Banksia Variation Finished

My goodness- the last 2 weeks have passed by in a blur and not without some stress either!

First an update on the Pozible books still to be delivered. We have been told by the shipping company that  French customs have  finally released the 10 boxes of books last week, but unfortunately we still did not get delivery before Easter- we have everything crossed and hope the books will arrive tomorrow and books will be sent out as quickly as possible after they arrive off course.There has been no real  explanation as to why they were held up in customs for 6 weeks, and it's been stressful trying to work out what was going on. Of course apologies to everyone still waiting but there has been little we could do until customs actually released the books.

I have been to Holland and back to teach and spent a day or two in Bruxelles so I could drop some quilts in Mons for the 20 year anniversary Exhibition of the Centre of  Embroidery. I will also be teaching there tomorrow and Wednesday and am looking forward to seeing the exhibition- the brief glimpse I had when delivering the work suggested some exciting work indeed!

I did go to the Chagall Retrospective whilst in Bruxelles- there was over 200 works by Chagall covering all periods of creation- it was well worth seeing and I particularly enjoyed the red pieces- the seemed rich and dense with imagery and pattern.

On the way to the gallery walked through the wonderful city square ( Grand Place)  with its medieval buildings and unbelievable amounts of gilt some of which you can see on the building on the far right.

On the way to the gallery  encountered an arcade of antiquarian books, but  as I definitely don't need  more books whilst travelling I had to close my eyes but oh what little treasures there were. The little folding book in the photo above was by Axel von Leskoschek and was published in 1926- I can't find much information about  him but the little book was rather lovely- just as well the shop was closed!

 And the  photo on the left was of a plaque  dedicated to one of the Mayors of Bruxelles-although it does not actually tell you why. The relief work was lovely.
















And I have finally finished my Banksia Variation piece for the Through Our Hands Exhibition which will be held at the Bilston  Craft Gallery from the 16th of May until the 25th of July. My fingers are  red  raw from all the stitching and I did wonder why I had to  work quite  so large- and entirely by hand, whilst I was on the road....it measures 53 cms by 141 cms and this is my artist' statement:

The Banksia was named after Sir Joseph Banks who collected specimens of the flora during Captain Cook’s  discovery of Australia. Myths surround the flora and indeed one children’s story features the banksia as big and bad banksia men. I have tried to recreate the  Australian landscape of high horizons and starry nights  populated by the knobby intriguing banksia pods. To me they always seem like many  mouths babbling and one can imagine stories told in the night around campfires of strange and wonderful knobbly beings inhabiting the woods, perhaps scarey but always weird and mysterious.

I worked hard at trying to achieve the weird and knobbly effect- and the textile itself is very textural which is perhaps not readily apparent from the photo.The  patterning on the right has been printed with the woodblock I had made whilst in India, and the metallic thread in the sky was some Indian bling I bought in Delhi. It is the first piece I have finished in months as all my creative life seems to have been sucked into  Musing in Textile: France the book ( which can be purchased just email me)

Medieval Project is Starting to Take Shape

I have arrived in France ( brrr it's too cold!) to find some of the  gorgeous pieces that have been made for the Medieval Project which will be shown at  Pour l'Amour du Fil in the end of April, where I shall also be teaching. I can't tell you how exciting it is to open each package and find what new heights of inventiveness the makers have climbed to ( I feel almost ashamed of my ordinary paltry efforts) . I just love how stitch and colour transforms these pieces and that somehow they become the makers own  with a distinct expressiveness that seems to radiate from each piece.

 This queen has been embroidered and embellished by Libby Williams- and she may indeed have been these colours at Chartres Cathedral because it is now known that the gothic statues that adorn the Royal Portal were once coloured from traces of colour that have been found.I just love the sparkle and richness created in the dress.

The medieval rabbit has been stitched and reverse appliqued and some humour added by Emanda Fretwell- the detail in this is gorgeous and it so has that feel of the medieval!

