Struggling

I have not blogged as much this year as in previous years because I have been struggling. Even despite doing the NEIS scheme I am finding it very difficult to make ends meet from my business, add to that my car debacle of last year, and my block of land not selling since I put it up for sale 3 years ago, renting in Geelong where the rents are ridiculously high for what you get, being a single mum with a teenager still finishing high school ( thank goodness she has a little part time job and she finishes high school next  year so I am stuck here until then)- well it's just very difficult. I can pinpoint what is happening to some extent- our very high dollar means that  my earnings from overseas have roughly been halved ( when I teach in Europe and internet sales),increases in the cost of postage ( over 40% in the last 3 years) means I have not pushed my books too much to overseas  and  sales of bigger work has been cut from 10-12 pieces per year to  3-4 if I am lucky, and that is a direct result of the state of the economy ( I wish i could get a dollar for every time someone says they wish they could buy a piece), and many cancellations of classes this year and last year . For example I was supposed to teach in Sydney last weekend but it was cancelled. I tried very hard  to search for a job last year and still actively look for job opportunities because at the moment I am just going backwards- I lie awake at night worrying and cannot seem to motivate myself to work harder as I am a firm believer in working hard and giving to the universe ( so I have been volunteer guiding at the Geelong Gallery and also have taken on  committee and exhibition duties at Geelong Patchworkers and Quilters).

I can rent some workshop space at the Blanket Box- which is just around the corner from me and I will be doing that but I have to revamp my workshop brochure and descriptions and also make some additions to the brochure- so watch this space once I get a program sorted out, which should be soon if I can find the motivation to sit and do it.

The reason i am agony aunting is that I have been using my daughters' car but it needs the timing belt renewed and a major service, and since I have been using the car and intend to buy it off her, as she cannot park it at the student house where she is living- I rang to book it in this morning after stalling and stalling and then deciding I cannot afford for another car to go to car heaven-  ouch what a costly affair that will be, and I am not sure how I am going to pay for it, but also know I cannot afford the consequences should the timing chain decide it's had enough.We live very frugally as it is and there is just no give in my budget for major expenses like this- its hard enough getting money together for rego and insurance.

I find that all this worry has really impacted heavily on my work rate and my enthusiasm- so in an effort to  take the bull by the horns I am working through The Artists' Way by Julia Cameron because I feel severely blocked and surely things will improve at some stage??? I also have to book a trip to Europe as I am demonstrating at the Abilmente Fair in Vicenza from 18-21 October and am also teaching workshops in France after 21 October ( I am available for workshops in Italy and France if anyone is interested).This may seem extravagant but in all reality I have nothing lined up in Australia during that period, and  I actually have enough points on my Qatar  Airways frequent flyer program to get over there paying taxes only- phew , it's about time!

I will be photographing older work and will put it up on my blog and will consider all serious offers to buy as I need  for something to happen!

Meanwhile look on my blog and see if there is anything you would like to buy- sentinelle panels in any colour you like, owl panels, cat panels....just name your colour . There is also the opportunity to join the on-line linocutting class which starts on 1 September- this is not only about linocutting but looking at making your own stamps to create unique fabric.

Meanwhile I have finished the travellers' Blanket with circles. I will be sending it to England for exhibition at  Leamington Spa Art Gallery- I had hoped to make some smaller pieces for sale- but I need to find some extra energy!

 I finally did some stitching on the bird linocut panel I printed ( this panel is also for sale, just printed and not stitched for $14 plus postage). I think I  may add some colour with a shiva stick in the flower areas- I am still procrastinating. The green panel below is the back of the quilted panel and I like it almost as much as the orangey panel.

A few weeks I came home to find that the landlord had chopped down the  plum tree in the front yard, as he had to chop down another tree that had fallen over ( I was a bit sad about this as I quite liked the  plum tree and the blossoms are pretty in the spring time)-  the stump has been sawn level with the ground and with all this rain the stump glistens, but isn't the graining in the wood beautiful?

Owl Lino-cut

Thank you  for the kind and thoughtful responses I received in response to my previous post- it is much appreciated. I feel as if I am slowly clawing myself back into working mode or working constructively. it's not that I have been idle but I felt like I was getting nothing done. There have also been serious health issues with parents and step parents who are aging- and  it impacts on work especially if you work from home and people just think you are at beck and call.I would love to find a studio space outside my home where i could give workshops and be with other people because working from home is sometimes very lonely and it is hard to motivate ones self.

