Headless Tuesday!

Here’s a quick update on my Whimsical Woman! It seems that a lot of the things I work on are auto-biographical…..(maybe even everything in some context)

This is made from hand painted and then stamped fabric. See last few posts. It also has some textile dye pastel, fabric marker and various fabric scraps. This is inspired by Alisa Burke’s online workshop. I just had to add legs though! The pink and black stripe is a commercially printed cotton which I over printed with a stamp and black acrylic paint (I’ve only ever made one other Art Doll to date – my Gaia Earth Mother)

Now that the body is stuffed I wish I’d put the little fabric collage a little lower.. oh well, I’ll remember for next time! Don’t quite know what I’m doing with her hair yet – I just know that it will be wild (like mine!) Gaia’s hair was ripped fabric – I may do something similar if I can find some suitable locks!

I hope to get this finished today. Art group and visitors for dinner tomorrow and then back to work on Thursday… where does the week go?

I couldn’t upload the photos from my camera as the battery had died...... I’m back after recharging it and now have the head on my WWW (Wild Wee Wiffy) or Wicked Whimsical Woman perhaps?

I’ll attach a few more found objects; cover the neck joint with a scarf and perhaps jewelery and her hair isn’t quite finished yet either………

Whilst I was waiting for those batteries to recharge, I also had a little go at smooshing some violets onto cotton- what a lovely image! I hope they retain some of the colour. Even if it fades or browns off I’m amazed at the detail! (Actually, it was a little more than smooshing; more like smashing!! :) )

of August progress...

Firstly a little something I whipped up one night last week. Inspiration was from something I saw on Alisa Burke's blog (actually. I think it was her website!) I've worn it a couple times already and really love it. The gold colour is hand dyed silk, and the black is cotton. Very quick and fun to wear! Thanks Alisa!

Hand stitched pendant

I’ve just started quilting this after basting it to thin cotton; I’ve now added a hand dyed upcyled fabric piece to the back and it feels soooo nice as I’m quilting. Not sure about adding creeks or rivers now… I’ll see how I feel about it once the quiting is done. Loving those little ripples!

Earth Skin - Hand stitched silk

I did a little stamping onto my hand painted fabric pieces –(destined to become the bodies of my Whimsical Women (dolls). I’ve jumped ahead a little with my online course with Alisa Burke. It’s very enjoyable and it’s making me combine some techniques both new and familiar. Most importantly I’m having fun…. And I think that’s what life’s all about!

Flower Stamp (acrylic paint) on hand painted fabric


Eye stamp (acrylic paint), textile marker and textile dye pastel

Mixed Media WIP

My third post for the day! ... but I'm hoping to make up for the lull in postings!

I've also been working on this piece after being inspired by Jesse Reno's work. Please do yourself a favour and check out his artwork on his website and any video you can catch of him working.

Mixed Media WIP

Detail

I came across his work a few months ago via someone else’s blog but lost the link and couldn’t remember his name..... By chance I came across his work again a few days ago and spent some time checking out his brilliant artwork & watching a few of the videos of him working. I find his technique fascinating… so…last night I had a bit of a play around; I’ve done a little more on it today too, but fear I have already got too precious and there are parts of it I don’t want to cover up.

Will attack it another day or maybe later on tonight when I can free up a bit again. I don't want to think about it too much. It is great fun to do and so hands on. Not my usual style or colours or anything really- Just wanted to have a go! (Don't let this put you off looking at Jesse's work! I adore his work but have just tried the technique and materials to see what I could come up with!)

He says in an interview that he wanted to do archaeology as a child... that was my dream also! I love the detail and layers in his work... If you're lucky enough to be in the US- he does workshops too!

of Whimsical Women...!

So, What do you do when your online course finishes? Sign up for another course, of course! This time with Alisa Burke. I have visited her blog before and came across it again yesterday. I saw that she runs online workshops and so have signed up for Whimsical Women! It is a mixed media course and runs over 5 weeks. Although I can access all of the lessons at once; I am going to attempt to follow in order and spend a week on each lesson as suggested! (Now there’s a challenge in itself!)

So, today I have been playing around with fabric and paint! And haven’t I had fun? Back to work tomorrow so I’ve made the most of my studio time today! I'm very much interested in learning lots of new and different techniques which I can apply to my own work.

