Finishing

 Last day of 2022 and I am hoping to finish this stitched piece either today or tomorrow. The texture is what I was aiming for and as usual the back is as textured and as interesting as the front. A mix of fabrics, cotton , silk , and synthetics of varying types including some sparkle. Hand stitched all over to give the ripples of fabric and will be embellished further with some embroidery stitches. The ripples are like marks in the sand after the waves have washed over. 

Look Inside

 I started this piece by stitching a round mandala. Then as it was such a slow mindful process I started thinking of the house with 5 rooms. So each point on my ‘compass’  became symbolic of one of the rooms. These being social, emotional, spiritual, physical and cognitive or intellectual. Each day each of these rooms need to be attended to. I try to do that in some way. 

Doing some yoga stretches or poses , going to Pilates or a walk, drinking a glass of lovely cool water, reading , researching , slow stitching , chatting with friends either face to face , in text or email , are some of the things I turn to in order that these rooms of mine are attended to. 

I continued on with this theme and actually added a roof to my house where I stitched some of the practises of body , mind and spirit which I have either read , dabbled with or practice and attend to in my life today. These are ancient eastern, Celtic, or Greek origin. Archetypes, astrology, yoga , chakras . 

This is for an exhibition in Sydney in March so I am only showing details .

Watercolour play

I have never really explored with watercolours only using a dab here and there to add to a simple sketch. So now I have decided to push it a bit more. Not to do anything realistic but abstract . To see how colours blend and play with each other , perhaps as exploratory ideas for use in stitching. I like the softness but not sure if you can use them on fabric. I imagine they wash out, so might leave that to diluted acrylics.

Three of my mixed media pieces have been included in a book. Art from your Heart which was published online by the coordinator@heathermatthew  of the Facebook group of the same name. These were from monthly online challenges that went for a week at a time. My pieces were all sketches of the story I was telling with watercolour, fabric and paper collage added. 

Gallery showing

 My piece Silky Oak Spirit is currently showing at the gallery of the Belconnen Centre in Canberra. It is in an exhibition titled Traces IV. The art works in this exhibition are all A5 size. Silky Oak Spirit is a botanical print on watercolour paper . I had then been worked further with watercolour and black pen to highlight the spirit. 

Cemetery ramblings

 I had a lovely walk in the Balmoral Cemetery for the work I am doing in Shelley Rhodes online course.  Drawing , photography , rubbings, collecting samples of leaves, pebbles and wind blown silk flowers were included in my morning of sampling. 

These small cards were prepared in advance with gesso and some collage. Then drawings made on top. The bright pinky orange flower is the flower head of a Mother of Millions. It is a toxic weed. Will kill livestock if it’s in their pasture and humans. But it was such a joyful scrap of colour amid the sombre colours of the tombs and headstones that are dull and blackened with time.

The rubbings were from headstones ART is from a man named Carter. I was very respectful when doing this . 

Micro scraps collected are colourful in a place that is grey black brown in its macro elements 

Group work

 I am sampling a piece for our Qld ATASDA exhibit in the Plant Empire exhibition in October. I have drawn in black ink some gardening implements. Then through this I have woven strips of fabric showing images of flowers , fruit and vegetables. Need some glueing or stitching and maybe an iron. I have kept it rough and organic with torn edges and big stitches to join some strips. Maybe I need to paint over in an acrylic medium to laminate it.  Not sure how the paper will hold up to stitch either hand or on the machine or glue. Maybe under the inspiration of Jay Zerbe I could staple the edges. 

Méditation scroll

 I found a long strip of vintage Japanese cotton, very soft and fine. Perfect for a scroll that I will simply fill with stitched lines of Asemic writing. I watched a demonstration by Emma Freeman and was inspired. This was on the Quilty Nook site hosted by Zak Foster,  an inspiring quilter from North Carolina .  I didn’t want to just mindlessly make for the sake of it but to really breathe into every stitch. To listen to every gentle pop of the needle coming through the fabric and the soft rasp as the thread pulled through and settled into its new resting place. Stitching for place keeping. Stitching for slowing down. Stitching for place making. The thread is one of those previously purchased and not used as ‘ I might need it one day’ , kept for  BEST. So best it is now , the moment is now. 

