Royal Progress....

I am so pleased with the progress on Royal #1 Pomegranate. It has been such a pleasure to stitch and I am enjoying the colour combinations..... especially the leaves on the right hand side! I have to get a wiggle on though as the exhibition I want to put this in is only a few weeks away...! 

I 

 ROYAL POMEGRANATE #1

MOSTLY COMMERCIAL PRINTED FABRIC WITH SOME HAND DYED FABRIC (VINTAGE LINEN AND COTTON) AND UPCYCLED CLOTHING....

DETAIL  

RAW AND TURNED EDGE APPLIQUED LEAVES

SPOTTY DAISIES

COMMERCIAL PRINTED POLKA DOT FABRIC WITH STITCHED DAISY CENTRES AND LEAVES. SEED STITCH LEAVES.

Royal - New Textile Piece

I have always been fascinated with Pomegranates. They have such a beautiful shape, topped with a sweet little crown. We had a small tree in our country garden where I grew up and as an adult have been guilty of buying them from the supermarket because they look fabulous in the fruit bowl.... with the intention of painting or drawing them. Occasionally I remember to at least photograph them! Consequently they rarely end up eaten either.....

Black and white commercially printed cotton as the background; the pomegrantate shape is cut from a thrift shop top that I sadly couldn't fit into! ...I have satin stitched the seeds and will probably kantha stitch the entire background and finally add some borders.... 

I am imagining a series of these.....

 ROYAL POMEGRANATE #1 (DETAIL)

There are a couple of exhibitions coming up that I would love to exhibit in so I had better get busy and get this one framed. The Kissing Tree- finally completed!

THE KISSING TREE (DETAIL)

I'll post pictures of the finished framed pieces. 

The Fruits of Her Labour

THE FRUITS OF HER LABOUR

A new piece created from a scrap of woolen tweed; hand dyed silk and a segment from an old neck tie. The basic tree has been kicking around in one of my many bags/boxes of fabric for about 5 years! I came across it a couple of weeks ago and it was just begging for fruit (a mix of hand painted, dyed and commercial fabrics); and then leaves..... The binding is my latest purchase; a commercially printed cotton. 

I framed it in time for a gallery opening in Nundle, New South Wales. A great night had by all! Thank you to wonderful hosts Linda and Mark Floyd of Nundle Art Gallery / Volcania Art Glass.

....on starting afresh!

I have had internet issues for a while now and life has been soooo unbelievably busy I really haven't had time to blog!

I'm back with a new blog name and another huge change to take effect within a few months...  and then I should hopefully have more time to devote to art and blogging!

Here's a little piece I am working on. Well actually it was a single piece but I cut it in half as it just wasn't right! A few hours more work on each and I think they may be ready to frame!

Hand dyed cotton, commercial printed cotton (new and upcycled) , upcycled sari silk, thai silk and hand dyed pashima.

Of the colour Red… plus bitumen!

I promised photos of my new red living room…. Wow! It is a different room and I adore it. I love being immersed in colour as opposed to just splashes of colour or feature walls….. Even the horrid brown panelling painted beautifully (with Antique White USA (Dulux)) It was perfect for all the trim and a built in bookcase near the front door too… I’m so happy with the colour… Red Stop (also Dulux) Love it, Love it!

New living room colour + Mojo!

After!

Before!

I just need a few new cushions and a rug and a throw rug. There isn't much wall space left for artwork...but maybe just a few small pieces...?!

While I'm on the colour Red, this is where I'm up to with my Tree Of Life #2! I still have some little details to stitch on... some tree roots, an edging, some details on the sun and moon I think, and some more hair on bird self (I've gone red again!)

my Tree of Life #2

I tried out the bitumen technique that Gary Reef shared on his site Loving Mixed Media again. I think I’m officially hooked! Here is the first one finished…

Bitumen experiment #1

This one is I used a simple paper doiley and a wall décor sticker thingy as a stencil…

Bitumen experiment #2

This circular one is another old unfinished collage (there’s more of them hanging around the studio that might get a face lift yet!) Not finished rubbing back yet....

Bitumen experiment #3

Eager to try some more!

