Three weeks of news ... is it worth it?

Rather a cooler, damp morning so chores completed, a good opportunity to catch up with everyone on-line. I have been fiddling about with various ideas, but haven't actually completed very much. But I will share any way. I carried on with the poppy theme. Starting with an Derwent's Inktense pencil drawing on pelmet vilene, I then machine embroidered it. 

I shall add some hand stitched anthers, but not sure what to do with it yet.

I also did some more detailed Inktense drawings on cotton.

I turned these three into lavender bags.

 I also been playing in various sketchbooks.

novel brush wipe...

I have also decided to join the Embroider's Guild and nearest branch in Letchworth has Gina on the committee. I very cleverly joined in in time to attend their Summer Supper and listen to a very informative talk by Wendy Cotterill on spun bonded  fibres, mainly Lutrador; enjoy a delicious buffet supplied by the committee and buy a piece of velvet and dyed scrim from Sandra Beech and try a little idea she had, to keep my hand in.

 And finally a photograph of the most amazing sky last night, which made me think of mother-of-pearl.

Not sure what I will be doing next, but I will eventually keep you posted.

Jill

Going with the flow....

I'm letting the pictures do the talking, however I will add a few words. I'm still reconnecting with my creative direction. I've been taking a few proper photographs again, rather than snaps with the iPad.

Last week I went to the Isle of Wight to visit Dad. There was a beautiful sunset the first evening and this is the view from the pub where we ate.

Sunset at Gurnard, IOW

Wednesday I went for a morning walk on Egypt Esplanade, where Dad lives.

Egypt Point - the most Northerly point on the IOW.

A morning cloud

Crab shell

We drove to Bembridge for a wonderful seafood lunch, and then came home the long way round. There are lots of spots to stop and enjoy the view the Jurassic coast, the Needles are just round the point here.

"Jurassic Cliffs" given a vintage postcard treatment.

 Back home this poppy has appeared in our vegetable garden. Mr T has had special orders not to pull it up. When it opened, it was this dark beauty.  Next year I hopefully will have more poppies than I know what to do with, but not in the vegetable patch.

Of course I just had to draw it, but I had to work from my photographs as I couldn't sit in the veggies.

With the first two I wanted to just capture the glowing colour. I have a new, large selection of Koh-i-noor ink based watercolours which were perfect for the colours.  I outlined the petals with a permanent fine line pen. I have loads of them in different thicknesses, I also like them when they are beginning to dry up and they may a scratchy line.

This was an analytical drawing which I like to do so I can understand how a flower works, and then I can be more inventive. I also looked at lots of images of poppies.

 This drawing took quite a while using different size pens. It looks a bit rigid, what is wonderful about poppies are their floppy, crumpled petals.

I used the app Procreate to draw this purple version. You can change the background colour and the dark one gives the drawing a lovely luminous effect.  I keep going back to it and adjusting it, trying to make the petals look delicate and not thick.

This field poppy was 'made up' after looking at some images on the web. After drawing it in Procreate I opened it in Vintique which is a photo editing app for the iPad. I then added the distressed texture which seems to work well. Now I have learned what the Photostream does on my iPad I connected it to my Mac and recent pictures are shared on both machines without me doing anything!

I had to get out the sewing machine to sew a patch on Mr T's gardening jeans, so I used the opportunity to add some more stitching to this small piece I started on  Bobby Britnell's workshop. I can't decide what to do with it. Possible a bag.

I also made this little newspaper and wire rose after seeing a demo somewhere. (Photo given a vignette with Vintique)

Last and not least, of course I had to get my July calendar page ready. This was simply done by drawing round a 4cm square 31 times and then adding a wash round the squares using Brusho paints. I then added a few stencils - the letters belonged to my grandfather and the leaves are what I cut from a cereal box for some sketchbook work. So they didn't get too soggy, I used a nearly dry brush and block paint.

I have used rather more words than I originally intended, however I realised that I do like sharing how I do things. A lot of you are great practitioners in your own fields and very knowledgable, but if you would like me to document my methods and share them please let me know.

Lets hope the forecast is correct and we are in for some Summer weather at last.

Have a good weekend( I know I'm a bit early)

Jill

Still wandering, still wondering...

