Secret Revealed

Remember this previous posting, where my lovely piece of artwork to show, was just a ?

Well the secret auction at Burnham Art Trail  is long over and I'm assuming my Postcard has gone to its forever home.  Here it is to share with you all.

Of course, to match my window, it just had to be a Beach Hut!

The base is Kraft card with free machine embroidery

The Hut itself is has been closely straight stitched

then it was monoprinted and then attached to the base

close up detail

I hope its new owner enjoys

For the time being the Beach Hut theme is being put into storage.  I'm trying very hard to pursue an idea given to me years ago. That is to have 2/3 themes of work, to move between them, as both the mood and ideas strike.  To this end I've gone back to my Map theme, for my personal work - although I also like to play and just make whatever and have ideas on a third theme.  All of my ideas could mingle with each other, ie take a journey (map) to a beach hut!  But that is more accident than design, although may be a link can be found between anything, if you just look.

I don't know if this process will be long term, will be a good thing for me or not - its just not a way of working I've pursued before, but I can see benefits. So watch this space, and the Maps are due out on show in September.

Beach Huts, Maps and other pieces can be seen on my website which has a selection of my work.  Anything which interests, please contact me.

International Art - sort of....

Oh excitement.... well a weeny bit.  I participated in The Sketchbook Project 2011 - toured around the US, and I've had notification that someone has looked at my effort - that makes the grand total of..... trrrrrrrrrrrr drumroll THREE!!  So funny, but better than the expected 0.
The whole thing worried me so much, little knowledge dangerous thing.  I was concerned with sending to another country - x-rays would I set off some major alert if I stitched over wires - my theme was Lines & Grids and I have wire mesh I wanted to use.  Then there was the wooden bbq sticks, oh wood, organic material into another country, errrrm, so I didn't use that either.  It ended up a bit of a 'less than' effort, not because I didn't have ideas, but because I worried too much probably about trying to be responsible.  Too many of these country border protection programmes on tv....  But if you want to participate in 2013 then you can sign up to be ready here - I might, said might, do it it again.

The same border control worries affected my project for The Material Girls.   As the project is going out to Canada.  Originally I was going to take the debris washed up on the shoreline and create art from it.  But then I started to worry about sprinkles of sand, or microscopic beasties attached, let alone any organic materials in their own rights.  This involves way too much thinking.

This is my wall hanging influenced by the Thames.  Beach Huts - on the Thames?  Well I live not far from the Thames Estuary where the beach huts stretch in a long line .  Even making this I had concerned about the paper used for the huts.  I could have made my own... but knowing from my various paper contacts/magazines/forums etc that handmade paper across country borders can be a problem - I went with commercial paper, made by a well known international supplier. My little huts will make another appearance in May... so if you missed them.....
So its a relief really that I'm not a huge international mega artist - too much thinking needed!!!