Meeting a friend to discuss our entries into an upcoming upcycled fashion parade...

of Threads of Life......

I’ve finished ‘Adorn’! I moved a few elements around and am even happier with it now…!

Adorn

Threads of the Past

detail

Adorn

Threads of the Past

I’m entering a couple of pastel paintings and ‘My Tree of Life’ textile piece (that I started in Jude Hill’s SpiritCloth online workshop) into a local exhibition. I managed to get the textile piece framed just in time! I absolutely looove how it turned out… that timber frame is just perfect... I used spacers so the glass wasn’t sitting directly on the fabric. I need to take it in tomorrow... but I like where I have it hanging at home....

I will frame 'Adorn' similarly...

What was I thinking...?

Truly, what was I thinking? I’m part way through this Flaming Heart piece and only now do I question WHY AM I WORKING ON WHITE CLOTH?

Lynda and I got together for another art day yesterday and had a couple of dyebaths on the stove whilst we worked away at other things. I am so pleased with the outcome [ always am :) ] Here are the results of the Onion Skin bath; mostly cotton and linen… and mostly vintage or found textiles! Love that old linen teatowel and the spots and rings that became visible after dyeing!

Onion Skin Dyed Fabrics

This is the simple Dylon Jeans Blue bath results. We tied the pieces with rubberbands as we wanted variegated colour not solid colour. Great results; great future sky pieces…. So again, remind me why I’m working on white? I think I’ll have to either paint or appliqué a background onto my Flaming Heart piece!!!!

Dylon Dyebath results

We played around with the gouache and indian ink wash off technique that I’ve tried before. The results weren’t totally successful and I’m blaming it on poor quality materials! I used an inferior brand of gouache which didn’t wash off the paper as should have happened. Consequently my whites are bright white not the soft sepia they should have been. Also, I rubbed a little hard trying to remove the gouache and have torn the paper….. Mmmmm should have known better!!!

Gouache and Indian Ink wash off technique

Tree of Life

Detail

Oh, and a last minute piece of discharged linen! Yuuuummmmm, look at those gorgeous organic shapes! Can't wait to stitch back into this!!

Sold!

I sold another of my paintings at work today! Yay! That will help pay for some of the framing I've recently had done!

This one is acrylic on stretched canvas and was painted a couple of years ago.

' Tree of Life - Fragment'

Sorry about the poor resolution photo. I lost the better ones when the computer had a glitch a year or so ago. Note to self - take some more photos of older works!

Hope you all have a fabulous and creative 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

Knit and Knatter!

I spent a recent Saturday morning at out local gallery - knitting! The event was a 'Knit and Knatter'. Here is a link to a most worthy cause if you'd like to help out: Wrap with Love Inc www.artsandcraftsnsw.com.au/Wrap.htm


I enjoyed the morning and am nearly finished my second 10” x 10” square! The squares are joined to make throws which are then distributed worldwide to those in need. Instructions are at the website if you are a knitter (even beginner knitters can help out as the pattern calls for garter stitch – knit each row – no purl!) It is an ongoing project and many people knit or crochet whole blankets to donate.

Nanna’s Tree of Life.


This piece uses a repurposed doily and fabric squares cut from a vintage café curtain; ribbon and lace from my stash, a tulle fruit and vege bag, lots of surface embroidery, beads and a silk covered button from my very first formal dress! It is quite unlike anything I have done before and I’m not really sure about the finished item but it was certainly a lot of fun to make!


Textile Artist
I was so inspired by an article on the work of Glenys Mann in the latest Down Under Quilts magazine (Issue 134) that I emailed her. Glenys is a textile artist, curator and judge as well as a coordinator of fibre conferences. She lives quite close to me and I was lucky enough to be invited for coffee! She is a bubbly, generous lady who happily shared her knowledge and a few of her books!

Here are links to her websites: http://www.mannmaid.com.au/ and http://www.glenysmann.viviti.com/


Did I mention how lovely she is?


I dabbled with gum leaf dyeing of silk and wool after meeting with her and am quite happy with the pieces (Don't know where I'll use them yet though!) I do so love trying new techniques!