I made another linocut today of an owl- it measures 20 cm x 50 cm. I have been asked to make some more lino panels to embroider so this is a panel fro embroidering. When I make these linocuts I am very conscious of the fact that I need to think how the pieces will be stitched and how much of the negative space ( the coloured background fabric) will actually show up in the print.Making linocuts for fabric really entails different considerations than making a linocut for paper- though there is some cross over. On paper you can aim for really fine textures and patterning , on fabric such fine textures don't translate as well, though i was surprised it how well the definition came up in the cat linocut print.Anyway the owl panel is for sale if you are interested- I can print any colour.The prices is $15 plus postage. And also remember these are hand prints - if they were on paper I could probably charge a lot more- simply because they would be  ones you would frame. What do you think about pricing of hand printed fabric?

And I shall be starting another on-line linocutting course on 1 September. I take you through a lot of exercises to hone your skills . You will be making  stamps but not just little stamps- you will make all sorts of different sized stamps, explore positive/negative space and even explore using your photos.The cost will be $60AUS. If you are interested please email me

Yesterday I went to Red Rock Community Arts Centre- to sit at a fibre exhibition for the day. The exhibition runs until the end of August and the space is delightful and there is some terrific work on display- some wonderful felted and stitched clothing by Carole Redlich and friends ,stitched and embroidered pieces by local artists ( and I am sorry I did not write down all the names) some of my pieces for the wall , fibre brooches, some student work and folios from Swinburne.Carole has been one of the instigators in getting the fibre exhibition off the ground( I can't find a direct website for Carole's work). The gallery is in a renovated  church donated to the Cororooke community by The Beale family in memory of their young daughter Carolyn who was killed in a car accident several years ago. The money that was received in compensation was used to make this gift to the community- and the gift seems to be much enjoyed by local people and has seen an emergence of a creative community in such a small place- a remarkable and insightful gift. If you have any spare time on the weekend- and you like the countryside it's worth a visit- there is a good local coffee shop nearby I am told.

The Olympics and Australian Bounty

I think, like many other people around the world I have watched a little of the Olympics, although only small sessions at a time . I must admit that the Olympics and our attitudes to sports  bore me a little- yes sport is important but it's not the only thing in the world- there are things of the mind and the hands and of the heart. Sport is huge in Australia, too huge and you know this is so, when the headlines in newspapers are not about  what has been achieved for individual sports people, their sport or even their country but  "why  is it that all the money that has been thrown at people hasn't delivered results?"( well that was until 2 days ago anyway) Money has been spent ,there needs to be financial gain at the end- and we have even appointed a person to look into swimming's failure- i can only shake my head and wonder at this jingoistic folly, because  it is sheer foolishness to place our expectations on gold medals only- there is so much more- and this is where I want to tell you a little story.

What the Olympics did for me............and i don't play sport!( or not any more )

Prior to 2000 I was making art quilts but had little success in my own country, and my work was rarely selected for what were considered to  be the "art quilt" events/ shows. I could not get work into galleries and I was feeling very frustrated. Yet I was getting work into European exhibitions- they were structured a little differently, and I was having reasonable success. Enter onto the stage Chassy d'Or at Chateau de Chassy in France- I entered a quilt, I won a kudos only prize ( good for the resume) and  best of all the organiser of the event Mme Frederique Tison purchased my quilt- for me it was a wow and wow thing that happened. I corresponded with  Mme Tison, and found we had a passion for the environment and in the year 2000 she was organising an exhibition at Chateau de Chassy, her home, on the theme friendship. In the middle of the night in 1999 I had a brainstorm and  came up with the idea of offering an exhibition of Australian quilts made by 20-30 different Australian artists to be part of the friendship exhibition. I proposed the idea to Mme Tison and she approved on condition that she co-curate.

It only dawned on me a little  into the process that 2000 was the Sydney ( Australia) Olympic year- and that indeed it might be a good time not to be in Australia, because lets face it I am not so enamoured of all the hullabaloo, crowing and jingoism that we would be  subjected to 24/7, wall to wall sport. I saw it as a good opportunity to go to France, not only by myself but with my family. Mme Tison approved the plan after discussion with her family and so it was decided that i would do an artist residency at Chateau de Chassy and would help install and mind the exhibition of Australian quilts- what happened next, was a little magic and an event that changed so many things in my life.

I called for entries in Australia and got a wonderful response from artists allowing us to choose an exhibition that  spoke of Australia. I called it Australian Bounty. We took the quilts to France  on my youngest daughters 5th birthday, and there the magic started- head airline steward Pierre ( from a now defunct french/ polynesian airline) not only gave my daughter a special birthday kiss on the cheek( and it did not hurt he was tall dark and handsome), but chocolates and took her into the cockpit- she thought we had arranged it. We were picked up at the Charles de Gaulle Airport and  taken to Chateau de Chassy and greeted by Mmme Tison and her daughter Patience. Chateau de Chassy was once the home of Balthus- then France's greatest living painter and mme Tison had during 1950's and early 1960's been his muse and mistress.We were allocated  two large bedrooms and a kitchen in one of  the towers. Now the Chateau has seen better days but wow, we were going to live in a castle for nearly three months.  Our Kitchen chimney mantle bore the scratchings of Picasso 's name ( a visitor to the Chateau at one time) and in our bedroom was an original Giacometti lampstand. I taught a workshop in the atelier that had once belonged to Balthus and which Mme Tison had kept intact.My daughters at that stage were aged 9,7 and 5 it all seemed like a fairy tale.