I also like the little bit of structure a course gives me. I'm sometimes pretty hopeless at motivating myself or setting goals to achieve!

These two pieces were just paint onto white cotton... I like the heading on the newspaper under!

This one was just a simple monoprint on glass... easy... and quick and fun!

I love the colours in these two monoprints. I added a bit more paint to the glass for the second one, drew in another image and just love the ghost effect of the previous image showing up.

These will be overprinted/ stamped/ painted/ embroidered or whatever before cutting up to make Whimsical Women! This is such fun....!

The end of the beasts......

I did a eucalypt dye batch last weekend -to add to my stash. No huge pieces of fabric just wanted some more odds and sods for this piece I am working on… I think I am going to call it Earth Skin…

I have a thing for maps and aerial views and am lucky enough to have the most amazing book titled ‘Earth from Above’ with photography by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. It is divine! Another I have is ‘Over Europe’ which is a collection of photos from the same photographer and several others. Text is by Jan Morris.

This piece is made from hand dyed, printed and rusted silks. All hand stitched and seams basted a la Jude Hill’s invisible basting technique.

Jude’s Patchwork Beast online workshop has finished now. I haven’t been able to participate as much as I would have liked this time but I still walk away with some lovely techniques that I know I am going to utilise.

I spent almost 2 days solid stitching on this! I don’t think I am going to find and embellish a beast as such but see it more as a piece of Earth Skin. I see paddocks and roads and I want to add a creek and some dams… Maybe I will add an eye though...! Approx 55cm x 43cm (22"x17")

Some fantastic work was created in Jude's class. I loved checking out the site each day and viewing all the wonderous work that was posted. It was a large class and a very varied menagerie...!

Just thinking out loud… What if it was a piece of dried Earth Skin? So instead of blue creeks/ rivers/ dams they are the dried up remnant of those. Like scars on the skin?

Beasties..

I'm currently doing Jude Hill's online Patchwork Beasts workshop... and loving it. There is some really wonderful work being created and as always Jude is sharing of her knowledge and gentle in her teaching approach. I've not been able to create as much as I would have liked but have followed the workshop blog and lessons.

This is the start of my second piece; Hey Diddle Diddle. The cow body is pieced; so far the other bits and pieces (head, legs, udder) are just pinned on. It is a lot of fun and I hope to add the rest of the menagerie! You know, the little dog, the cat and the fiddle, the dish and......

This was my first attempt at free piecing... I don't love it but it has become a little sampler for the techniques....

Back to work tomorrow... I had some oral surgery on Friday (teeth extracted!) and still feel a little off... Looking forward to playing with fabric over the weekend....!

SpiritCloth Progress

I have learnt soooo much from Jude Hill's online SpiritCloth workshop! I have enjoyed the class immensley and Jude's teaching technique. I haven't been able to spend as much time as I would have liked on this cloth before the class comes to a close - I had 9 weekend visitors for the Hubble's 50th birthday + some extra work shifts... Still, I'm pleased with where this is at... still have backing and borders to add! The tassels are on a thrift shop pashima scarf I hand dyed. The cloth is only sitting on it at the moment but I think they will be added to the finished piece!

Off to work I go.... !

SpiritCloth Workshop

I'm back- I've been reading through lots of troubleshooting questions on the blogger site and have moved back to the old editor for now.. at least I can add a post this way! It's been a frustrating few days trying to get this to work...

I'm really enjoying Jude Hill's SpiritCloth Online workshop... we're learning lots of techniques and asking ourselves lots of 'what ifs' in our process of creating a Story Cloth.... I'm loving the techniques; and will eventually try each type and make a sampler so I don't forget in the future!

I've put together quite a few different bases; this one I blogged about last week; old, old linen and cotton. I've been thinking that the linen reminds me of something and I know what it is now; papyrus. The fibres are visible and the stiffness of this little piece reminds me of the coarse texture of papyrus.

This is where I am up to with this one now; a story is starting to be told. The bird is seeking inner strength and is safe to be with her thoughts whilst in the tree. The tree itself is nuturing and protecting. Sometimes in my life I am happy to be the tree and other times I just want to be that bird sitting safely in the branches. The roots are couched threads and frayings. The sky, earth and tree are all hand-dyed.

Detail

Detail

Bird Detail

I think the cycles of life are going to be incluede in this cloth too...