And finally a king joins the ladies made by Denise Fordyce- the embroidery on this is subtle but rich with a bit of sparkle, just the right sort of feel for a medieval king!

I hope I shall see more  queens and kings and bunnies and dragons arrive- for what will hopefully be like a rich medieval tapestry.I hope they will glow and warm and inspire! The ones I already have here certainly exude that kind of feeling. They will tour in Australia after Nantes and premiere at the Berry Patchwork Shop Retreat at the end of August 2015.

And on Tuesday, 24 March 2015 I will be teaching lino-cutting and printing at Au Fil d'Emma in Orleans. there are still some places available. I will teach you the techniques I use to create my  own linocuts and how I print with them, and after the  wonderful encounter with Indian woodblocks, I think I may have a few new ideas!

Indian Fun

First of all- update  on Pozible pledges being delivered in France, Europe and the USA: I bulk airshipped books to France for posting to various places from France- I shipped before I left only to be told by the shipper that the books are stuck in customs in Marseilles- this is not unusual but simply means more delay. I am really sorry about this, but they have to pass through customs, so it is an unavoidable necessity and one which is causing more delay. We hope to have them in France this week so we can start posting finally.

The last two weeks in India have simply flown by. So many impressions and lovely experiences, and some creativity thrown into boot at  Creative Arts Safaris creative Camp- which I will share at the end of this post. We saw lots of things , and though I wished I could bring a suitcase of treasure the reality is that my suitcase already was pretty full with books, teaching materials and exhibition pieces, so I have had to be restrained! I did buy some hand made paper from Kadamb hand made papers in Jaipur. The papers are made from cotton t-shirts/jersey knit which has been shredded. This makes lovely paper which  takes stitching as well as water colour and writing- heaven!

So some impressions; people and modes of transport:

The ubiquitous motor-bike, noisy, and apparently you can ride them any where a person can walk- oh a turban helps as do super cool sun glasses!

Elegance in a little back alley in Ajmer!

More elegance whilst churning butter in Fiona's backyard!

And then there is door ways....blue is a favourite colour, and despite rubbish, electricity lines and grotty looking alleys doorways are objects of fascination.

Little shrines in every shop and on every corner- with the smell of incense wafting on the air

And bling- so much bling, that i was overwhelmed and forgot to photograph though I did buy some- peacocks. But the reds are just wonderful and this bling belonged to wedding saris.....Beaded embroidered, silk just over the top bling!

And last but not least. Whilst at the Creative camp I played around with the hand made paper and made a book of sorts. It still needs a cover, but Fiona had given us off cuts from The Stitching Project and the printed fabrics they make in the workshop. We also played around with some of the wood block stamps they have designed at the workshop.  I have both water coloured and stitched the paper and used some of the stitched  off cuts and  used woodblocks to print the paper.

Glimpses of India

Just a quick blog post- so much to see , so much to  absorb, just such a wonderful world of colour and textile!

We have just come back from Jaipur with Creative Arts Camp organised by Creative Arts Safaris, where I could have spent another week or more- we went to some towns nearby to do some  indigo dyeing and print with  mud blocks. The results you can see on Fiona Wright's washing line.

 Some wandering around the village of Amber, in the shadow of the Amber Fort on the way to visit the Anokhi Museum  where the Gujarat block printing is beautifully displayed and demonstrated. The photos are of various things we saw in Amber village.

 It was also Holi- a festival devoted to the overcoming of good over evil and the height of the  propentious period for weddings- so lots of coloured powder  ( which I avoided) lots of noise and lots of music and dance.

  The different modes of transport- elephant car and bike, missing is the camel, motor bile and tuktuk!

  A wedding horse around the corner from Fiona and Praveen's workshop ( the Stitching Project)- the saddle blanket is entirely beaded in sequins and beads.

And musicians playing music and one perhaps not listening so well, by the looks of his hands over his ears.