What I had not bargained for was the Olympics. On French television every night, before the news there was a segment about Australia where the forthcoming Olympics were to be held- it showcased all sorts of things about our country. There was the great rivalry between Australian runner Cathy Freeman and French runner Marie Jose Perec. News had quickly spread  in the town where we shopped that we were Australians and it was not long before my daughters, all blonde and suntanned were being called the Australian princesses- and people would  make a special effort to tell us about a segment they had seen on tv and ask us about it- my youngest daughter was even on french tv ringing the gate bell to open the exhibition. We were lucky we did get support from the Australian France Foundation and I got a grant from the Ian Potter Foundation- we were the only Australian exhibition travelling in the whole of Europe in that Olympic year.

When I gathered the work together I had not anticipated how"Australian' the works would be. We had a show of the quilts at Gellibrand  in the Otways to send the quilts off, and 500 people came to look and  that day is still being talked about in this region- people remind me of it from time to time. Imagine.... these works  in the attic of a seventeenth century French castle with  stone walls and  soaring oak rafters (up to 30 metres in the roof)- they glowed- the atmosphere tingled with palpable vive l'Australie- it was  something that still brings tears to my eyes- the work glowed like a bright jewel- nearly every person that walked into that exhibition drew a deep breath as they took in the colour and tingle- and the words I heard most often was c'est magnifique, c'est  formidable, c'est encroyable. The Dutch prime minster and his wife came and talked and stayed for an hour- many people came but I think the most  telling event was the day a young woman arrived with three of her friends- she walked into the room and burst into tears- her friends gathered around her concerned worried, but she said it's alright, it's alright- it's home ( she was Australian and had lived in France for 20 or more years)- she had simply had an overwhelming feeling of homesickness and she stood shaking her head for quite some time. The exhibition got invited to a gallery of  Contemporary Art near Chartres and then to the foyer of the Australian  Embassy  which also doubled as gallery space where it was one of the best attended exhibitions ever. It also travelled to many other places- but the effect was never quite the same as in France- because it was those segments on tv leading up to the Olympics which had opened the hearts of  French people to be responsive. Those segments might normally have been a one hour documentary but for the Olympics, but instead they were an ongoing dialogue and  my family and I as Australians were seen as representatives of our country and part of the dialogue. It was indeed strange to be escaping your country and at the same time representing your country.

The many connections I have made in France have in part  come from that exhibition, and  several of my enduring friendships with both French and expat people came through that exhibition. And then last year I was reminded yet again of  a warm and reciprocal relationship that exists between France and Australia. I did live in a small village in the south of France at the house of a friend in 2010- I worked and  travelled to other parts of Europe but  when I was in Le Triadou I went for daily walks with my friends dog. Last year i returned for a visit with my friend and walked her dog in the vineyards as I had used to do, and encountered someone whose face seemed familiar-  her  response was warm- she kissed but then hugged me and said "Ahhh l'Australienne"- I felt as if I had come home in some way- and perhaps I had.

It's why i want to write a book about work inspired by France- a kind of homage or perhaps a love letter.

The exhibition has lead to many other curating opportunities though I have now hung up my curating shoes for the time being- it's time to concentrate on my own work. My quilt at the bottom of the page was a quilt inspired by Otway ferns.The other quilt pictured  is by Deborah McArdle. The article comes From Australian Patchwork & and Quilting Vol 7 no.8

Lino Cutting On-line Course

I have been busy printing some cat panels with my cat linocut and carving a new linocut . Well not quite new, I did start it in 2009 before I went to France, decided that the lines were maybe too fine, but in a recent tidy up of my sunroom, where I do most of my printing I decided I would finish it after all. The design was inspired by an old Persian textile that I found in an old book I  have about weaving and even printing techniques from the 1920's written By Amor Fenton. In the end I was rather pleased how this linocut turned out- I was worried some of the lines might be too wobbly or my cutting was a bit rough but you can't really see once it has been printed.I also need to print it on a different surface and just see if that makes a difference.

I also machine stitched up one of the linocut printed cat panels. The machine stitching gives a very different effect to the hand stitching.

The orange and blue cat is machine stitched and the black and greenish cat is hand stitched.

