mixed media and themes

Well, I have procrastinated enough about making/stitching/writing.   It is February and I have no more excuses. House sold. Moved to new house. Unpacked just about everything.   Still sorting fabric threads etc. but I know what I have.

My resolution this year (which I started to visit in December last) was to allow myself to play in any medium, explore and have fun.

I have also tried to theme it – and this year will try to build my exploration around “eyes”.  I have had heaps of fun punning - e.g.  the ayes have it, green eyed monster, almond eyes.  And letting explorarion take me where ever.

So far I have

•     sketched and doodled

•     stitched eyelets.  Visit Sharon Boggins on line stitch dictionary for the low down on how to.   She is a fantastic on line resource.

•     and explored on the web looking at how eyes are portrayed.  I came across a blog page featuring sculptor Alfred Parades and this image of his work Side by Side Cylcops.  Just love it :-).                                                       Take time to read the full article here.  

Of course already I have gone off theme already as I have been playing with clay a bit

but I keep returning to it with doodles.  

In between playing with eyes I will work on my pieces for a collaborative exhibition next year with five other textiles artists .   Our group name is temporarily “ Six Running Feet”   - a play on the wall space we each need to fill.  

Contemporary Clay Retreat

Just about recovered from  4 fabulous days at spent at the Contemporary Clay Retreat, Canberra last week.  I am all fired up for next years retreat in October 2016.

I learnt how to make a cane face ( polymer clay) with Janice Laurent, sculpted a dragon in air dry clay with Lex Sorrintino and started a mixed media monkey gargoyle with Bobbi Oliver.

Photos of the works made by participants over the entire weekend can be found here - enjoy.

The dragon came back to Sydney and is about to relocate back in Canberra  this weekend.  Then we are heading off for 2 weeks in southern NSW/northern Victoria to house hunt after making the decision to leave Sydney.

On the passing of a good friend and making blue birds

Life has been just too busy - I find it hard to really believe it has been so long since I posted - though I know that it is three months since I met with the groups I belong to.

I have been making and stitching sporadically. Short trips to the studio have left me with a number of birds like the ones above. They seem to grow in my hands and I love making them. Bandaged birds I call them – they are made by wrapping Paverpol soaked strips of fabric around a polystyrene ball which is shaped with alfoil. Some of them are covered with gauze bandage as well which gives a lovely surface texture.
But, mostly I have been caught up worrying and trying to help an unwell friend who lived quite a distance away - my divided time between her, paid work and family.

Grace passed away on the 18th August and her service was last Friday. I will miss her. She was a great champion and encouraged me in all my art endeveours.
This poem is for Grace:

What the Living Do

Marie Howe

Johnny, the kitchen sink has been clogged for days, some utensil probably fell down there.
And the Drano won’t work but smells dangerous, and the crusty dishes have piled up
 
waiting for the plumber I still haven’t called. This is the everyday we spoke of.
It’s winter again: the sky’s a deep, headstrong blue, and the sunlight pours through
 
the open living-room windows because the heat’s on too high in here and I can’t turn it off.
For weeks now, driving, or dropping a bag of groceries in the street, the bag breaking,
 
I’ve been thinking: This is what the living do. And yesterday, hurrying along those
wobbly bricks in the Cambridge sidewalk, spilling my coffee down my wrist and sleeve,
 
I thought it again, and again later, when buying a hairbrush: This is it.
Parking. Slamming the car door shut in the cold. What you called that yearning.
 
What you finally gave up. We want the spring to come and the winter to pass. We want
whoever to call or not call, a letter, a kiss—we want more and more and then more of it.
 
But there are moments, walking, when I catch a glimpse of myself in the window glass,
say, the window of the corner video store, and I’m gripped by a cherishing so deep
 
for my own blowing hair, chapped face, and unbuttoned coat that I’m speechless:
I am living. I remember you.

From What the Living Do, copyright © 1998 by Marie Howe.

Keeping on running, Workshops and an apple a day

I have been adding to my cloth with more running stitch.  It has been a slow task as I have been busy with other things - run off my feet one could say :-)

I have been preparing for another  garden art workshop at Azures Den on the 16th May and we will be making a moon maiden.    Above is a photo of Io (named after a moon of Jupiter) .  I have also made a faceless version for those a little intimidated by the thought of putting a face into their work.

