On Show...

The local opportunity to exhibit til the end of the year is in process, I will deliver my work tomorrow.

Adult Community Learning Centre

Roche Way

Rochford   Essex  SS4 1DQ

Hours - College class hours, ie some evenings inc

 

Exhibition now til end of year

 

So to entice, here are some photos of the work I will put up and a little information about each piece.  Hopefully clicking on each image it will enlarge for a better view.

TUDOR ROSE 18cm x 12cm

Remember in previous post I said I had done a lot of white stitching on white - well this is one of those pieces!  Yes I know it has colour - but its all stitched in white and painted with colour after.  So small, but actually contains a lot of work, and many colours/layers of paint.

 

STRATA 40cm x 30cm

STRATA detail

This is from my imagination, looking through layers to the earth's core and no I've not stuck my head down a Volcano.  The top comprises layers of paper with further layers of chiffon, which have been stitched and melted back.  The top piece sits away from the cut out shape. Free machine straight lines across the void and beneath, hand painted fabric with hand stitch, beads and gem chips.

PASTICHE  40cm x 50cm

PASTICHE  detail

This piece has been on a touring Exhibtion around East Anglia.  Made in response to studying the work of Owen Jones. It was displayed along with the research. The background is handmade paper dyed, the bright colours coming from looking at fabrics in the Warner Textile Archive.  The pattern is a Celtic knot, also reference to Owen Jones patterns.  Its stitched in two different coloured gold cords made by me.  The whole piece references one of Owen Jones Propositions as he called them - guides for good design.

Proposition 32   : Ornaments of any colour may be separated from grounds of any other colour by edgings of white, gold, or black

OH YOU PRETTY THING  36cm x 30cm

Difficult to photograph because its all sparkly.  Angelina fibres, fine curly wirelike fibre, hand stitching and surface embellishment on a black velvet background.  This is only a partial view because its in a gold frame.  and its title - I kept singing this song to myself when making, because, simply, its pretty!

 

I hope looking here, or if you get to pop along to the venue, that you enjoy seeing these pieces.  Thank you for looking.

 

 



All the Twelves!

Well today is 12.12.12 - and I've been out and about taking photos.  I think this is my last Date Day recording.  I like these funny dates, could be because my birthday is one of them, and so is my wedding day.
So I've been recording things on these days since 1.1.1  Now the trick is actually to find where I've kept them all, sure not all of them are in digital form.

Sunrise this morning.... and no they are not hills in the background, nor even a forest of trees - its actually dark cloud.
This piece of work has found its way home to me.

Its been absent for about 18 months or more.  It was made for the touring exhibition of the ERTF Owen Jones inspired work.  This piece was based on the colours of the fabrics found in the Warner Archive alongside Owen Jones Proposition 32
Ornaments of any colour may be separated from grounds of any other colour by edgings of white, gold, or black.
The piece is called: "Pastiche".
Thanks to Lorraine for organising, with help from many many others along the way.

PPL

Last week I paid a visit to Chelmsford Embroiderers' Guild, not been for a while, but went specifically to hear the talk by Jill Flower.  See her website.  Lovely to catch up with people too, as I know many from that area, from initially studying City & Guilds Embroidery in Chelmsford.
Also watch this space, the Eastern Region of the Embroiderers' Guild is about to get its own website - so I've been busy supplying the information needed for that, as I'm our Branch IT Rep.  When it goes live I'll let you know.

The ERTF Owen Jones toruing exhibition has finished at Chelmsford now.  Thank you for visiting, I hope you enjoyed it, and it now moves on to Letchworth.  Do try to see it, because the accompanying sketchbooks are very informative, to see how everyone has the same subject matter but interprets it differently.

In the meantime I have a new business... well... decided I need to run a PPL (not to be muddled with VPL - visible pantie line, oooo errr) PPL - Postcard Production Line. Ha, did you think it was something else?  I am going to need some postcards for many projects and decided I needed some kidology - ie that it feels better to achieve lots of little tasks, than the long struggle with the big ones!  So below is a pic of one in production - I have 4 of these, not at all cost effective, as after stitching they will be painted, may be even gilded, a few surface embellishments - this technique usually involves 7 layers of paint or more, so really really a bargain for a purchaser.  Oh I can't show you the rest, himself has gone to France for 8 days and taken my best camera only just managed to rescue this pic before he waltzed off!

Oh, excitement ONE person has looked at my Sketchbook in the US - yipeee - I know, one, but hey its a start and I did have visions of it harbouring dust and never being touched.  So I count that as meeting the remit of the project - hopefully more will take a look, its very early on into that tour.



Exhibitions, Shopping and Doodling!!