 This is the back of the machine stitched cat. Below are some panels I have printed up. The panels measure 25 cm wide by 50 cm long and are for sale. Each cat panel costs $15 AUS plus postage. Remember these are hand printed panels ready for you to stitch and embellish as you wish.I have made the linocuts myself

And a few people have asked when I am doing another on-line linocutting course. I will start another course on 1 September 2012. If you are interested I can send you further information. The cost will be $60AUS. The course will consist of 3 lessons delivered as  pdf files with a lot of different exercises to help build your skills and to give you ideas  for using your photos or artwork. I will also  set up a classroom forum and  am exploring a few new aspects for delivery. If you are interested in doing this on-line course , just email me and I will send further details.

Not Much Done

Another week has simply flown by without much to show for it- though have done quite some planning and thinking about the France/Inspired by France book( it will include a lot of techniques I use, and ideas of how to work on a theme and explore) so I guess that is progress. I have also finally managed to clean up the sunroom ( now that the weather seems to be a little on the improve)- it's ok to work there when the weather warms a little as it is not insulated- and I do all my printing there.I haven't had it this clean since I moved here ( originally it contained furniture which would not fit in the house), and then stuff form my shed got dumped there and well it never got tidied. It feels good to have finally cleaned everything up, got rid of a lot of stuff- it's the  cleanest printing/working space I have had for years ( since 2004 I think) . The impetus for the big clean up was that someone gave me quite a large table which will be excellent for printing , but also means I can run some workshops from home. Anyone want to come and do some transfer dyeing and printing?

Anyway here is my cleaned up space.....

Coqueclicot

It has been a while since I  have played around with lutradur and after teaching a workshop last Sunday  using transfer dyes and lutradur it lit a little spark again.It's funny how things just fall by the wayside sometimes. So below is a version of poppies I did with crayons and transfer dye/paints and then stitched by machine. I had hoped the red of the flowers would be more red, and perhaps I could have achieved that by using redder fabric underneath the lutradur but then I lost all the other details of the transfer.Anyway it had the desired effect of igniting a spark  and  thinking of some other ways of doing this transfer. The image has been linocut printed with the  tranfer paints- but the surface of the lino is quite rough so I might need to cut another linocut where the surface of the line is smoother.

I did create the above post last week but have been having issues with  my photo limit on Picasa being exceeded and trying to work out how to solve that problem.

Some more of my work ( 7 pieces) will be exhibited at the Red Rock Regional Theatre and Gallery in  Cororooke ( near Colac) in Flights of Fancy from Saturday 4 August and the following weekends.My Exhibition at Caroline Springs is still ongoing.

I really need to get some inspiration happening- I find sunshine does help make the mood more upbeat. I need to make a lot of work, though it would be nice to also sell some work. Prints of the cat are for sale if anyone is interested- just scroll back through the blog to see an image of the print- it measures 25cm x50 cm.

I  am making work that is inspired by France- and intend to make a whole series which will be shown at Quilts en Beaujolais next year- I have ideas ... but I just can't seem to get things happening. I am not even journalling as I normally do though I have been carting around my journal in the hope that something will strike??Hand made books are calling out but I can't seem to get going on that either- I know it's a lack of discipline, I know what I should do but it does not happen, maybe writing it down will motivate me and remind me that if all fails just do the work......

Sentinelle Exhibition

Time is flying and sometimes I feel like I have left my brain behind somewhere in a dank wet place- since the \weather has been so horrible. And then lo behold sunshine for two days running- it's amazing what  a bit of sunshine does for the soul!! All the washing is dry in a single day -so no chinese laundry in the loungeroom tonight! Am still stitching and stitching on the travellers blanket- the end is in sight in another week or so maybe!

But I completely forget to mention my Sentinelles are being exhibited in the Library Gallery space at Caroline Springs near Melton. They were installed two weeks ago- it's so nice to exhibit them in Australia finally. Here is your invitation;

I did make a small piece today.You can see it on Voyageart. I have been working on the large pomegranate quilt but today when I went to get my v\favourite Matilda's own wool/poly batting I realised I did not have a piece big enough. As Victorian Textiles kindly sponsor me with batting I quickly contacted them and I should have it soon- how is that for service!!Thank you Victorian Textiles- I have to add that  Matilda's Own is the batting I use for larger pieces as it is so stable when stitching and stretch is minimal ( and I do a lot of stitching!)

And a couple of weeks ago out at my brothers' farm- lots of baby goats.

Stitching a lot

If you look carefully you can see the background stitching that has gone into the travellers blanket this last week. I finished embroidering all the circles and am seed stitching the background, but as this piece is relatively large that is taking a long time and it is very densely stitched. It's hard to see in a photo but the texture has become almost bubbly and quite wonderful. I am trying to get all the stitching done as it will be exhibited later this year in the United Kingdom at a gallery in Leamington Spa from 18 October until 20 January and then later in 2013 at festival of Quilts in Birmingham.

