A 'date' at Kew Gardens

I had a 'date' at Kew Gardens on Monday, and I spent a wonderful day strolling around the brilliant exhibition of sculpture by David Nash. Above and below is one of the mounds he created from cork bark. I loved the way that the light changed it's colours and shadows as I walked around it, giving it a unique texture from the different angles.

One of the reasons I went on my 'date', to Kew, was to fulfil one of the weekly tasks that I've been invited to do as part of a workshop I'm taking part in. It's The Artists Way, by Julia Cameron, which she designed as a way to help those of us who want to get in touch with, or unblock our creativity. The twelve week course, requires that we take part in a two hour 'date' by ourselves each week. It can be anything that you wouldn't normally do by yourself, but which is fun, and often playful. I often do things or go places by myself, but this visit to Kew was something I had been wanting to do for a long time, and which I would normally do with a friend. As you can see from the photos, it was a gloriously sunny day, such a treat after all the grey skies of late.

Although I really loved Nash's large sculptures, I especially liked his smaller pieces that are on display in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery. He has been 'Artist in Residence' since last year, and has been studying the fruits, seeds, bark and even the cellular structure of wood whilst there. These studies have informed his smaller pieces too,  and some of them look so fragile and delicate, reminding me of sea shells.

Nash was also influenced by a piece of Aboriginal art from the Kew archives, and subsequently scorched parallel  lines into some of his smaller sculptures. The wall hanging below is so simple, but is one of my favourite pieces.

There are also some larger sculptures in the Temperate House, set amongst the wonderful foliage. I particularly liked the two spoon like piece below, which he has also 'scorched' to give it it's black appearance.

This was also a favourite of mine, half hidden behind large leaves, and reminded me of a giant tadpole, or water creature!

Of course, I also wandered through some of the giant glasshouses, and took plenty of photographs. I particularly enjoyed the wonderful reflections of the Victorian glasshouse structures, seen in the small pools.

I can't resist including this Prickly Pear, it's one of my favourites, probably because of the shapes it makes as it grows, with the fruits sprouting from around the edges. I have a textile piece that I still haven't finished, inspired by this wonderful plant.

I can thoroughly recommend a visit to Kew, and especially while the  David Nash exhibiton is there. Not for much longer though, it finishes on 14th April, so maybe you could also make a 'date' to visit this spring!

A Gift.

The wrap for a gardening art journal that I have made for my daughter Emily in New Zealand.

The paper I've used for the journal in the making. Mine is at the top of the photo, it was made during a 'fun arty' day with three other friends. Both sides of the giant sheets were covered with marks in black ink, applied with a wide selection of  tools including brushes, cardboard, sponges and twigs!

Front Cover

 My daughter is heavily into gardening, so I chose that as my theme for this book. I selected some quotes that were relevant, and also put in some magazine cuttings of different plants. 

The inside of the wrap is lined with some gorgeous hand dyed fabric purchased from Maggi, and I stitched in this little machine embroidered daisy that I made a couple of years ago, as a pocket to hold seed packets.

I inserted a very small book that I also made, with a hand stitched wrap. I named it 'garden notes', so my daughter can keep track of all things gardening!

I'm showing a small selection of the pages where I have also inserted some of my own art work, all with a flowery flavour.

There are quite a few pages with not much added, so that Emily can add her own magazine cuttings and notes.

The back of the book.

And finally my February JQ. I used the photo from my January JQ to experiment with. In the edit section of my camera phone, I selected 'mirror', which gave me the arrangement you see above, then changed the colours to 'vintage'. I printed the results onto some silk organza, twice, and cut them to produce a piece 12"x8". The quilting is in silver metallic thread.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my latest creations, I have certainly enjoyed producing them, and thanks very much for reading my blog!

Patterns, Landscape and Frost!

My Journal Quilt for January

This year the format is landscape, 12 "x 8" and a theme of our own choosing. I have decided on 'Patterns in the Landscape'. After I'd submitted my choice, I had second thoughts because I wondered if the word 'landscape', would have been better described as 'environment'  Then I found that the word 'patterns' was also causing more doubts about my choice, so I ended up 'googling' it for more clarification!  We have to stick to this theme for the 12 months, but as it should be a challenge, I have decided to stay with my original theme title. However, there has been a positive outcome to all these doubts because Google came up with the book title, 'Patterns in the Landscape' by Phillip Hughes. I've actually ended up ordering this book, because it looks fascinating, and is by an artist that is unknown to me, so now I shall be looking out for the postman with eager eyes!! 

I painted the hand dyed fabric first with a wash of watery acrylic paint, sketched in the background trees with Karisma pencils, machine couched the seed heads in the foreground with white knitting wool, and added the frosted grasses with white gesso. See below for the inspiration for this quilt.

Drawing/painting (above), made on my Tablet with Sketchbook Pro, from the photograph that I took a few weeks ago (below), after a heavy frost.

On the same day, I also took the photo below of some frosted leaves, and then made the sketch above on my Tablet.

Well, thanks for reading this far and wherever you may be in the world, I wish you a very happy and creative filled weekend.

A

A January jumble!

This is my second piece inspired by the photograph taken in my nephews barn. Reflected sunlight through a polythene sheet, tacked over the window spaces. I made the first one below in paper and silk for a challenge, but it was sold in a local gallery! I decided to re-make it, but this time in cloth and above is the result. What do you think?

Below is one of the heart pieces I'm making to celebrate Valentines day. This and another, along with some cards will be on sale in the Corner Gallery, Carshalton Beeches.

The February issue of Popular Patchwork has an article about the CQ@10 Cornish tin mine challenge that I took part in last year. I was thrilled to find that they have included my quilt in their article. Fame at last eh?!!

I hope you are all keeping warm during this cold snap, and I must say that it's during weather like this that I am so pleased to be using one of my lap quilts over my legs. Very snug!

Feeling rather 'David Hockney'ish!!'

Tulips for Emily. I bought these beautiful tulips just after Christmas, and said to my husband that I would sketch them on my new 'tablet' for our daughter in New Zealand. This was the result, and I have to say I was rather pleased with it! I have also printed off a copy for her onto some lovely rag paper, and it will be in the post very soon.

These daisies were from my imagination, but as you can probably see, I was still getting used to the Sketchbook Pro app.

One of my first attempts, and somehow I've managed to capture the 'extra accessories ' top and bottom!!

Our cat Elsa, sitting on the arm of my chair with her back to me! Maybe I should have asked her permission first!

One of our armchairs, and that same vase of tulips, but in an imaginary room with a sea view. I wonder what I was dreaming of eh? Wishful thinking maybe!

And the actual vase of inspirational tulips, but taken with my new camera phone using the posterise effect..

I've been having lots of fun since Christmas, experimenting with my new toys, but now I need to get back to business! I'm looking forward to getting back to my sewing machine, and some needle and thread. It is good to have a break and some fun, it seems to re-charge the batteries. I hope mine have been re-charged, and I hope yours have too.

Some 'Too Late' gift ideas!

I did manage to make up one book, book wrap and a couple of lavender sachets as a Christmas gift, but unfortunately I didn't give myself enough time to make up any more. I got as far as the leaf printing, and the 'Falling Leaves 2012' embroidery, but the rest have been put together since! Nothing much more to say about them really, I think the photos below are self explanatory. The books have been made up of a selection of papers, suitable either for sketching, or using as scrap books.

Machine stitching on the wrap above.

Hand stitch on this example.

If you have read this far, I wish you all a very happy, healthy, peaceful and ofcourse CREATIVE New Year!