I popped along to see the ERTF/Owen Jones exhibition again at Chelmsford Museum.  Be quick, you have until 27th March to see if before it moves on to Hertfordshire.  See here  Lots of lovely comments in the book.  I had a chance to have a good look at the artists' sketchbooks which are exhibited alongside the pieces.  Its very informative.  Of course I'm part of the exhibition, you can see a snippet of my piece in an earlier posting. Following this I popped into Hobbycraft in Chelmsford.  It is a much larger store than the one in Basildon, and having sent him indoors on a recce to the one in Norwich, I believe it is also larger than that shop.  Of course I went in wanting nothing in particularly, but did ask the cashier to whisper the amount of money spent - cos it doesn't count if you don't say it out loud - does it?
I've also had confirmation of the date I'm at the Braintree Community Hospital - I've put the info up in the righthand menu - from end of September for six months.  This is a big thing for me.  Never ever have I put work anywhere for such a time period.
Having found that every single black pen in this house was not waterproof, and thanks to Miriam - I bought myself a set of Pitt artist pens.  I've had a little play.

I don't know if Zentagles is the proper term for these or just a new invention - I'd call it simply doodling.  But the partial stitch version was started some months back, long before the pen came out.  I see in the current April/May issue of Quilting Arts magazine, that there is an item on using this technique in fabric.  But if you like this sort of thing then keep in mind the Burnham Art Trail - as the artist Peter James makes very detailed drawings.
Its the weekend, and I have Saturday alone - time to look at, stroke, may be even use, my new purchases!

ERTF - Owen Jones Exhibition - NOW ON!!!

Friday night I attended the Private View of the ERTF Owen Jones Touring Exhibition, at Chelmsford Museum.  As I was there to Meet & Greet, I arrived before time and so was able to get overview photos of the Exhibition, which are here.  (I hope it is OK with all contributors to post, as I don't have individual's permission - let me know if not).

Its been a while since I've been to the Museum, and it has a great relatively new extension, with this lovely area to house exhibitions. We have some beautiful work on display, and I will go back again to study the accompanying sketchbooks, as I'm sure there's much to share.

I was there alongside fellow ERTF member Miriam, to welcome people in and we met many new acquaintances and old friends.  It was lovely to see everyone, and I hope they all enjoyed themselves.  The ERTF embraces a whole range of Textile Art, and you can see that here, from wearable art, 3d construction, to wall art.  Its really nice to be amongst people who have different specialisms, but all with a passion for textiles, so much to share and learn about from each other, and to extend this sharing and knowledge out into the wider community via the Exhibition and related Workshops.  Yes I said Workshops which you can find here - click on the posters to make them larger to read.

This is the first venue for the project, but it will be touring, so do keep an eye out for it near you - and I will post the dates on the righthand side and/or on my website.

New work, tasters...

Here are a couple of pics of new pieces I've recently made.  Stitching on paper, as I do a lot of.

The brown is a detail from "Strata", and the green from "Terre Verte".  This is the compromise I had to make, as my sewing machine broke when I was trying to make free machine 'flowers'.

So these pieces completed the work for Fabrication, my solo.

Next project is to make a piece of work for the ERTF Owen Jones inspired project.  After attending a study day on this, I said No to continuing with it, for varying reasons, not least looking back I think I was overwhelmed with all I had plans for plus the enforced difficulties of looking after a sick hubby.  But the opportunity came my way again, and after careful thought, life issues resolving, I changed my mind and said Yes.  So I will need to barely stop for breath before embarking on the next deadline.

ERTF

On Friday Juliet and I went over to the Warner Textile Archive in Braintree, Essex. We went for two reasons 1) to see our work on exhibition, and 2) to start work on another ERTF/Warner collaboration.
Incidentally, ERTF - Eastern Region Textile Forum: www.ertf.org.uk The above is my entry (sneaky peek on previous posting) for the 2nd Challenge, making A4 sized work from a sectional piece of fabric/design from the Archive. We had no choice, it was pot luck which you were given in a sealed envelope. My design had just the pink honeysuckle flowers, which you can see - a bit of computer manipulation and my end result. Its on display at Braintree until 21st August, and then it will move to The Long Shop, Cambridge, from 8th Sept. There are over 40 pieces on display, alongside the design source, its beautifully displayed well worth a visit. I don't know if a calendar will go ahead or not... but my piece has been shortlisted for it.
The main part of our visit was taken up looking at fabrics designed by Owen Jones, in order to make work for a future display at the Archive. We can make whatever we wish, its not juried but its specifically for exhibition at Braintree. No dates have been fixed, but likely to be on show from early Summer 2010. So there's time to think, especially to come to terms with fabrics from the 1870s in bubblegum pink, or hot citrus yellow!!! And we think of these as being so modern.
It was a good meeting - and 2010 is filling up with potential opportunities.... and..... even heard about things for 2011! And I thought last year being able to buy the following year's desk diary in August, was a bit extreme.... perhaps not.