However with that amount of stitching there is not much else to show. Last weekend was my eldest daughters' 21st birthday and we held it in my shed back in Gellibrand. Thank goodness for the wood heater in my shed because it was one of the coldest nights so far this winter. Most of her friends crashed in the shed for the night.

I can say though- that I am well and truly over  that part of my past- I didn't go there with any sense of regret- yes I miss living in the country- so there is a perfectly nice block of land of 1 1/4 acres with a load of fruit trees and a lined shed with a  wood heater for sale- with a lovely view to offer plenty of inspiration. I have to fuel a new dream- it's been awhile in coming, but is finally starting to take some shape! I just need to sell the block to make it come true or sell every single quilt I have!

I will be speaking at the Melton Quilt-in this afternoon, so I had better go and collect my things together. Workshop tomorrow!

Busy Busy Busy

The last fortnight has absolutely flown out of the window. First of all there was the week of teaching at Rockhampton for Wrapt in Rocky- had a wonderful time- the event was well organised, inspirational and  I had a group of wonderful, warm hearted., full of stories ladies who dyed and stitched the travellers blanket, and just created the best atmosphere- thank you one and all for in joining in the spirit of the idea, enjoying the process and sharing the way you did!


I also got to see one of the blankets made by one of my  on-line students from 2 sessions ago- so lovely to see it in the flesh- and loved all the naturally dyed fabrics and felted pieces and the whole idea! So thank you Annette Sibson for sharing your blanket and allowing us to  admire it for a day or two in the classroom! Below is the photo i tool and you can find more of Annette's thoughts on her blog which I have linked.

And Picasa won't let me upload any more photos unless I pay- I have checked some of my web albums which I don't need but  can't work out how to delete them. Any advise would be appreciated!

Travellers' Blanket On-line Class

Yes I am running another on-line course starting on 1 July. I will also be teaching the travellers' Blanket in the flesh at Wrapt in Rocky next week. I had hoped to have gotten my khadi cloth circle blanket finished- but that hasn't happened. I have got all the silk circles sewn on- now the embroidery and then  what to stitch in the background?

One of my students from a previous class sent me some photos of her completed travellers blanket- I love seeing projects that have been completed- but I love even more when I think...oh  my goodness I wish I had done that. So I wanted to share Petra Kooij's travellers blanket( she does not have a blog unfortunately) I love the glowing jewel like quality of the patched/stitched circles on the background and  I really like the way she has played around with shadow and light - i just love it! Thank you for sharing Petra!

So the hand dyed background with tie dyes:

  Placing darker toning fabrics to create shadow and light;

Adding another design element which works really well

  The finished piece- I think the framing in the slightly darker yellow works really well.

 A close up image of the piece.

 Other  past students work can be seen Glensbirdonawire blog, Saltbushstitch blog,Annette Sibson's blog, and Cramzy's Flickr.

And here is my blanket with all the circles sewn on- now for embroidering. If you are interested please email me. Cost for the course is $60AUS and it takes place over a four month period- though you work entirely at your own pace.

And I am teaching my Gypsy Blanket workshop in Sydney on  17 & 18 August for the NSW Quilters Guild- I shall also be giving a talk at their AGM

Another Pomegranate Tifaifai

Once upon a time I wrote a book- called Tifaifai Renaissance. It seems like eons ago but it is actually 10 years ago. After writing the book I thought I would never make another tifaifai quilt as i was completely over it! Then a few years ago I made some more as it suited  a Roman mosaic I had seen in the  museum in Allepo, which was of a pomegranate tree.  Anyway if you cut out the positive carefully you end up with the negative as well so  you really get two quilts out of one design/piece of fabric ( well almost- you need two pieces of fabric for the backing). One of the quilts was bought by a couple, and as  they are now going through a divorce and both parties liked the quilt they have asked if I would make another in  similar colours and with the same theme.So I am making  another tifaifai- I did procrastinate a little in ordering fabric and dye. Of course the quilt will not be exactly the same as I draw the design freehand each time so that they are always a little different. I love the technique, as it seems it's symmetrical but it isn't quite and it's very forgiving.

The process, that is the cutting out is quite laborious but oh what a reward you get for the patience and perseverance. This piece measures just over 90 cm square so you can imagine there is quite a bit of cutting!

I love that you go from  a crumpled unrecognisable mess of cutout paper and fabric:

To this- laying out the design which is also quite a process with  all those fine bits:

To this tada! You never quite know how the design will work when you draw it freehand- but it always seems to work. it will change more as borders and stitching go in- but all in all a satisfying process!

