. She is at Ally Pally this year, exhibiting some of her fantastic work called 'IN PLACE' and I've included some photos here. I managed to write down the titles of most pieces, but unfortunately there are one or two that I missed, including the one above.

This piece is called 'Comfort of Fog'

Red Hill/Black Hill

Outcrop

Canyon

About this exhibition 'IN PLACE'

Weapons Listening and Waiting

Following the Sounds of Birds

These photos do not do justice to Dorothy's work, there is so much texture and minute detail which is hard to see unless you are in front of one of her pieces. It's as though she has honed her experience of place,  down to the bare bones, simplifying the images to reflect what she feels rather than sees. These are my words, not hers, but it is how I translate what I see in front of me.

I was also really intrigued by the work of a young mixed media textile artist called Bethany Walker. She has unusually combined concrete and textile/fiber materials, the results of which you can see above. Again, this photo doesn't do justice to her work, and the combination of industrial/domestic materials, fused together like this, gives unexpected results that I find very exciting. It will be interesting to see how Bethany progresses with this technique.

Back down to the nitty gritty, and above is a piece I'm working on at the moment, inspired by a photograph I took in Dungeness which included rusty mechanisms from a winch, tangled up ropes, fishing nets and rotting wood. As you can see, it was just the starting point, and my imagination has also been given free reign! I'll post a further photo when it's finished.

Finally my Journal quilt for October, again, using the same image that I used for September, but this time I wanted to experiment with a mono print for the outline which I made on some hand dyed fabric that had very washed out colours. I overlaid the piece with organza before outlining the printed area with free motion machine stitch, and finished it off with hand stitch.

It's been such an inspiring day, I've walked my feet off, seen some wonderful textiles, and spent far too much money! It will all have been worth it though if it gets my creative juices flowing again, something which has needed a bit of a boost these last few weeks.

Thanks for reading, and whatever you're creative exploits are, enjoy!

Two contrasting projects.

Not sure yet where this is going, but I've been stitching into the background, trying to enhance the patterns which were inspired by the markings on the tree bark. I have also stitched into the 'ghost' tree shapes, but in white. My idea is to experiment further, with maybe leaves, moths, birds, and to echo their natural markings in the background.

A complete change here, a stuffed toy dog that I have made for one of my grandsons. He loves to tickle his nose with labels/tags that are attached to most items these days, so this little doggy has plenty to choose from. I even made my own pattern, so very original.

I hope he likes it!

Trial and Error, but also lots of fun.

In my last post I showed a photo of the above, but at a stage that I wasn't happy with. After printing off some photos of it and playing around with them, I finally took the rotary cutter to it today! First I removed the large stone, covered the background with a very fine voile to knock back the colour, and after the slicing procedure, rearranged all the pieces onto a batik background and added a few more pebbles onto the foreground.

Before taking the more drastic action, I had tried to knock back the darker shadow areas around the stone with light grey pencils and crayons, and also added more texture to the sandy parts with acrylic paints. Unfortunately this just all seemed to add a 'heaviness' to the piece that I wasn't at all happy with. I hope you agree with me that the finished article is now far more interesting, lighter and brighter.

I've also been thinking about another idea that came to me after photographing a number of  dead trees with lopped off limbs in the area. To me they have a beauty of their own with all the interesting shapes, and markings on the bark, and some with ivy wrapping around the trunk. I almost want to call them 'Natures Totems', and may well do so if I manage to produce a small project on them.

Above and below some sketches that I've made when out and about.

At the moment I'm not too sure where all this is going, because on the one hand I love the natural shapes, colours and textures of these trees, but then again wood is often fashioned and worked on by artists, wood carvers, wood turners, cabinet makers and sculptors to create beautiful objects. I'm feeling very tempted to create some textile pieces that allow me to use my imagination with these natural shapes, and to glorify them with colour, textures and patterns. I suppose, in a way, they are maybe just a starting point for something that my imagination can really go to town on.

Above and below some investigations into the use of wild colours, or black and white with textural patterns. In fact, the one below almost reminds me of a decapitated  naked female form!!!

These last two images are playing around with the idea of either silhouettes or ghost shapes on a textured background. I have tried to take the bark patterns away from the tree shapes and to use them on the background instead.

Lots to think and play around with but at the same time lots of fun! Whatever you are working on at the moment, I hope you are also having as much fun, and many thanks for looking in.

Pebble faces, sunsets, photos for inspiration and travelling quilts!

I've just returned from a gloriously hot and sunny few days in Dorset. As I walked along the pebbly beaches, I couldn't help feeling I was being watched!!!

It's compulsory isn't it, to collect pebbles as you meander along. However, to save weighing my pockets down too much, I decided to sketch these wonderfully 'gurning' faces I could see looking up at me.

I feel a 'funny faces' textile coming into being in the very near future!!

It was lovely to sketch boats in West Bay harbour while enjoying a coffee.

Fishing nets at Lyme Regis, I love the combinations of colour and texture.

Rusty chains, again at Lyme Regis and below, two of their gorgeous shell inspired street lamps.

I loved all the strips of corrugated iron cladding this barn, some of them beginning to rust.

This photo of a telegraph pole may well be the inspiration for October's journal quilt. You'll see why further down the page.

Colmers Hill in Dorset, it seems to have inspired a number of artists in the area, and I can understand why.

While I was away, I heard that both the above quilts have been accepted for exhibitions abroad. The top one is going to Prague, after being exhibited in a Richmond gallery, and the bottom one, Reflected Sunlight, is going to be exhibited at the Ailsa Craig exhibition in Canada next year.

Back to Dorset, and above and below are photos of one of the most breath taking sunsets I've ever witnessed. The colours were so intense, it really was an awe inspiring experience.

Staying on a sunset theme, above is my September Journal Quilt, which was inspired by a photo I took in Dungeness. I loved the pattern that the poles and wires made across the landscape. Below is another piece that I made for my cousin. His partner had taken a photo of a sunset on their farm, and asked me to translate it into a textile.

The evenings are really beginning to draw in here in the northern hemisphere, but hopefully we've still got a few warm days left in which to enjoy our beautiful countryside and coasts. Wherever you are, I hope you can find inspiration and joy from your surroundings too.