About to Set Off

My goodness where has the last two months flown??? I haven't stopped, but little work has come our of my hands- the book and the parcelling and meeting Pozible pledges has taken quite some time.
If you are in Australia and you would like  the book you need to order it this morning because at an ungodly hour tomorrow  I fly to India to spend some time at a Indian Creative Camp- looking forward to it and playing with my woodblock and embroidery threads and maybe some other things!

There has been some really positive feedback about my book and about the fact that it is a good read, so it has been a really good experience so far!  In Australia it retails for $49.95 plus $15 postage- for  those outside Australia I will let you know postage rates once I get to Europe after the 19th of March. Email me if you would like to buy a copy!

I will be teaching quite a bit once I get to Europe.

• Creating a linocut at Au fil d'Emma on 24 March
•  In Amstelveen at the Lapjesgaard on 27 or 28 March- you can do both days or do only one it is up to you!
• 7 and 8 April  at Mons with Centre de Broderie du Hainaut
• 22-25 April  at Pour L'Amour du Fil in Nantes

The whole month of May I will be in Italy- I am available to teach if anyone in Italy is interested. But I am mainly going to research for the next book- anyone care to join me?
There is a hint of some of the things I will be exploring in the newest issue of Through Our Hands which is available free to read on-line

Meanwhile if anyone in Melbourne is interested in  sharing my studio at Appleton Street Studios Richmond please please email me- I am away a lot of the time so you would have to space to yourself a lot, but it would also help me with the rent and who knows might lead to collaboration?

The Book is Now Available for Sale

We have been very busy parcelling up books- gift wrapping them and ensuring the rewards that were pledged for in our Pozible campaign have been met. It has been a big job but tomorrow the last of   books will be air shipped to France and then posted out to the recipients ( including the United Kingdom and th eUSA) from France so we hope the wait won't be too long.

 One of the rewards for the pledges has been a hand made book- and this has also taken time to make because hand made books take time in the making and the binding which is all done by hand.We had to make 10 books in all as 10 hand made books were pledged for. My daughter  hand sewed and bound the books and I made many of the  fabric and lutradur printed inserts as well as stitched and hand painted inserts. I can now show you some of what we made:

 The cover and  stitched  binding made by Celeste Galtry.

One of the pages from the book
with a hand painted and printed lutradur page.

Languedocian  landscape with a facing hand painted and printed lutradur page.

Olive tree variation with a cloth hand printed panel of grapevine and olive tree.

Cocteau's cat, a page in the book and a hand painted and printed lutradur page

And the view from Le Mont St Michel with a colour stitch study on khadi paper and insert in the hand made book.

However we can now promote the book as for sale.We have had really positive reviews on Facebook with people saying it is a beautiful book and enjoying the fact that we have been able to show how the inspiration and the stories behind the inspiration has lead to the work.

This is one review printed with permission from Jane Monk from Tasmanisa- and Jane does some inspiring work herself- take a look at her blog and website:
If you only buy one book this year, make it this one. If you love textiles, art, anything French. If you have had the pleasure of spending time in France, you will be whisked away with each page of this wonderful book. I can recall the smell of the autumn air while walking down parts of the Seine River on the outskirts of Paris, the magic of the Louvre, the cheese, the coffee, the busy sound of a city at midnight and the early sounds of provincial mornings. This book has brought back so many memories, wonderful sights, sounds, architecture, people and more. I know this may seem far fetched but this book is like a trip to France with textiles and art thrown in. Dijanne Cevaal ... I can't say enough about this most wonderful book you have created and brought to life with such wonderful insightfulness and tactility ... I can almost feel those fabrics and designs ... Thank you for such a beautiful creation, I will treasure this book. x

 The retail price for the book is $49.95 and postage in Australia is $15 p&p- however to elsewhere it is much more expensive ( thank you so much Australia Post) I will also be sea shipping books to France so that hopefully I will have them available for sale late May early June when I am still there.

At the end of next week I will be joining Creative Arts Safaris Indian Creative Camp, so those wishing to order the book please give me time to post them out to you if you are in Australia. Simply email me and I shall give you payment details.