Another Sentinelle Finished

I have been watching people work with the sentinelles around the world now and am intrigued how people embroider them and work with them. Valerie from Best of Quilting- worked with four for the four seasons and made them  for people in her life- it is lovely to know that the  values I  hoped for  by creating the sentinelles  are  appreciated and interpreted by other people! So here are Valerie's four Seasons- I love them!:

And meanwhile I have been sewing another one myself- to try and get  myself going again and also to prepare for a little exhibition I am having starting in July  at Caroline Springs in Melton of my sentinelle work.I just have to neaten off the edges and she will be finished. Don't forget that you can buy a printed sentinelle panel from me if you are interested in embroidering your own- just name your colour. On bright colours I print with black and on darker colours I print with gold ink. Cost of each panel is $15 plus postage ( which is approximately $3 outside of Australia)

There is still time to enroll in the On-line Travellers Blanket class. Simply email me and I will send you an information sheet- the cost is $60AUS. I have been working on my own blanket and have finally put on all the silk circles- now to embroider them all. You can see what one of my on-line students did here.

I shall also be teaching this class at Wrapt in Rocky in Queensland at the end of June- there are still some places left in the class. I am really looking forward to the class as it is very relaxing and really does lend itself to telling stories.

I have been doing a lot of hand stitching this week. I am trying to finish the travellers blanket with circles and also doing some stitching on the cat linocut.I am really trying to use lino prints as a means for holding stitches. I can see this cat would look interesting in offbeat colours too- like i can see a blue cat or a red cat. Here are the results:

Elizabeth from Berry Patchwork asked me to spread the word about a Textiles Art Prize to be held in conjunction with the Berry Retreat this year.. Berry is a small community approximately

2 hours south of Sydney & she decided it might be fun for the community to take part in a textiles competition.

Perhaps you could help spread the word for me please?

She has  managed to gather sponsorship; first prize is $300, second prize $200, third prize $100, with a highly commended prize of $100.

Monies have been donated by local businesses.

Lino-cut

I am totally chuffed- linocutting is a passion and I have long  looked with admiration at some of the incredibly detailed linocuts that people have made but never thought that i could do such detail. So I wanted to make a cat linocut as people have been asking me if I have any animal panels- I used to do them once in the  Otway past. So I took some photos of my friend Christine's cat- she has lovely patterning- so here is Bali:

Then I made a linocut which I tested on paper first- the details comes out great on paper even with textile printing ink.I did not reverse the image and i widened the eyes a little. But how will it print on fabric where you do lose some of that fine detail.

The one on the plainer green fabric came out with more details- but a lot of the fine detail of the paper print is lost- should I cut away more or rely on embroidery to bring it out again? I will try the embroidery first before i cut away more. The detail seems almost entirely lost on the more patterned hand dyed fabric, though it too may come out more with embroidery and stitching.

 And I have found a few more titbits about Hortense Hazard which I will share next post.

I am also starting a Travellers' Blanket on-line  class on 1 July so still plenty of time to enroll! Contact me if you are interested and I will send you details. I am also thinking of running another linocutting  on-line class - again contact me if you are interested.

A Mystery

Where has that week gone?? I have become besotted by a mystery in the Geelong Gallery. Last Monday I attended a meeting for guides and one of the guides gave a small lecture about a marble statue entitled I am Alone attributed to Hortense Heuze Hazard 1871. The sculpture is rather lovely and the marble has a silvery sheen to it, and the work seems to be in the style of Canova, which was popular in the latter half of the nineteenth century.The inscription on the statue in Italian says:
Piancete al cante mio
voi che intendete amore
piancete al mio dolore
che sola aime son io.

However I can find little information on Hortense Heuze Hazard . And the historian in me loves nothing so much as a little mystery. The following is from a West Australian gossip columnist on 20 October 1887:

I hear on good authority that Madame Hortense Hazard, the American sculptress,painter and linguist, who lived in East Mel-bourne quite alone, and left her collection ofcuriosities to James Snare, a grocers assist-ant, was a French Countess in her own right.She married an American millionaire, andtook to champagne. They were divorced,and Madame Hazard came to Australia andlived on £500 a year sent her by her hus-band. Here is a case for the Temperancesocieties. Female drunkards are seldom in-teresting. I never met one who at all re-  sembled the delightful "Janet" of GeorgeEliot.  


Don't you love that- "took to champagne"- my kind of woman!

Next is an auction notice as follows:

GRAND SALE

Of the

Late Madame HORTENSE HAZARD'S

Wonderful Collection

Of

MARBLE STATUARY,

Of

Which Critiques from the Roman, French, English,

and American Papers will be Published.

COSTLY BRONZES,

Including

Relics from Memphis, Herculaneum, Pompeii, and

Catacombs at Rome.

