A new seedling!

What a stunner

Stitch samples

Continuing on the theme of line, but relaxing the rules slightly to include 'flat stuff' I've been playing with couching.  I very rarely work with black fabric, but the colours on this piece needed it.

As I stitched I became aware that I was taking inspiration from my old life as a plant biochemist.  A world I left many years ago.  Looking back through my archived pieces I was struck by how often my subconscious 'design- guru' takes ideas from that part of my experience.

The couched sample could quite easily be an abstract representation of membrane structures inside plant cells.  The painted lines that I initially roller-printed on to the fabric probably enhances that idea.

A piece I did some time ago, using string, a lot of gold paint and some beads, has the same inspiration, although I'm not sure I realised it at the time.


My tutor's parting advice when I finished my West Dean course was to make work in sets, or series, so I'm going to tackle a set of small embroideries.  Microscope-slide sized pieces on a theme of cell membranes.  Quantum Biology is the in thing at the moment - perhaps a little textile art is what it needs!

Daily Practice Update

Day 10 in my self-imposed 3D line challenge and it's going well so I thought I'd share a few with you.

This could be my favourite so far, buttonhole stitch on florists wire, coiled round a knitting needle.

Developing the knitted idea from last week, this time over art straws.

Kebab sticks wrapped in a variety of perle and gold threads.

New Bulbs

Two new bulbs have taken pride of place among all the early Narcissi in my alpine house this month. 
One is a snowdrop that looks as if its petals have been quilted.

Galanthus 'Diggory'

and the other is a spring flowering Colchicum, which is quite unusual!

Colchicum hungaricum

I can't decide which is the most stunning.



Daily Practice

Something of a cross-roads has been reached.  I've completed all the courses needed for my Visual Arts Diploma and I've come to the end of all the modules I want to do with the Open University.

Where now?


'Finding your own style' seems to be the recommended next step.  However one of the points in my tutor's report was that she found my work "refreshingly original", so maybe I'm part way along the style-finding route already.

Having been nominated for the Art Challenge on Twitter, I found I quite liked the discipline of having to post some work everyday, so I'm going to try a sort of 'daily practice' idea. 
Around this time last year I was working on a theme of 3D lines which I very much enjoyed so I'm resurrecting and extending that.

Today is Day 3, and these are what I've done so far.  We'll see how long I manage to keep it up!

Re-boot

Silk Sculpture 

I need to start blogging again!

I could bore you with a detailed account of how my work has changed over the past months or I could just jump in with a couple of images which show more-or-less where I am now.

I chose the easiest option.

Landscape

Mixed Media Collage

I'm about six months into my visual arts diploma and so far it's been an eclectic mix.  My latest short course went under the heading of mixed media collage A nicely vague title which could cover almost anything!  What it actually turned out to be was a few days of glorious fun printing, painting, cutting and sticking in a sun filled orangery at the centre of a crocus strewn lawn. You see how I suffer for my art!!
We started with printing inks, rollers and self-made stencils, layering up interesting backgrounds on tissue paper.  The acid-free, conservation grade stuff is surprisingly strong. 

A favourite colour palette.

There is actually more green in this than the picture shows.

Next we had a go at making printing blocks, my lino cutting has not improved since school days but I had more success with the 'cut shapes out of stuff and stick them on cardboard' type of block.  In fact I made quite a few of those for future work.  We used the blocks for adding yet more layers of print to our tissue backgrounds.

With the left over ink in our roller trays we were shown how to do monoprints.  This was entirely new to me and I got slightly hooked on the technique.  It really is quite addictive.

Just a few lines scratched in a tray.

A few drops of water added when the ink is gone.

When I had quite a few prints I started cutting them up and reassembling them on card.

Just playing.

Closer detail.

I could have played happily for hours, but time was short and we were supposed to be learning collage so I reluctantly swapped the paint for scalpel and glue.

A few small samples.

 I came away with some work in progress for a bigger piece incorporating fabric and stitch. which I will work on now that I've finally caught up with organising all my loose bits and pieces into a sketch book.

Very early stages of a background.

Stencil ideas.

Fifty Shades of Yellow!

Crazy Daffodil ... Rip van Winkle

Marsh Marigolds at the edge of my pond

Golden Crocus all around

Winter Aconites holding on for the Spring

Cowslips on the bank by my pond

Primroses in my woodland glade

Iris winogradowii - paler than the earlier danfordiae

Celandine with bronze leaves ... Brazen Hussy

Crocus Cream Beauty

My garden goes through phases of colour.  Mid March seems to be its yellow phase!  Even the butterflies are on message, with Brimstones fluttering by whenever the sun appears.  Sadly my photography skills are not good enough to cope with the speed at which they move.  Flowers are easier ... they sit still!