 

Emerging from scraps

 I have started another ORT jar (old ragged threads) and was about to add a handful of off cuts and scraps from making Harriet’s quilt. As I held them in my hand tidying other things up until I could get into my studio and add to the ORT jar , they began to wriggle and squirm. Moulding and rolling and forming into shape a head emerged. Quickly, quickly a nose and eyes , ears from more scraps picked up from the floor. 

With an over night halt on sewing activity, the next morning the need for a body became the most important creating of the day.

Things started to become vitally important to get this wee creature into the world. So a leg was rolled but turned out it was a tail not a leg at all. So back to the scraps of fabric and threads , became four legs . Oh you’re sitting upright . Not a four legged calf. 

Here she is . Safe and sound, fully emerged , deciding to become was taken out of my head and straight to Mt hands. The hands of the maker

Creatures In Trees

 I have been on a four day stay in the Bunya Mountains doing a lot of bushwalking. On one walk I photographed this incredible tree. It was like someone had carved its bark with lines and squiggles. Looking closely I started to see faces and creatures emerging from the bark.

Here is a Pademelon

An owl 

A large fish looking face on 

There’s a bear in there

Waterfall book

 I participated in a small workshop with Sandra Pearce at the Redlands Art Gallery on Sunday morning. It is in the style of a concertina book with the pages sewn into the ‘valleys’ of the folded concertina base. As it was the theme of waterfalls based on the current exhibition of Rachael Wellisch Polymorphic Magic : Textiles Transformed. Her pieces were blue and white and inspired the falling of water in the waterfall. I have tried to go from light to dark as the water could be white and frothy falling to a deep dark pool at the bottom of the drop. 

We then made a smaller version with no sewing of the signatures. Instead double sided tape was used. Again using up all the bits and pieces from the sewn, larger books. A riotous mess of papers being torn and stitched , cut and assembled, planned and gathered, held and dropped . 

Harriet’s top finished

 Goodness the planning of colours for the borders took a lot of thought , trialling until I decided to just do it. The orange is the sunshine , the dark blue is the water at the beach and the deep pink has a lot of hearts on it for all the people who love her. Little bit of green in top left for the future growth. I really enjoyed this and hopefully the next stage to make the backing from the left over pieces used on the front. Basting, quilting with big stitches in perle cotton and binding will be the next challenge. I hope I can keep on track and get it done sooner rather than later.

More hands

 I have been playing, exploring and experimenting with concrete. After the plaster of Paris hand I tried the same in concrete. For my OCA textile art course . Falling apart would seem a failure, mainly because of my lack of real understanding of concrete and how it works and to mix it. But I think I can work on this falling apart hand and join with a softer textile to bandage , patch hold together. I like the texture of the concrete . I now realise there are several types of concrete including paler colours and without so many stones/ pebbles in it.

Random Flowers

 After attending a workshop with Helen King I started this vase of flowers. Vase fabric I painted a few weeks ago. And there is some ecodyed scrim, cut out flowers from a piece of fabric, hessian , string and threads couched . Now to settle in and stitch,  stitch  , stitch. This will add lots of texture to the flowers and stems. As I stitch I am pondering the edges and the backing and how to hang. 

So good to get into some stitching by hand . I wasn’t sure about the hessian but I really am liking the way it is loose weave and organic , if I can be excused for using that often overused word. 

Top almost there

 Today I planned to get this top together but after retreading the bobbin my machine would not play happily. Not sure if I’m threading up the bobbin in the case properly but I put away my old husqvana and got out the old trusty Elba Lotus. Again working beautifully until I had to retread the bobbin. Now it’s not moving along at all . Will think on this to try and work out what’s wrong 😑. Want to get on with the hand quilting. Last row not together . Had a little help from a friendly neighbourhood kitty cat. 

