Two more

Choices.

Just stick them down! Still looking and deciding

New Years Eve

So these are some of the final things I have been working on for 2018. And now looking forward to clearer direction in 2019. There will be the finalising of Margaret Olley pieces first. Then I will have freedom to create . Emily said she is going to have a word to focus on for the new year instead of making a new year resolution. Not that we have been a family to make new year resolutions and I certainly don’t dwell my thoughts in that direction. I know I would break them pretty quickly or why wait til the 1 st January to start if it’s important enough start straight away when you think it is something you need in your life. Anyway Emily’s word is self- discipline. She will need that as she starts the year in Sydney intending to write her second novel.
So I thought what will be my word for the year.... mindfulness , gratitude, focus, discipline, balance 🤔 I have about nine hours to get it right.

Two pages being planned for my Margaret Olley journal where I am considering flowers of her still life paintings. The middle image is some house stitching on a vintage hemp french chemise. It will be part of the exhibition if I get enough work done on it. Stitching houses and a river reminiscent of the rivers near her residences in Tully, Tweed Valley, Brisbane, Paris and Sydney. 

Christmas Eve

While in the kitchen waiting as my Christmas Eve feast is being prepared.  Tamar from Genesis chapter 38.

After watching video from Kate Thompson.
I am not a portrait drawer but I enjoyed putting this on an index card. Used a pen , ink and then tea stained. Stitched with red thread. I am going to have to stop doing classes, online , weekend and week long retreats because when do I start  to be me , to put down to produce what comes from me and not just a copy of others. Do I want to do clear or bright, vintage and muted, busy or minimal, work in  paper, paint ,hand or machine stitch , wool , silk, old linens, oh it goes on each time I see someone else’s work I say ,that is what I want to do. Then I see another artist’s work....completely different.

Journal

Today even though it is extraordinarily hot I have been working on the cover for my artist ledger which is based on Margaret Olley, ready for the exhibition Broadstrokes is presenting next year. I did not do the embroidery on the pink tray cloth. It is a vintage one that I have upcycled for this cover. I purchased it because it was pink and green. These are the two colours that Margaret mentioned as being important. The green as it is foliage , the supporting colour for flowers in vibrant colours and life and included in her still life’s. The pink relates to the pink Margaret would insist that the background walls in her exhibitions were as it is a colour which shows up her work the best. She even painted one gallery wall her self  in her early days as an artist. The ledger starts with thoughts on Margaret. It will be shown at the exhibition alongside the ledgers , journals , diaries, of the other nine members.

It is shown here on the reverse side of a wall piece I have also stitched for the exhibition. Cosy Burrow.

Possums

Two small paintings of possums. This is a lesson from Kelli May Krenz . They are meant to be the foxes as demonstrated in the online video but I purposely changed the head shape and tail to make them look more like possums. Christmas possums. The redness of the Ringtail and the greyish tinge for the brushtail.

APT2018

Visited yet another gallery today. Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Artto view the 2018 APT Australian Pacific Triennial. Stunning and thought provoking as usual. Too many images to digest. So here is two artists work.
The first is the work of Jakkai Siributr from Thailand.

The second is work from Hassan Sarif .

Louise Saxton

Fantastic trip to Melbourne. Visited the Town Hall Gallery where I saw the amazing work of Louise Saxton. I have long admired her work so it was wonderful to actually get to see these works in a gallery setting rather than just in a book or magazine. Titled The Linen Project she used vintage linens and reclaimed embroidery taken from tray cloths, table napkins, tablecloths and other linens which were stitched slowly and lovingly by women in past years. Louise then brings the concepts of recycling, reclaiming, honouring the domestic work of women and transformation to a new and beautiful level.

Balance

Wondering if the blue border is too dark? The wrong colour? Should I fold it over to roughly bind?

I started this by following online with Roxanne Laskey. Mindful stitching. Just going along stitching and adding without too much planning or thought. It’s kind of a fish -cat

Looking ,looking looking into my thoughts as I stitched.

Stitching

Working on this piece of rusted fabric that I made several years ago. Printing with oil sticks and stencils. Now I am stitching randomly with organic shapes and lines, outlining leaf prints and circles.  Will put it on a canvas for the sale at the SotA exhibition. I am too late for the 2018 exhibitions but will be ready for next year. 

The stick is a spirit wand that I am working on. Adding an old piece of quilt and will continue with beads, stitching and trinkets before hanging. 

Little Gifts

‘Tis a gift to be simple ,
 ‘tis a gift to be free.

Made these wee scissor keeps for my stitching friends in the Broadstrokes art group. Today is our Christmas party. I have made these from Liberty fabrics over a button then on the back I have stitched the initial of each of the members. Used vintage linen scraps from  one of my pieces that will go into our Margaret Olley inspired exhibition next year.