I think this has been the longest I've gone between blog posts for sometime.  Maybe some of us feel we have run out of interesting things to say ... many of my early followers and followees seem to have trailed off too, or maybe we just haven't the motivation to say it. However a move to Facebook and the ease of using the iPad from my armchair has meant I have spent less time at the computer, and writing a blog post from the iPad is not so straightforward. I do intend to write a meandering post today so switch off now if you haven't the inclination. Many of my dear regulars will be familiar with this story, so please bear with me.
I set out  when I retired from teaching to explore my creative style in greater depth, and photography got me started. Studying with OCA enabled me to get to grips with a digital SLR camera and master the basics. However although I love taking photographs I realised my desire to create was not fulfilled by the photographic process.  Textiles called and I determined to teach myself the basics.  Having been on several workshops  I realised I needed a more structured approach and have just completed my City and Guilds, level 2.  So what next? Somehow I feel in just as much of a sea of uncertainty as when I started the course. Have I got to resign myself to the fact that I am just a dabbler with no particular place to go? Just a lucky lady who can indulge her love for acquiring art materials.
So here I shall share with you what I have been indulging myself with in while waiting for something to strike!

First of all this is my desk.  I do keep clearing up, honest!

I have a couple of sketchbooks on the go which I am using for some foliage studies at the moment. Coincidently DMTV has been featuring leaves too, which has been very useful to remind me of some techniques. This is what I think I want to use in some textile work...

 I have also been revisiting the course I did with Ruth Issett on colour, 

Seeing a couple of posts from Gina Ferrari and Angie Hughes who have both recently worked with Ruth, reminded me of how valuable it is to have a day or two dedicated to colour.  I really ought to try to come up with a resolved piece from all these samples. It will make me think.

And finally on Friday I did a one day workshop with Clive Barnett whose work I admired at the FOQ last year. We explored the use of discharge paste and dishwasher liquid to remove dye from different fabrics.  Clive had dozens of pieces of fabric to try, but we all started with a sample of black silk, cotton and linen.  The dishwasher liquid was brilliant, but gave a different result to the discharge paste. We used it in the same way, monoprinting, silk screen, themofax etc. He had a wealth of stuff for us to experiment with. The aim was to end up with a piece to add Kantha stitch to, but there was just not enough time in the day for me to start some. You can see some examples of Clive's work if you Google his name along with 'quilt', however there is not much there.

(this has come out rather yellow in this picture)

Finally I have also started an exploration of mark making  - another ongoing project that can last the rest of my days! Just something I can do when the mood takes me, or I want to do something and I'm not sure what.  I have started off with vertical lines.

Now all these things are loosely linked, as I'm sure you can see, perhaps just letting myself dip into this and that is good therapy after the restrictions of a course. I did speak to someone who said it was months after she had finished a C&G before she could settle on finishing something, and it is less than a month since I finished. Writing this has been good therapy, I realise now that I have been playing a lot, and it has not been as long as it feels since I completed something. Why are we so hard on ourselves?

Make sure you have a good week,

Jill

Finding a direction

I'm adrift at the moment. Having finished my C&G I feel all at sea, I need to find direction in which to sail. I'm delighted to report that my final quilt went down very well with my tutor - Linda Kemshall, and got full marks across the board, which is very pleasing. Now I'm going to let myself indulge in a few whims which have had to wait while I concentrated on my course work, but I don't want to drift about aimlessly.  I have said I will contribute to a local exhibition in September and aim to have some textile pieces ready for then. That's a good start as it will be my first as a textile artist, and there is plenty of time at the moment!!!

Meanwhile I have a few odds and ends to share with you. Firstly I had an urge to create a rag doll.  My sister and I made a doll we called Betty when we were really too old for dolls, she became an mascot and had all sorts of adventures. Betty was about six or seven inches tall, made from an old pillow slip, and had short, black wool hair.  My current version is rather more elongated and whimsical, and I have three in progress.

One thing I have learned is how tricky it is to make something like this of decent quality. These may just languish on a shelf unless someone offers them a home.

When I first tried some rust dyed fabric, I had to scrape together a few suitable pieces of old iron wear, but in the back of my mind I remember some old drill bits and so on that my Dad had given us when he moved.  A search made me think we'd thrown them out, but when MrT gave the greenhouse its spring clean they turned up.  It has taken me till now to give them a go.

 I re-wrapped everything after leaving it overnight and left it for a few more hours.

The Surform plane blade and the chunky drill bits have created some interesting marks.

Meanwhile the beautiful weekend meant a spot of gardening...

 and a spot of sketchbook monoprinting...

Chilly and drizzly here today, although it is brightening up a bit, no, now it's raining again!

I hope you have a bright week,

Jill