Rainbows for Harriet

 I have not made or even felt the urge, need or desire to make a bed quilt for years . Each of my girls had two bed size quilts and I have others. I remember a time when the patchwork and quilting bug was powerful and strong in my need to create. But now I am inspired in my arts practise in an entirely different direction. Nevertheless I have to make a bed quilt for my granddaughter as she prepares to start sleeping in a big bed. A real dilemma as I had no inspiration. Then I found the perfect design which is not really a pattern, make blocks to whatever size, freestyle cutting and hand appliqué . A rainbow quilt . I have finally finished 24 10 inch blocks . I will put them together and quilt with big stitch hand quilting in Perl thread.

ATC swap

 After a short textile taster at a meeting at ATASDA we set about each making a set of artist trading cards . Last meeting we swapped them amongst each other. I ha

Be here a set made by 8 artists . They range from cyanotype, indigo dyed , printing, rust dye, embroidery, sketching, stitching, collage and include gold leaf, lace, buttons, tiny sequins, and silk cocoons . Paper, fabric, velvet were the backgrounds.

Creative Inspiration

 A visit to the Templin Fashion museum while on retreat at Boonah with ATASDA last weekend was a fabulous treat. The knowledge and passion of our host Iris Skinner was so positive and committed that I was able to , as well as thoroughly enjoy the history and stories of the museum, pieces and women creating, feel more focused purposeful and attached to the work I was exploring in fabric and thread.

Casting and moulding

 I have done some more playing with plaster of Paris . Pored into a disposable glove. I didn’t have enough of the medium in the glove so when I unmolded it crumbled at the wrist. I have been doing exercises from the OT at the Mater Hospital for my broken arm. So this is the story of healing, not feeling quite right, needing care, and time. I added a papier mâché ´egg ´by casting over a small balloon. 

I am liking it in black and white. Shadows are whispering as well. 

On my table

 While doing some preparatory work and samples for my three pieces to be sent in for the Incognito art show, I developed these two as I liked where they were going.

Mixed media a5 size using paper, watercolour paint, rusted lace, cardboard , gold pen , aquarelle 

Leaf casting

 I have been playing with Plaster of Paris making some leaf casts and putting plaster in molds. I made the plaster  and spread over several small leaves from the garden. The plaster was too thin and consequently the finished set cast broke quite easily. Another leaf a Buchanhamia ( not sure of the spelling ) an Australian native with a pale yellow calistemon type flower that the lorikeets flock to. There must be oil on this leaf as the wet plaster slid off. Then I made the plaster thicker and got better results with a frangipani leaf and a mango leaf. Poured remainder in an egg shell and added a key ring to the setting plaster. 

The small green leaves at the top have plaster on the other side. I can’t easily peel off the leaf so decided to wait until the leaf turns brown and it might make it easier. They have been like this for over a week now. Very hard herb , grows so easily . 

Cardboard collage

Playing around this morning with a piece of cardboard that has had wax from saved candle dregs on the surface in a failed exploration for something entirely different. I really like the corrugations. They remind me of a long flight of steps leading to something wonderful , a temple,  a view or the promised land. So with the inclusion of some cutout pictures and more cardboard it has become a collage of these few elements. Thinking of all the steps I’ve climbed ....Jacobs Ladder in Wickham Terrace Brisbane, Ankhor Wat in Cambodia,  in Belgium at the site of one of Napoleons battles, l’arc de triumph . I’m going to think of more to add here , random climbs that when written down together become a collection. I wonder what the collective noun for climbs is? 

Artist Trading Cards

 At ATASDA we have revisited a popular activity from past group collaborations in the art quilting world. Making small cards with contact and social media information written on the back side. The front side is a small art work. So can be anything , drawing, collage ,painting , felting, and fabric. At ATASDA I led n inspirational exercise in one way to develop these small gems. This is to make a background piece of fabric or paper using a way to put a first layer that will be consistent throughout the pieces in the theme. Then cut apart and embellished individually. So mine have been based on a pieces of printed fabric that has been overdyed with indigo. The embellishing is with stitch. Each piece named and labelled as part of a series of art works.