Ties to mother

Here is my Little Red that I started last year, finished and returned from Scattered Arts 2018 Fine Art and Craft exhibition. It received a ‘Commended’.

Ties to Mother: Buttons, Fairy Tales and Linen.

Ties to home and family through memories of the fairy stories heard while on my mothers knee. She collected buttons and our house was softly adorned with embroidered and crocheted doilies. The image of LRRH and the wolf is appliqued and embroidered on an ecodyed doily to give an aged feel. The buttons are from my mothers button box. These links to ancestors past continue as the verbal ties are passed down through the ages and the tangible evidence is now being used in my art .pieces

Advent

On the fourth day of Christmas. My very old advent calendar made when my children were young. I used to put lollies in the large pocket which is the bucket of the tree. But of course with little sticky fingers they never lasted for more than a few days. No one could keep to one a day when it was your turn to put up the new decoration on the advent tree calendar. They eagerly waited their turn when they could choose which ornament to put up. So now I still put it up and add to it daily myself. Keep up the joyful enthusiasm of past Christmas’s filled with wonder through the eyes of a child. I have to keep up the standards , to keep the traditions going, to honour the memories.

I took this photo because of the little fly climbing up the orchid stem. Watching him closely as he cleaned his wee feelers and ‘face’. So sweet and busy. 

Hand made Christmas

It was so hot today but I was up early so finally got to work on some Christmas presents. Had to stop when a cat decided to sleep under the sewing machine and it was too awkward to keep working. Made a lined bag with french fabric sort of shopping bag. Also made up some fabric,  rediculously easy, coasters. I put the headphones on and listened to some inspiring episodes of Elizabeth Gilbert’s podcast. It is Magic Lessons and based on the creative explorations she wrote about in Big Magic. I found the book to be able to simply give ideas for going forward, getting unstuck and valuing my work more.

Lady Cilento

I am incensed by the tiny little man who I am not going to name decided to remove the name of Lady Cilento from the public children’s hospital at South Brisbane. What can I do ? Stitch the outrage onto vintage french hand woven textile. A kitchen cloth that I have dyed in the Coreopsis I have grown.

I have stitched it in 100% wool for tapestry that I had sourced from op shops over the years. I think she would have liked that

Stitched on

I have finished the Cat patch and stitched it onto the travelling pinny. Johanna is modelling it with the back view showing. So wee cat is sitting up there on the wearers shoulder like a cat would do. Now to package and send it off to. Victoria for its next destination and new patch in this wonderful world wide project for Deb of @raspberrytreats. 

I am really enjoying stitching onto vintage textiles with my own designs , free hand , naive, images from the sketch book or traced images from my own photos.

Traced of the pattern for the pinny today as I had some large sheets of dressmakers tissue paper that I had purchased from Lindcraft awhile back. 

Cat face

One of the Instagramers I follow had started a travelling pinny. @raspberrytreats . Where friends can add a piece of stitching or embroidery or other piece of textile as a patch. It has been to South Africa, the US, Britain and now back to Australia.
So this little cat face is on a wee nine patch stitched by hand over papers using Liberty fabrics.

The face was stitched free hand and I think it gives it a lovely naive look to it. The pinny itself is white and made of soft cotton. I am going to draft a pattern of it as it is one I have long admired and wanted to find a pattern for. It is a Japanese style that crosses over the back.

Gardens of the Heart

This is my piece for an India Flint Exhibition in Adelaide next year. The exhibition is Gardens of the Heart. Three line poems and I was  allocated line  one. It will be hung with different artist lines 2 and 3.
At the opening in February some of the three line poems will be read

I decided on my line when the blood moon was around. So had to include the moon and then wanted to include something from my garden that speaks of a typical Queensland back yard. What could be more so than a mango tree. The background was ecodyed in onion skins and eucalyptus leaves and avocado. No mordant and the cotton wasn’t treated before bundling and boiling. I wanted to say

‘Through mango leaves
A blood moon rising’

But it was a bit long as I did it free hand so letters started out too big.

Collages

Working some collages in Sacred Vestment online course with Kate Thompson.

Torn lace , stamped silk organza , gel medium skins. Just playing about with images and shapes at the moment.

Angel in my Pocket

Making a sacred vestment . Then it needed a background ,so I have used a scrap from a painters pocket that was a left over sample from the Cas Holmes workshop I was in at Lismore in April.
I dyed it with onion skins and eucalyptus leaves.

A small icon face at the top led it to being an angel. Transfer skins, scrap from a scribble sketch, plastered lace scraps and stamped silk organza. Lots of stitching to keep it altogether.

