The Memory Book with Holes

I have made the journal/book to write the second lot of memories- I decided to make the cover holey as that is the nature of memory- variable and with gaps. I transfer dyed some polyester film and sewed that onto Japaneses momogami paper backed with hand dyed muslin- this makes it very stable to sew and gives it a leather like quality as the momgami is pliable but strong. I like soft covered books. The writing pages ar emade of Chinese rice paper, which is quite transparent so can only be written on, on one side.

I also finally finished some cards- I had started some before I went away, and have also made some new ones the last couple of days as I had promised Clare in New Zealand some atc's - so when you have to make a couple you may as well make a dozen or so. Clare has in the last week sold four of her quilts - through an intitiative in New Zealand- where a group ( not sure which one) decided to hold a "quilt sale". They did a lot of advertising including ads on tv and I guess it worked. Another New Zealander , Marge Hurst has also sold a quilt at the same event ( not to mention all the others that have sold). They are selling any type of quilt and seem to have really attracted buyers. Wish I could say i had sold some of my quilts ( quilts and sale prices ar eup on my picturetrail site), it has been really really slow this year. I am thinking of having quilt open day here in Gellibrand at the end of November and inviting a few of my friends to hang their quilts and textiles amongts our trees and also sell off stuff cluttering my room, and which I haven't used in years, in readiness for moving into the shed ( oops studio)

When I attended Quilt Indulgence in Mittagong in September, I overheard someone say as they looked at my work- she may as well just paint. I did used to paint occasionally, but feel, myself , that i express myself differently in textile and that somehow for me it is more expressive. So working with the transfer dye and polyester film , actually allows me to reflect on why don't i just paint? The first image is the painting i did on the paper ( the colour is a bit bleached as I had already transferred the dye) the second image is the transfer on the polyester film ( and the colour on the new film that i bought in the Netherlands comes through very clear) and the last image is after cutting back and stitching. So- I have come to the conclusion that stitching really does add another dimension even in something is simple as this paisley inspired motif and that is why I don't paint.

And Omega has thrown some ideas into the ring in terms of incorporating memory in work ( and see the links in her comments to my post). Some of you know that my lacework was inspired by somehow incorporating memory and cultural heritage into my work- and since I have been searching for ways to use memory, or the very notion of memory in my work without resorting to the use of photos as part of the work ( though I have some fabulous pictures of family members in kledendracht). I am also intrigued by the notion that memory may be more than cognitive thought- that it may also be an aspect of the senses and in particular touch- the knowingness of feel. One reason i have for thinking this is when I made my prototype lace pieces, my daughters who had just come home from school fell upon it and immediately seemed to know what it was. I have avoided lace for most of my life as I hated frills and ruches and lace so until I started making lace you would have been hard put to find any lace in my house- so how did my children so instantly know what it was and what it was for? And I mean they fell upon it -really. Is this perhaps part of the reason why largely women are drawn to textile??

I spent yesterday searching the net for artists who had referenced memory as part of their work, and would appreciate any links anyone has that may enlighten. I also decided that i would do another memory book- I did one for my masters/lace project really early on- as I wanted to tell the story of my families and my immigration and at that stage I could not think beyond the narrative aspect- it was the jumping off point for the lace pieces which incorporated the written embroidered squares. I have not looked at the book I made for some time, but as I read about memory and how it changes in the context that we find ourselves remembering I wondered if I did the book again how different it would be? So that is what I intend to do today- get the book made ready for writing and remembering

Inspired by paisley 

Back to Work

Today I have been painting papers in order to do some transfer dyeing onto polyester film. This film is different to the one I have previously used and I am still testing it out- but the colour transfers quite intensely. These will be long panels meant to hang beside each other ( I only got two transfers done today and will do another tomorrow) and they will be stitched in different colours and the fabric underlay will also be in different colours. I am making them for my exhibition with Annette and Robert Claxton next year at the European Center of Patchwork
in the Languedoc region of France. Our exhibition is called Fusion, so I am making this work to hopefully complement some of Annette and Robert's work.

Summer is coming- the weather has been warm and beautiful so I could work outside today! And Collin built a hothouse whilst i was away , so now we can extend our vegetable growing season, and grow eggplants! Hopefully I shall have tomatoes by Christmas.

