Horizons, and 'gone forever' faces!

The 'Horizons' challenge quilt for this years Contemporary Quilt exhibition really has given me a HUGE challenge!!!

These first four faces were going to be a part of my piece, painted onto the news print paper surface of some paper lamination.

However, I eventually decided that they weren't quite right, or rather, definitely not right for what I was doing so painted over them!!! So, they are now no more.

In the end, the lower part of my 50cm x 1.50cm quilt was all so wrong I ended up cutting it off. Lots of time and work had gone into it, but it had to be done. A learning curve, and I had enjoyed the processes, although I wish I hadn't painted over the above four faces. At least I still have the photos/

This final photo is a taster of just a small area of the quilt which is now almost finished. I'm still not sure what I feel about it, so will put it away for a couple of weeks to give my brain a visual rest. I've put quite a few hours of intense time and work into it, so  feel that I've built up some sort of immunity to it's impact. The words 'laboured' and 'heavy' come into my mind at the moment whenever I see it, which isn't good. The starting point was from a photo that I took a couple of years ago of Southwark Cathedral.

I will eventually show the whole finished article, but not until I've decided whether to enter it for the cqgb challenge. Watch this space later in the year.

I'm running late on my May journal quilt, so that is going to be my next project, plus a couple of pieces that I'm planning as gifts for my two sisters.

Happy stitching to anyone who has read this far, and thank you for 'looking in'.

Postcards

 

In chapter 5 of the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, she suggests that we send five postcards to friends or family. I decided it would be nice to send some that I'd made. 

 

 

 In my ufo box I found something that I'd spent quite a bit of time on, but couldn't decide what to do with! Nothing unusual there then!!

 

Anyway, I decided it was perfect for cutting up into 6"x4" pieces, mounting onto some pelmet vilene, and making into abstract cards.

 

They are really a mixture of hand and machine stitch, paper lamination, my own dyed and printed fabric, and paint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above is a different method, I have used a simple leaf print onto a black cotton background.

 

Over the weekend, I went for a walkonn our very brief, one day of spring, and took some photos. I've included the one above, because something about it reminds me of the first selection of postcards. I could almost say it was the inspiration for them, but it would be a big fib, as I constructed the cloth about 18 months ago!

 

 

Finally, my JQ for April. It will be the last on the theme of seedheads, and I've called this one De-frosted Seedheads. I sprayed, painted, and printed paint through stencils onto the calico background, and then painted on the seedheads with black gutta. I machine quilted around all of the seedheads, and then added the spiders web. I also ironed on some black bonding web to give a crackle effect.

 

I hope my postcards will be enjoyed by the friends I have sent them to, it felt good to do this, making a change from the quick text messages we seem to rely on these days!

 

Happy sewing, dyeing, or whatever other creative things you maybe doing this week.

My little book of Dungeness

I bought a tiny set of six boxed childrens' books for £1 in a charity shop. I wanted to have a go at making some altered books. I roughened the cardboard page surfaces with sandpaper, and them gave them a couple of coats of white gesso. A couple of years ago I spent a day in Dungeness, and took loads of photos. I decided that this beautifully desolate coastal place would be the theme for the first of these six books. Above is the first ink drawing for the front cover.

An ink drawing of some rusted sculptures I saw n a garden.

The book open, showing another page with a drawing from the inside of one of the deralict fishermans sheds., looking through the the doorway to the distant rotting fishing boat with the sea behind.

The box, waiting for more paint and some decoration on the outside.

The last page, with a small stitched piece inspired by another broken shed with a glimpse of the beach beyond.

This is a section from a textile that I made a couple of years ago, again, inspired by my visit to Dungeness. It's a paper lamination, but I prefer to have the papered side as the right side, so that I can sketch into it as well as using stitch. It should be viewed turned 80d to the left, but for some reason Blogger insisted it should be this orientation! Very annoying. Anyway, I'm also showing this, because I'm now also working on a challenge piece for the  Contemporary Quilt group, with a theme 'Horizons'. I've started on an idea, and the technique I'm using is the same as the piece above. I won't be able to show it yet, but if it ever gets finished, and turns out to my satisfaction, then I will hopefully show it on here!

That's it for now, but I sincerely hope that when I next blog, we will be enjoying some warmer, spring weather, and the snow will have disappeared until next winter!!

Keep snug!

 p

Flowers and Journals.

This is a mixed media piece that I've made for a 'Flower Exhibition' at The Corner Gallery at the end of March. Lots of art for sale there, by a wide selection of artists

Two more journals that I made for my sons. You can see an example of the insides below.

Below are the two journals that I made for my son's partners.

I used watered down acrylic paint on smooth lining paper for the pages inside their journals.

Finally, my journal quilt for March, and I'm still exploring the frosted seedheads idea. I've made a stylized version for this one, but somehow I don't think it has been as successful as the first two. Still, we can't win them all I suppose, and after all, the whole point of these tiny quiltlets is to experiment with new ideas and techniques.

Thanks for reading, and I hope that by the next time I add a post, it will feel as though Spring has finally sprung!! Keep snug until then.

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