A Tale

Feeling a bit judgemental of my work lately, comparing to others, listening to negative thoughts, pressure on myself to focus on one direction and need for order in the chaos of my ‘studio’. So I thought I would relook at some pieces to reflect on where I’ve come since I started to do my own thing rather than follow a pattern and choose fabrics from a quilt shop for it. This then is an early one from 2006. It is a tale of three sisters. Using the same fabric cut the same size but then the embellishments made them all different. Some bleaching, some black tulle and a few cuts and resewn areas add to the story.

Noticing the machine quilting! Can’t believe I did that. It is not something I turn to, enjoy or even really like the look of today.

Backgrounds

Making some backgrounds using vintage linens and Lacey bits. On the top is some skins made from the photo transfer method using gel medium. Lovely pieces in all their crusty worn patinas I hope to further develop as I go. Still have Margaret Olley in the back of my mind as I work on these.

 

Painting

I have been following Kelli May  Krenz and so made these little snowy owl. Painting on black card with acrylics. Much prefer fabric and thread and being able to put down at any moment. But with the paint I can’t leave until finished as the paint dries quickly and I needed to scrape away paint to show the black under neath.

The black card is bookbinders papers. It was given to me from a retired persons stash. Has a beautiful mottled texture on one side which can’t be painted on but the texture shows through on the other. So these are painted on the back side . The texture especially shows through on the gold background. They are 4 inches square.

Still going

Getting my Margaret Olley inspired works ready for Broadstrokes exhibition. More stitching needed on them all until I’m satisfied. I have about 8 pieces in all at various stages of completion.

This is ecodyed silk with a botanical print of rose leaves. Stitched roses and hand stitched words of Margarets about her thoughts on flowers. As she was prolific in still life paintings especially in her later years. There always seemed to be some floral element in these still life’s. Roses , Australian natives , lillies, garden flowers so she was often asked about flowers. So these quotes are her answers.

Goatiness

Last weekend I went to a workshop by Phyllis Cullen from Hawaii. Using her pattern I enjoyed the collage process of bringing to life this goat with a bit of that stubborn goatiness about him. Planning where to place the light , medium and dark fabrics to bring out his features or shadows. A piece of tulle over the top which is machine quilted helps hold it all together. Great way to spend the weekend, in the zone quietly concentrating on the work on my table. Just getting it right, mindfulness. I found it really useful to use the red plastic Perspex that helps show up the values of the fabrics.

Spirit Warrior

I am working slowly on a stitched spirit warrior following along with Kelli May Krenz. I have made the doll part...yet to have a face , hair , headpiece. Working on her cape , slowly , hand stitching , will have more added such as beads and braids and lace.

Banana Sonata

This is one of my small quilts that I see daily . It is hanging above my piano. It was made years ago for a Coorparoo Quilters challenge. The challenge was to use the colours yellow and black which are the colours of the Coorparoo Quilters logo, to have something of Queensland in it, and  to share something of yourself in it that others might not know about...beyond your stitching life. Banana Sonata won first prize and the judge was the late great Ruth Stonely who was an instrumental person at the beginning of my quilt journey. So I am a clarinet playing Queenslander. The blue strip pieced background depicts the beach where I love swimming in the ocean.

This was from a time when I just went with my ideas , planning a little then doing , really getting into the flow. But now I find that so much harder as I am thinking too much, too much trying to make for an audience rather that using my intuition , getting in the flow and being confident in the result.

Domicile

I have had a very creative time lately where I have been totally absorbed and focused on the making. The making for myself , not for any purpose of an exhibition or display but that where I get to do what I like best...stitching , using vintage fabrics and bits of leftovers, going into my beautiful display cabinet where I keep an old tin with a collection of buttons , mother of pearl, glass and linen. Choosing a perfect button but spending time in holding many of them, sorting , pondering , testing out what they look like on the place where a button is needed.

So here is a sample of the result. A house made with two pieces of vintage quilt I acquired. Finding some lace and digging through a scrap bag of old Liberty fabrics. This is a constant theme in my makings and has certainly come to the fore with my pieces for a Margaret Olley inspired exhibition I am working towards with a small group I am in ,  Broadstrokes . The home as the centre , the safe haven, the place to return to for shelter and comfort and love. 

Ecodying

On the last retreat  I went on in early July I bundled up a length of vintage woollen blanket and put into a pot to boil. It was full of various eucalyptus,wattle , avocado, onion skins , lichen and gum nuts. When opened there were some lovely subtle marks. There was imprints of the gum nuts. I am going to cut out arm holes and add stitch, lace pieces braids and extra  ecodyed wool pieces. I had better get on with it before winter ends so I can wear it.