In Alice Springs

Wish I could share photos of some of the marvellous things I have seen this week- the magnificence of nature and a surprisingly green centre of Australia- but I forgot the chord that connects my camera to my laptop, and words well aren't the right way to convey what i saw and experienced.Now it is off to teach for a couple of days and a marathon of work when I get home and burning the midnight oil- will share more next week. So today's photo is one of whimsy;

Back in Sentinelle Mode

I have to make some more sentinelles for Quilt Expo in Beaujolais, where my series will be exhibited in April, as I have more than 10 metres of hanging space. Of course I have been putting off and putting off, as I seem to completely lack any motivation to stitch and meet the deadline- I guess I am in a bit of a funk- not sure why, but when I feel like that i find it really difficult to work.

So today I battled the grass which has grown way too long- and I have one patch of grass that got out of control- my mower won't mow it, my whipper snipper is too light and a piece of rubbish that was given to me  and is  useless , so I had to cut it by hand  with shears-I am half done but at least it is getting done.Thank goodness I don't have to do my whole lawn like that!

And i did make a start on another sentinelle piece- this one with a sentinelle panel as it's centre. The first image is without any stitching and the second is with the stitching started. At least I have started, usually once I do that I seem to work steadily - and my goodness I have to do that! The Sentinelle series will also be seen in Australia in July /August in the Gallery space at Caroline Springs ( near Melton)- though I do hope to sell a few. But I view the series as an ongoing thing. I am also working on a face for a new large sentinelle piece. The next large sentinelles are going to be quite different than the previous ones. The striped blue fabric is  cut from a quilt top I started many years ago and never finished- I usally finish things, but this one never did get finished so I thought I would put it to better use.

Oops Forgot to Provide a Teapot/Rosewater Jug image

In my last post i forgot to post a photo of the fours Teapot and Rosewater Jug panels I have available for sale.Here they are!

Need to Kickstart Inspiration!

The change in the weather from too hot to be funny to cold and wet has me lolling in the doldrums a bit- plus I am supposed to be doing market research fro my Business Plan- and that is dreary. I did devise a questionnaire for the tour guiding part- though I should have framed the questions slightly differently- you can complete the survey here if you are so inclined. Any responses would be much appreciated.

This business plan thing has me thinking about my arts practice/business and how I can balance making art with the need to also make bread and butter product so that i can somehow survive.I understand it is never easy to make a living from art  but it does seem as if it is  much harder at the moment than it ever was- certainly  much harder than in the previous 17 years that i have been doing what i do and yet when you look at art auction prices you could be thinking the art market is healthy- there have certainly been some record prices for the art of dead artists.Grants seem to all be geared towards conceptual art- but most people do not engage with conceptual art- certainly in all my years of trying to get a grant I have never succeeded so either I am bad at writing grant applications or my work is not up to par.

And I have a question- what product would you like to see me produce?:
hand dyed fabric
printed hand dyed cloth
one off hand printed pieces
books - technique/how to
books -work inspired by travels with travelogue
small quilts
large quilts
more on-line classes
anything else?

I also feel I need to  make a new product of sorts  but am not quite sure what. I have been looking on the internet but nothing inspires at the moment or others are doing it better.
Anyway i have been printing some more sentinelles on cotton and evolon.

 The first image is a sentinelle printed on hand dyed cotton and  the other is printed on evolon- it looks quite different and more velvety on the evolon- it will be the next sentinelle I hand stitch

These three sentinelles are destined to be the centre panel of a larger quilt which I hope to start tomorrow- it's been in the procrastination basket for too long but I am starting to run out of time so it has to be done!

When my friend Rahima Macdonald was here from Auckland we made some bunting- not quite sure where to hang it yet- this house is not very good for hanging anything let alone bunting!

And last but not least I have some teapot and rosewater jug squares for sale- I have photographed them together but they are four separate panels. They are hand printed onto lutradur and then machine stitched. Each panel measures approx 20 cm squares or 8 inches square. They are for sale for $45 AUS inclusive of postage. Plus remember I have quilts for sale- simply click on the little poppy panel at the top right of the blog to see what is available.

And I can finally share my travellers blanket I made in January- it was for a travelling exhibition entitled Beneath the Southern Skies ( there is a button in the side bar that will take you to the website and the gallery of all the work selected) It is called Traversing the Land.