Sunday already

I have posted some photos of things I have been working on since back. Firstly an A3 sized piece using transfer dye and polyester film I bought in Holland, to see whether I like the effect. I also painted some fabrics as I replenished my supplies of Trapsuutjies paints- alas I did not have much white fabric to hand, I thought I had left behind a roll so that I could jump into things when I got back- but that must have been in my dreams! And lastly some of the things I print with. The two green foam stamps are designed by Laura of Trapsuutjies and as one is of a pomegranate , how could I leave it behind? She has the stamps/stempels for sale from her website. The others stamps are indian wood block and a batik copper tjap. I have had both for ages, but sometimes you forget what you have and I found these when I was looking through my printing box.

I also did some trawling of the internet looking for art that deals with memory and art- I am still exploring memory/culture/and art as part fo the art making process. There is art dealing with very particular memories- for instance the work of artists whose parents experienced the holocaust- so that the artists memory is a kind of reflected memory, or art dealing with memory of trauma ( for example Gwen Magee's work I have mentioned before), or memory of displacement, but I have been able to find little art dealing with the place of memory in experiences that are't painful or about alienation. However today I stumbled across the work of Elena Climent- and instantly fell in love with ( being a collector of all manner of things) I love the richness of the colour of her work and its very nostalgic presence. I also like the fact that the catalogue is a pdf file so I can print it off when I get some better paper. I hope you enjoy the work as much as I did.

Home via Paris and Singapore

Arab Street, Singapore- some traditional shutters of which too few remain.
Eating stall at food market, Singapore

Indain temple near the little India Quarter, Singapore
Ceps and Chanterelles- market vendor Rue de Mouffetard, Paris
Fruit and vegetable stalls in Rue de Mouffetard
Cheese deli , Rue de Mouffetard, Paris

Finally home- the journey always takes so long- more than 20 hours of flying, and this time we decided to stopover in Singapore for a night.

We ended up only having one day in Paris and stayed with friends. We decided we would like to see the Klimt, Schiele and Viena school of painting at the Grand Palais, but it was not to be. The queue to get in was over 500 people long, the weather was glorious and many Parisians were out and about. So instead we headed to Rue de Mouffetard, and enjoyed the market stalls and food delis that lined this famous eating street. The mushroom season is in full swing and the ceps and chanterelles were enticing- but unfortunately you cannot take such things home. I do wish I knew more about identifying edible mushrooms in this part of the world.

Then onto Singapore where we spent some time in the Arab street quarter, looking for white silk georgette- which was not an easy matter amongst the richly coloured fabrics and silks on offer- and one guy wanting to send me things to Australia- no worries. Bought threads in a funny little Indian shop in a back lane in the Arab quarter- at $2 Singapore a cob how can you go wrong, and then onto shops selling the more traditional batiks. We also ate in the food markets- where for $10 Singapore you can eat a delightful meal and fresh fruit juice to boot, for two people. There was one of these food markets not far from our hotel and we walked there one evening and found on offer about 20-25 different stalls offering all kinds of Asian foods. Sinagpore is such a mix of cultures that the culinary mix is fabulous not to mention the colours and inspirations.

I like the juxtaposition of these two great "culinary" cities- the food so different, yet each offering such taste delights.The food stall in the photo was tiny- one room where a team fo two cooked their specialities over gas burners in tropical heat.

The Hague and Rembrandt

On Monday and Tuesday we were at the Panorama Mesdag in The Hague to install Across Australia ( pictures of this on another day) . The opening of the exhibition is tonight and the Australian Ambassador to the Netherlands will be opening the exhibition.We went for a walk along Zeestraat.This street is lined with galleries and bookshops and we found these sculptures in one of the squares along it. The Nightwatch sculpture was quite entrancing- I neglected to write the artists names ( who seemed to be Russian) but the sculptures reflected Rembrandt's Nightwatch. There was also a sculpture of Rembrandt contemplating the models for his painting. The sculpture was three people short compared to the painting- but these are still in the process of being made.

My daughter Siena was quite entranced by this sculpture as you can see. I enjoyed the fact that the figures were larger than life ( but not so large that they were overwhelming- because people of those times were of course smaller as well) but still accessible and that you could walk in amongst the sculptures- it was quite a unique experience.
Tomorrow we go to Paris to visit friends, and then fly home via Singapore for a night- and then I have to put the head down and seriously get to work.