SPLENDID PAINTINGS

By the

Old Masters.

GRAND OLD LINE ENGRAVINGS (Very Rare) An invaluable Lot of

RARE OLD BOOKS

The

Collection of Years.

SUITES of GLASS and CHINA

Formerly Belonging to NAPOLEON.

Exquisite Venetian Mirrors.

BED FURNITURE,

Belonging to MARIE ANTOINETTE.

SPLENDID DIAMONDS, Roman Pearls, &c.

GEMMELL, TUCKETT, and Co have received in-  

structions from Mr Snare, the executor of the  late Madame Hortense Hazard to DISPOSE of byAUCTION, on Tuesday and Wednesday, 25th and26th October, at 11 o'clock each day, at the

ATHENAEUM, COLLINS-STREET EAST,The whole of her splendid

ART COLLECTION,

As above  

Catalogues at rooms», price one shilling.

Some of the extracts from the Roman, French, andother papers will be given with the catalogue, andthe remainder, which are too voluminous to publish,

can be seen at the auctioneers' rooms.

The collection will be on view on and after Monday,    17th inst, at Madame H's late residence, 25 Hotham  street, East Melbourne, from 10 till 4. _

Notice what is in her collection of collectibles; Suites of china glass and china belonging to Napoleon, paintings by grand old masters, bed furniture belonging to Marie Antointette. How does a divorced Amercan sculptress get such belongings and then bring them to Australia in the 1880's??

Another mention appears in Around the World by Lydia Leavitt:

I have mentioned the aristocracy of birth, and will now mention the aristocracy

of brains. Charles Dickens has two sons residing in Melbourne. Ellen Terry

has a brother in Sydney. Miss Braddon's brother resides in Launceston. Last

night's Herald records the death of a remarkable woman, who had lived in

Melbourne about five years. A sketch of her life is worth recording, for is it not

true that the aristocracy of brains is much rarer than that of birth? In 1882

there arrived in Melbourne a most remarkable woman, who, though a celebrity in

Europe and America, lived quietly in Melbourne without attracting the smallest

public attention. Her name was Hortense Heuze Hazard, and it is safe to say

that a more brilliantly accomplished woman never visited the colonies. A

sculptress, held by many European authorities, when in Rome, to be the greatest

living ; an authoress, having written much, both in prose and verse; and a linguist

whose knowledge of languages extended to French, German, Italian, English and

Russian, all of which she spoke fluently, and with the literature of which she had

an intimate acquaintance. The lady left, among other works from her own chisel,

three beautiful pieces of statuary, which have been exhibited in Rome, England

and America, and pronounced by the critics to be beyond all praise. One of them

is emblematical of " Peace." Another work, which has been pronounced one of

the finest pieces of modern sculpture, is " I am Left Alone." A bereaved mother

is depicted with her two little children ; the elder is gazing up at her grief-stricken

countenance, as if to ask the cause of her woe, while the little brother, too young

to be anything but selfish, is regardless of his mother's emotion, playing with a

bird he has caught. The posturing of the figures is almost life-like. The marble

from which this was wrought was obtained from a quarry which has been

exhausted, and has the peculiarity of giving a silvery, metallic ring. Among her

rare and valuable possessions were some magnificent paintings, some veritable

Correggios.

I can find nothing further in Australian Archives nor indeed the Herald archives and it does not appear that the catalogue prepared by Gemmett ,Tuckett and Co auction house has survived in any way. I could not access the website of the Victorian Records Office to see who had arrived  by shipping in 1882.

So she is supposed to be an American Sculptress, writer and linguist- and it does appear she is mentioned in Pater Hastings Falks 1999 three volume Who Was Who in American Art- but I can find nothing on-line. Does anyone have access to this book?

I can find no further reference to Hortense Hazard except in a brief note in the holdings of the Rhode Island Historical Society to say that a Hortense de Huys  ( names are often spelled in different ways and I am making the presumption that the  Heuze in the inscription at the Geelong Gallery is probably the same as de Huys)was the first wife of one John N Hazard a member of a prominent New England family and that they had two children- but not the names of the children.

I can find no provenance for the statue and most of my google searches bring me back to Hortense  Beauharnais - the daughter of Empress Josphine or her cousin Emilie Beauharnais.

I can also find no information on James Snare and how he came to inherit Madame Hortense Hazard's collection ( and she is noted to be Madame suggesting she is french). I have been searching for 2 days and am thoroughly intrigued. Why did she divorce Hazard- or why did he divorce her, which is more likely as the children appear to have stayed in the United States? Did she use a nom-de-plume for her writing? How did she  have  items belonging to Marie Antoinette and Bonaparte in her collection? It is known that Canova was commissioned by Josephine to make statutory for her. And why come to Australia? If there was a Beauharnais connection it could have been Josephines's  commission of a book of her Australian plants in her garden at Malmaison executed by Redoute that aroused that interest.