Overdue Lines

There's been a bit of a break in my Diploma studies.  I had no workshops in January, but now I'm busy gathering stuff together for the February one, which will be multi-media collage.
At the end of last year I had a five day Creative Development course on 3D line.  I had such a great time that week making endless samples of three dimensional lines from anything that came to hand that I've been loathe to share the results with anyone in case they don't 'get it'.  Our tutor was fantastic and there was absolutely no pressure to produce any finished work, it was just a wonderful opportunity to play.  I can't tell you what a joy that was!
These are just a few of the ideas I spent time experimenting with.

String & tubular ribbon.

Recycled packaging and wire.

           

Raffia bundles wrapped with linen twine.

Careful placement of stitch gives lines on calico.

Florist's Midelino sticks are very bendy.

A line of silk cocoon dots.

Perle threads on string.

Wires wrapped in painted calico.

There are others combining fancy knitting and wood or metal grids and plastic, but I don't want to bore you!

Friday Felt

Felt Vessels

These I made a while ago.  I've brought them out again because the colours were based on flowers I have in the garden right now - snowdrops and crocuses.
I went through a felt phase some years ago and still have all the gear, but it is such a physical process and I'm basically such a lazy crafter that I very rarely feel moved to do anything other than cover a few pebbles these days.
Making felt really needs to be done standing up and calls for lots of energetic pummeling and whilst I do enjoy the scent of the olive oil soap I find I'd really rather be sitting in a comfy chair and stitching.

Wordless Wednesday

romieux in alpine house

Weaving Calico Strips

In my most recent 'turning out' session I came across a couple of these.  An idea that I had been playing with years ago and just not followed through.  With the addition of a bit more calico and at the expense of a few hours of my time, I now have these.

Cushion

Small bag

In other news, I've just taken a commission to knit a dress and coat outfit for a three year old girl.  The first time I've agreed to knit anything for anyone outside my family in years!

Revisiting Lace.

Over the past few weeks I've been trying to extend my working space, this has meant sorting through stuff that I haven't used in ages.  One of the more interesting things I rediscovered was my old lace pillow and a stash of bobbins.  I used to spend hours engrossed in lace making, I even took proper lessons at one point.  I'm not sure I'd want to set out on a table-mat or a hankie edging now, but I found I can still enjoy rustling up a few bookmarks.
Lace making is not a difficult process, it is very logical and quite therapeutic.  As with knitting, there are a limited number of stitches, but endless combinations.  A fully 'dressed' lace pillow can appear daunting, but no matter how many bobbins your pattern calls for you only ever move one pair at a time.

In other news, my little book for children seems to be selling quite well. 
If you'd like a copy and missed the details of how to download it, you'll find them HERE

Wordless Wednesday

Kindle version from Amazon

PDF format from Publisher

ebook format from Publisher

ibook soon to be available from Apple store

Autumn Colours

It's a very long time since I did any work with silk fibres, so I am pleased with the colours and texture that I managed to achieve on this bowl.  Leaves are staying on shrubs and trees so late this year that I still have these colours in my garden at the moment, but probably not for much longer.

Work in Progress

Skeleton leaves, gessoed and painted.

I came away from my last West Dean course with an absolute mountain of work in progress.  We were given so many new techniques to try that there just wasn't time to explore each one as much as any of us would have liked.  No matter, I've spent the weeks since happily playing with gesso, mod roc and spray plaster.
We stuck snippets of deconstructed fabrics on to board and gessoed over the top, we applied gesso directly on to the board and made marks in it, or embedded things in it, then we sprinkled stuff on the wet surface or let it dry and painted it with acrylics.

Partly sprinkled with sand and ash.

Our tutor had a great way of applying the paint in several washes with lots of sandpapering back after each one.  She also had some interesting warming up exercises, where we would be given an object and asked to sketch its essence. Weird, but fun!
I made a series of samples using crumpled up scrim, hessian with lots of threads pulled out and various plant parts.  Some are still waiting to be painted
Naturally, I soon wanted to get away from the flat surface of the board so I made a start on a vessel, using mod roc.

  I'm going to add some extra, scrunched up, bits to give it more texture and I've left some gaps in the plaster so that I can stitch into it after I take the balloon out.  It'll look good when its finished.  I just need to find a very sturdy needle.

In other news my first assignment for my present OU module was submitted yesterday and my story book went off to the printers today.  The publishers have produced files for Kindles too!