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!

Sgraffito

I've been making a lot of these recently, and to be honest I'm not sure why, except that they are fun.  When I started I had some idea of joining them all together, but I'm not sure I want to do that now, I rather like them just as they are.  What do you think?


Anyway, to get back to the title of this blog-post ...
Friday was my most recent West Dean day and we were in the Orangery playing with the technique of sgraffito.  If you are as old as I am you will remember the scratch art cards that we used to buy as kids where you scratch away the black layer on top to reveal the colours underneath.  Our sgraffito day was a posh version of those cards, where we applied the colours of our choice using oil pastels and then covered the whole lot in black acrylic paint and left it to dry for a few minutes before scratching.

I made a lot of studys of leaves, flowers, twigs, feathers, etc, picked up in the West Dean gardens, but I think my favourite designs of the day are these few abstracts that I did late in the afternoon.





Next Friday I'm back to West Dean for a long weekend entitled 'Exciting Surfaces and Textures',which I believe will involve polyfilla, so I'm really looking forward to that.
Meanwhile I have an essay to write on the 'Constructions of Childhood' for the OU.

Studying!

This week is all about books.

I've now been allocated a tutor for my OU module so it's time to catch up with the reading.  This is my first level three course and I'm expecting the assignments to be more demanding and therefore more time consuming.  However, many of the set texts hold good memories for me so I'm looking forward to revisiting them.  I chose children's literature because, as some of you know, my own story for kiddies is being published later this year.  The illustrations are being completed right now by a talented Italian lady.

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My diploma course also has a written component.  It's not going to be all fun weekends, being creative and learning new techniques.  We have to bring our experiences together in a final essay so notes have to be made and other people's work referred to.  On the plus side, our student ID card allows us access to the beautiful old library at the college.  There are worse places to spend a few hours and if the effort of studying becomes too much the bar is just a few steps away.

Sunday Sunshine

My little patch of Rudbekia has been flowering for weeks now, giving sunshine even on the wettest days.  In fact quite a lot of yellow has crept into my garden this year, including the Argyranthemum that I've been using to practice colour mixing, for my sketch-book.

It's a plant I know as Jamaica Primrose and from new flower to faded bloom its petals pass through almost every shade of pale yellow and cream.  Quite a challenge to find the exact tone.  For me, acrylics are easier than watercolours.

I've decided that, in my newly acquired sketch book, 'drawings' should not be limited to pencil and paint.  (If I did that I'd never fill the beastly thing.) So I've been adding some 'fabric sketches' to the pages.  Continuing the theme of leaves and using odd scraps of organza, I've been playing with a different style of colour mixing.

 

  It's surprising how much the colours change when the fabrics are layered over each other.  I'm having fun with this and have not yet exhausted all the possibilities, so I'll probably be making a few more before I move on.

The 'paint and stitch on paper' that I mentioned last week is coming along quite well, but not yet ready to post.  I chose a lichen encrusted branch on my old quince tree as a suitable subject.