Anyway it is like a good mystery novel but I really would like to find some answers!It has taken two days to find out this little  and  I am too intrigued to let it go!

Stitching

I have been stitching on my circles travellers blanket- the weather has been right ,cold wet and miserable, so what better to work on and keep you warm at the same time? I want to finish this blanket- it has been on the go since last year and I feel I need to finish it before I can start on my  French inspired travellers blanket. I tend to not have too many projects on the go at one time, though I need to seriously get working and creating.

I like how the little silk sari circles  change shape as you stitch- initially I as fussing about trying to make them perfectly circular- but who said that they needed to be? So i just sewed whatever shape they decided to be - maybe it's the  former wearer influencing the shape- who knows- it's quirky and i do like the irregular shapes as they do blend in better with the tie dyed shapes at the top. At the moment I am trying to sew all the circles on and then I will embroider them with simple stitches.

Can anyone see a sort of portrait on the background fabric? It's almost like an old negative.

So I will be starting another Travellers Blanket on- line class starting July 1. If you are interested in joining please email me. The cost is $60 and the course consists of three lessons, delivered as pdf files and a discussion group so that  you can share your stories and get feedback .The idea is that you  create a kind of story with fabrics and stitches- it is surprising what stories people have told with their blankets- some have been very personal, using such things as fabrics that belonged to family, others have  told stories of  morning walks along the beach and others have recorded things from the past. The background cloth I have used  is hand dyed khadi cloth ( which is a hand spun and woven fabric ), which is also available for sale if you are interested.

Nothing Productive This Week

Got home very late last Sunday night after a couple of days in France with my friend Christine Moulin. I went to Paris for the day on Thursday and visited the Musee du Monde Arabe which did not have their interesting shutter system working - as the sunlight moves, so do the shutters creating interesting light and sound. I wondered around the Mouffetard Quartier and found some interesting graffiti and wanderers and a very decent meal and glass of wine.

On the Friday we went to visit Vaux-le-Vicomte - a chateau I had read about after reading about the gardens created  by Andre Le Notre which included sections of the Jardin des Tuileries, and his life's work at Versailles. It was after seeing the garden ( and festivities) at Vaux created for the finance minister Fouquet by Le Notre that Louis XIV, in a jealous fit, had the minister imprisoned (Fouquet just narrowly escaped execution and there were other reasons for the vexation not least of which was Colbert's influence over the king, however the display of splendour of Vaux irritated Louis XIV to a great extent) As a consequence Louis XIV embarked on the extravagance of Versailles (and its gardens which were designed by Andre le Notre)- and centered his court at Versailles so that  he could keep a close eye on all his nobles. However it is Vaux which is considered the most beautiful and  perfect of formal gardens and which served as a model for many other formal gardens. One of the brilliant things of this garden is a square pool about 600 metres from the chateau- in which on a still day lies a perfect mirror image of the chateau- a feat or perspective still much admired in this day and age.I did get a bit of a mirror image but unfortunately the cupola was being restored so there was also the shroud of scaffolding mirrored.

Images from Paris and Vaux- click on the photo for a larger image

I have done little work this week- though intend to work on work inspired by France- i will be creating a book of work/images/stories/how to's of the work. But there were things to catch up on and then my father was hospitalised- and he is nearly 80 so  heart problems do have to be taken seriously. It was also the Geelong Quilters Annual Quilt-in- so preparation and attendance for that- I had meant to blog about it but life got in the way!

I will be starting another on-line Travellers Blanket Class- starting 1 July 2012. The cost will be $60AUS and simply email me for details or leave a message and I shall get back to you.I will be creating my french travellers blanket with some silk I bought in Lyon at the Maison de Canuts with the specific intent to create a French travellers blanket.Please join me!

Open European Quilt Championships

I spent the last four days at the Open European Quilt Championships where I was demonstrating along with several other well known Dutch ( Els van Baarle and Cherilyn Martin, French  ( Pascale Brebonne)and English  ( Emma Wood )designers/ artists. Emma is an emerging designer making  designs for teatowels and stationary and will be releasing her new collection on her website in a months time. There were many excellent quilts int he competition and many interesting guest collections- unfortunately I did not take photos- I don't like taking photos at quilt shows because it never shows the work as it really is, and as it should be seen.

 I demonstrated some printing and also finished one  sentinelle panel i started before my trip and finished another at about 5 minutes to five on Sunday afternoon- which are for sale for 120 Euros if you are interested.Just email me

 The last two images are of some of the patterning on the outer doors of Chartres Cathedral- that stone can almost seem like textile is always a surprise to me!