I have had a happy time introducing a new student to fabric sculptures over the the last 3 weeks. Wei was a lovely student with a visual arts background looking for something different to do.    We made a siting lady, a tall elegant stuaue and a bird with some chicks.   I felt a bit in awe as I went to her house and was surrounded by her wonderful art on the walls.  We had fun and Wei made me think outside the square a little with how she went about creating her statues and ideas she had on the way.   I am sure I learnt as from form her as she did from me,   Thanks Wei.  

I also met with my stitching mates at the Embroiderers Guild last Saturday  - I got heaps of stitching done on my cloth then and chatted and shared.  I have it linked it here so you can see some of our show and tell from March.

Cheers all

Running Stitch and Learning from Others

I am still exploring running stitch.  At the moment I am stitching into a small cloth that I found at the local op shop when I was on holidays recently.

The fabric started life as an old linen tray cloth or napkin with a small amount of clumsy embroidery on it.   I have pulled the embroidery out and been stitching tea dyed gauze bandages over the surface.  With the wisdom of hindsight I realise that I should have left the embroidery in and just stitched over it – well, maybe next time.  It is a sample or prototype for a larger work  I am planning to make for an exhibition in November.  I will have to get cracking on that larger work soon as time is slipping by, and as time passes,  that larger work is getting smaller.

Because the cloth has is old and has been wahed many times it is soft and supple to stitch.  It is very cathartic just to put a needle into same fabric and turn the conscious brain off.  In fact any art exercise turns into a form of meditation for me.   I am sure it is the use of my hands and the sole focus on what I am doing that quietens my mind.  There are times when what I want to do doesn’t work out and I get frustrated and toss it aside but I try to go back to it and work on it again later.   

I have learnt to accept that some things don't work; either because of bad design and planning or it is just plain wrong!   But also that also I have learnt that I need to push through frustration and keep working on a project.   For this I have to thank  textile artist Jean Draper.

I was very fortunate take part in some workshops with Jean in late 2000.  Jean herself is very inspiring and I have linked to an interview on the web here for you to read at your leisure.  Jean was very generous with her time and mentoring during the few days I spent with her.   During the course of the workshops Jean told us about artist JasperJohns and quoted him:  Do something to it. Do something else to it.  

Jean has given me the confidence to strike out and strive for my own voice, to look properly and learn from others and not give up.   As I work I am sure I sometimes hear Jean whisper ‘Do something else to it.’

Jasper Johns - Cicada 700 x402

Learning from others - Interviews on the world wide web.

Isobel Currie, Or Nué Re-imagined, I2x17x21cm See link below to Isobel's website

Though I promise myself I rarely get to galleries but I do make up for it by subscribing to a number of e-newsletters and blogs which range over food, architecture, gardens and of course textiles.  I don’t always read them in depth – they are a bit like the magazines in doctors waiting rooms – I skim through them and read if something catches my eye.

This week I stopped and read an interview with Isobel Currie published by www.textile.org.  Isobel is a three-dimensional embroidery artist who hails from the UK.   

Isobel sees and uses the form of the stitch over 3 dimensions; she works on and in a Perspex ground. Her work is really interesting. Read the interview and see more photos here.

I am interested in process and how and where artists get their inspiration and arrive at their design. Isobel talks a little about this in her interview - as well as resources that are important to her.  

Most importantly - the interview led me to more images of Isobel's work. Click here to visit Isobel's web site and take virtual visit to a gallery.

Inspiration for stitch - a holiday at Angelsea, Victoria

A holiday by the seaside with a chance to walk everyday from the beach up Anglesea River gave rise to these photos.

A little further up the coast at Point Roadnigh the clouds were wonderfull.  The direct winds and water has eroded the coast and there were some interesting tree roots dangling down.

And, because I have a thing about markers and lighthouses - I am sneaking in a  photo taken at Barwon Heads.

Because we stayed in a holiday house I was able to spread out and spent some time stitching - playing with running stitch and couching.   The  grasses, lichens and trees above all have play potential using these two stitches.   I also spent a little time drawing gum leaves and thinking about how I can incorporate them into stitchery ... and remembered I had previously done something using back stitch and kantha.  I will have to dig it out and have a look at it again :-).