Hello Manuele- I am glad you enjoyed using the Husqvarna Viking sewing machine at Val dÁrgent- it has some great features- and I am looking forward to getting back and using mine. I also appear to have bought a roll of polyester film to take home with me and play with. It is not the same as the polyester film I have used previously but is interesting none the less- and the transfer paints worked beautifully on it yesterday when we had a workshop at Dreamline.

I am also intending to participate again in Nanowrimo- November novel writing month- and you can register at the link provided,if the muse strikes and decides that you must write a novel in the month of November ( but first I have to finish the novel I started last year which is all but finished- about 5000 words to go). But i am already musing about The second Novel About Absolutely Nothing With More Annotated Recipes and Design Ideas(gggg). The idea is that you write a novel ( well it is a novella really- the goal is 50,000 words) during the month in November- turn the internal editor off and simply write. It worked for me last time and actually enjoyed the process a great deal , and instead of looping around the internet, spent some of that time writing.

Ribeauville

Ribeauville is a small Alsace town close to Ste Marie aux Mines where I taught at the European Patchwork Carrefour. It has many saxon houses in a bright array of colours, and even the wooden beams are sometimes carved. I love all the brightly coloured geraniums in the window boxes.This town also was part of the great textile printing factories that emerged in this region of France in the eighteenth century and it is possible to visit a factory where cloth is still printed with he original copper printing rolls.It is also worth visiting the Musee de límpression'sur Etoffes in Mulhouse

We visited Ribeauville after we picked up Sandy from the airport in Baden Baden ( and we were two hours late- sorry Sandy)We visited this town after we had dropped our gear at the gite we stayed in in Ste Marie aux Mines. The gite was a tiny flat but had a most delightful aspect onto a back graden, which you would not know existed from the rather drab facade of the building. And in typical French style there was a rather productive small vegetable garden as well- with a wide array of vegetables ( I love vegetable gardens and have taken quite a lot of photos of them over the years- but forgot to photograph this garden). The owners ,an elderly couple, were harvesting apples from their espalliered apple tree, and neatly wrapping the apples in paper and storing them in wooden boxes- which I imagine will be made into some wonderful Alsace apple tart at some stage.

We also got used to the church bells rather quickly. The bells tolled every quarter hour ( so you could not possibly forget the time) and the first night it seemed like we heard every ring- but by day 5 we didn't even wake up in the morning when the bell did it snooze button 6 am action- which was to ring 4 ( to mark the 4 quarters of the hour) then six rings with a different bell and about a minute later another 6 rings- those poor miners had no hope of not getting up!

Stunning Gaudi and Paella

Siena at la Pedrera













Barcelona is the city of Gaudi- in no other place that I have ever visited has one man created so many enduring images that are the essence of a city- I can't imagine Barcelona without Gaudi- it would be a mere shell- but with Gaudi it makes an everlasting impression in the imagination- so much so that I don't think I will ever tire of visiting his wonderful buildings and each time being set alight by the completeness of his vision. His buildings and Parc Guell are a cocoon of fantasy, whimsy and incredible attention to detail- they are wihtout doubt BEAUTIFUL- and I have decided that my travellings are about the pursuit of beauty and the distillation of nostalgia in the sense that Luis Barragan used it in trying to encapsulate the feeling of the Generalife Garden in the Alhambra in some of his architectural structures.Now I have to find some way to access it in my own work.

Nostalgia. Nostalgia is the poetic awareness of our personal past, and since the artist's own past is the mainspring of his creative potential, the architect must listen and heed his nostalgic revelations.

And of course being a mad keen cook, I cannot resist such things as the paellla pans, that abound at Southern French and Spanish markets, where the customers purchase their midday meal from one of these large paella pans; that are set to cooking early in the morning. I also purchased a tortilla turner- such a simple thing, that i bought it to remind myself how complicated we make things at times- it is simply a lid with a knob you slide over your frying pan- and here I have been struggling with plates for years!

Cadaques

On Sunday we decided to detour via Cadaques, and Port Lligat where Salvador Dali and his wife Gala lived after their return from America. Unfortunately we could not visit the house as you have to book in advance, but did admire its wonderful setting.This was also the place of which Frederico Garcia Lorca wrote lyrically as he holidayed there in the summers when he was a student with Dali in Madrid. Fishing is still carried on in the little harbour and I could not resist photographing the baskets of nets. There were many cats in the grounds, who refused to look at the camera when I tried to photograph them and as soon as you put the camera away, they would look straight at you.