Here is where I am up to with my Sun piece; I envisage it being part of a larger cloth. I adore working on this hand dyed lined background....

The Sun

Here is another little 'what if'. What if I put that gorgeous coloured hand dyed silk piece on a piece of that tweed? And what if I dig in my jar of scraps and pull out.... that piece of vintage necktie fabric and put it on top. What if that looks like a tree? What if I stitch it down just there?

Tree on Tweed

Hooked on Pastels!

I had a bit of trouble with Blogger yesterday; and I couldn't post more than just a title... couldn't edit either! I'm playing around with some new templates so please bear with me whilst things move around and I play with headers and colour schemes! My photos always seem to be a bit squished up regardless of how I crop or resize....

Anyway, I've been enjoying playing with pastel on board; I'm quite happy with these pears.....

Pears on Glass Platter

Pastel on Board

...but not so happy with this sunflower. I think it needs to be darker at the bottom... It's lost some of it's shape. Please excuse the blurry photo!

Following the Sun

Pastel on Board

Really Slow Cloth

No racing ahead for me this week…! I’m being forced to really slow down… My internet allowance for the month is exceeded already and hence the speed severely restricted! (I live rurally and have satellite broadband – We only doubled the allowance a few months ago and here I am, just starting Jude’s online course and, well, … things are slow……..! I managed to watch her video components [which are vey easy to watch and learn from] over the course of a few hours (for about 15mins worth of video) ;you get the picture?

(If you get a chance to do one of Jude’s workshops I can already highly recommend them!)

Also, I have a few extra days of work this week, so I missed my Garden Club Luncheon on Monday and a studio day! Oh well, I do enjoy my job and I still have a full day in here today after I’ve caught up with a few things. I’ll be working on components for my ‘SpiritCloth’

This first photo is a sun; it is the beginning of my story cloth. The linen is hand-dyed and basted to a muslin backing. All the pieces are raw edge appliquéd…..

This is a piece of very old linen (so old I can almost see and feel the seperate flax fibres!) on a hand dyed cotton serviette. The photo really doesn't do the colour justice the bottom layer is really a warm yellow...

I’m making some other small pieces and bases with the view to joining and adding some of them together to make a larger piece; I’m also digging out some little experiments from the past with the view to incorporating them in this story cloth.

of Pastel Paintings

Mum’s glasses case is finished and on it’s way! I lined it with soft fleecy and added blanket stitch around the top edge. I'm pleased with how it's turned out! I hope she like's it!

Glasses Case; silks, cottons, sari silks, ribbon, organza and hand embroidery

I promised a while ago that I would add a photo of the plates my Brother and SIL gave me when they visited. They are oval shaped with a delightful border..... I just love the colourful retro birds…!

I had a productive day in the studio yesterday; finishing this pastel painting which was quite literally gathering dust! It's approx 48cm x 68cm [19" x 27"]  and is the largest pastel I have done to date... I used Art Spectrum Colourfix Primer which is my favourite ground for pastel. It has such a nice 'bite'...!

Virginia Creeper

I also started and completed this smaller piece which I’m hoping to get framed at work in time for a few local exhibitions. Also on Colourfix Primer. 29cm x 22cm [11" x 8 1/2"] It is based on a photo I took at one of my Garden Club visits.

Untitled....  I'd love your help to title this painting...!

Umm... no stitching yet this week... but my fingers are itching to do some! I'm not sure about starting something new before I begin Jude Hill's online Spirit Cloth workshop.... No doubt I won't be able to help myself though!  I think I read on Jude's blog that there are still spaces available in her 3rd workshop: Patchwork Beasts. There is a link in the sidebar of her blog.

surrender to stitching...

I promised Mum I would make her a case for her glasses…the one she has is scratching the lenses… so I surrendered to this over the last few days…

I drove a friend into town yesterday; a doctor’s appt, hairdresser’s appt, groceries and errands… so... I had quite a bit of time to sit and stitch! We did manage a nice lunch at the gallery and afternoon tea before we trekked home. Jan has just had an operation on her foot and like most of us; hates the temporary loss of wheels (being able to drive) and with that-her independence!

I don’t think I could add too many more stitches to this if I tried! I love the colours and frayed edges and the variegated threads! Now to sew it up with a lovely soft batting lining and find some sort of closure... I hope Mum likes it!