The town of Cadaques itself was also delightful- really what you imagine the Mediterranean to be like, with colourful boats and white washed houses. We had a lovely lunch in a little restaurant ( which was full of Spanish clients)on the harbour, which included gazpacho and Mediterranean style mussels, which was very reasonable. The access to Cadaques is along a very steep narrow road of about 20 kms that goes through rugged hilly terrain, with olive trees clinging precariously to terraces. We were so glad we had made the detour, for so much of the Mediterranean is clad in high rise condiminiums that block the views, and the harbours are full of Royce Rolls powered 40 foot motor cruisers instead of quaint colourful boats used byt the fishermen.However the camp ground was the campground from hell, added to by the fact that a big storm blew in early in the evening- we survived!
Cadaques harbour

Port Lligat with fishing boats
Stone walls Cadaques style
Dali's house with early morning sun streaking through the sky.

Off to Europe Tomorrow

Sorry no pictures today- have run out of time. Got back this afternoon after Quilt Indulgence where I taught and showed some of my quilts as well as Across Australia. Unfortunately numbers of visitors was down, but those that came enjoyed the quilts!

Now it is to packing! And the quilts don't fit in the suitcase- argghh- how to get them in???I shall try and post some pictures from my travels .

Magnolias in my Garden

Magnolias in my garden
These lovely magnolias are flowering in my garden at the moment. I don't often get to enjoy seeing them flower because the satin bower birds eat the buds just as they are about to burst open- they are such greedy creatures and so destructive.

There will be limited postings after this evening as tomorrow very early ( 4 am) I head to Mittagong and Quilt Indulgence , drive back late Sunday night (it's about a 9 hour drive) come home, pack for Europe and fly out on Tuesday. So busy times, and I still have to sew a couple of sleeves on quilts and lino-cut print fabric to cut into small panels to sell. And the lace scarves- I have one ready pinned to go but in all reality I think I need to get a reality check!

Linda- it's got me puzzled- the number I mentioned doesn't visit every day ( though as you noted the numbers float). The quilt is too big for Katrina in any case- I think Laura only wants ATC or A4 size- so that she can give them standard prices.

Mystery Visitor

I have been trying to work out who the 20,000th visitor is. I have two people both of whom have British Telecommunications as isp's but who do not live in Ipswich- though I believe rerouting is common. However at 12.21.35pm ( and I believe this is US time and don't know what the equivalent British time would be) the person with the matching isp number 86 133 204 visited for 3 minutes 27 seconds and exited on the leaf lace page and looked at 3 pages. I know just about everything except who you are.Who was this?? There is a small quilt waiting for you.

Prototype Scarf

Scarf

The photo below is a design I have been working on to use for printing. I did print some fabric with it but forgot to heat set the printing ink in my rush to get the prototype scarf done- so a lot of the motif washed off- silly! One thing which I haven't notated on my blog ( because I can't work out how to do it), but I do hope everyone realises that my designs are copyright.

I want to make a few scarves before Quilt Indulgence to gauge reaction and see if they are a saleable thing or not- there really is quite a lot of work involved, but on the other hand they are one off and individually stitched-so I don't really know what i should charge for them. I also intend to make corner dangles which will be an imprint of a signature of sorts- sort of brand marking. The fabric is printed silk.

Promised Celeste ( eldest daughter) I would show her how to make real cream caramels so I had better go and fulfil my promise.

Designs for Motif 

Small Quilt Done

Small Quilt Done
This is the small quilt I promised to the 20,000th visitor- I have still not been able to work out who that was, and I have posted all the information I have. If it is not claimed by next Tuesday evening I will donate it to Laura Cater- Woods, art quilt auction to fundraise for the survivors in New Orleans.

Have finally got my laptop back from Melbourne, and am now working on some 'lace scarves' . Whilst I was not totally sure about the extra stitching on the leaf piece, other people that I showed did like it, and surprisingly when I pressed it it felt much softer than tulle on its own. I would like to try this with cotton tulle- as that would be really soft. You can also buy silk tulle but it is very expensive- I am not sure how much the cotton tulle is , will have to investigate , but I like the idea that it can be dyed as well and of course the softness of the touch.