Stitching on Icon image finished

I have finished stitching the icon image. She is 1bout 70 cm long ( 27 inches) and about 20 cm wide ( 8 inches) Her garment is very heavily stitched with various threads. The unstitched image is of an icon I transferred onto Evolon- it will also be stitched. As the Evolon is not transparent the background fabric will not have much of a role to play. I am still debating whether to cut away the lutradur inside the red squares- I like that the colouring has become quite deep and rich and am wondering if I cut away whether that won't brighten the effect too much...

Have to go pack my bags for Brisbane on the morrow- I have to get up very early to get to the aiport on time.

Autumn's Last Hoorah

It is almost winter and autumn is giving it's last leafy blast. The tree ferns however are unfurling fronds at a rate of knots. Most of the foliage was burnt in the extreme heat in early February and yet you would barely know from the amazing amount of fern frond growth since then. Even fern trees that to all intents and purposes looked dead when we arrived here are sending out tentative fronds into the world. And even the roses are having a last hoorah.

Don't forget if you are in Queensland to come by and say hello when I am at the Art Textile Festival in Birsbane. I shall be minding the My Place exhibition on the Friday and Sunday and will also be demonstrating some printing techniques and for a small cost you can have a go yourself.

Also I have had a new lot of books printed- 72 Ways and 72 More Ways- so if you are interested in purchasing just email me.

PLaying around with Ideas

I am back from New Zealand- it really was a flying visit- managed to refrain myself from buying some of the wonderful books, Anne Scott has in Minerva Gallery in Cuba Street in Welllington, though several did nearly come home.... I finished my bushfire/Extreme conditions quilt- even did some more stitching on the aeroplane so that passed the time- and in the end it did come together. It willbe shown at Minerva Gallery along with the work of 10 others interpreting the theme Climate Change in June of this year.

But I have been straining at the bit to get working on some icon image ideas I have had. I always did want to include some icon imagery in my Carvanserai exhibition, because I encountered them quite readily whilst in Syria in the Christian churches , but also from places such a Sedanaya and Maloula. The icon images I encountered were definitely of a byzantine or orthodox influence- and I must admit that some fo the stitching I do is heavily influenced byt the richness of colours of byzantine and medieval tiling. So this little image shown here is a prototype- I wanted her to be modern at the same times as byzantine- in the end I think it looks as if the image has had botox . I used this round shape first to see what I had in mind would work but I can see many other shapes that I could work with less icon like but with the potential for stitching and decoration. Tha facial image is inspired by a medieval wood block print.

Almost Finished

As usual I am rushing at the eleventh hour- have to catch the plane this morning for New Zealand where the quilt has to be delivered and I pick up the My Place quilts.- as I decided to stitch the writing panel to add more texture to the whole piece- this of course added almost two days work to the piece. I found the format challenging- 50 cm x 150 cm ( I know I have worked in long pieces before but they were entirely whole cloth and different considerations come into play). One of the topics that has been talked about in the last few days at the Royal Commission into the bush fires has been the "extreme conditions"- and it is what I wrote about in the written panel- the conditions had never been encountered before and extreme conditions like this are a sign that things are changing. And as I speak Queensland is again experiencing bad floods- the second time in seven months.

Work is Progressing

Thank you for the lovely comments about the machine stitched piece- I must admit it did whet my appetite to make some more pieces and it's very frustrating that the machine has decided to spit the dummy so to speak.

Anyway it has meant instead of going into diversion mode I have actually been stitching on my climate change piece and it's funny how the stitching is dictating the forms. I had not expected that the right hand side woud turn into such distinct contrasts- I am not sure what I was really thinking or planning for that matter- but once the stitching went in around the tie dyes the rest of the piece is coming together. I am working on the top right hand corner right now and that is turning out way differently then I had imagined when I burnt the holes in the fabric.

Stitching

I have been sooo inspired by the books I purchased on the work of Alice Kettle- her stitching is phenomenal and the way she uses it to create an image is very inspirational. She does use an industrial machine but just looking at her work inspired me to try stitching really heavily. It has thrown the timing out on my machine which has always been dodgy ( backs of my work are rather imperfect) and is giving me reason to think I might just go and trade my machine in, because every time I set it to a heavy workload the timing flips out and it's not as if the provider of a service is close by. nor are they cheap.

Anyway this little piece measures about 5 inches by 7 and is entitled grief- I know black is usually assocated with grief but since I dreamt that a big black rock lifted out of my life earlier this year it doesn't have that colour any more- and I actually find I can express it perhaps visually- it's insiduous and creeps into all corners of your life and arrives as suddenly as it leaves at all kinds of time- but it has become a part of the fabric of who I am and in the spirit of that I tried to think of it as something lighter because it is part of my journey, and the big black rock lifting said to me don't get crushed. ( I also only had the cream colour thread- which is Aurifil and which again stood up to the challenge beautifully- you can't see the texture) . The orangey colour represents me- I have always thought of myself as earth kind of colours and I used Valdani variegated thread which added an interesting challenge in how to use it without losing the colours of the variegation- anyway I now have to entirely hand stitch my climate change quilt because my machine refuses to co-operate- bleghh

Climate Change Quilt

Work is progressing on my Climate Change quilt. The panel on the left is lutradur- which unfortunately has a sheen to it when photographed because of the flash, but which in the flesh has an almost felt like appearance. It has writing on it which I transferred like a journal page- recollecting my feelings of that day and some of the facts- the temperature, the conditions and the aftermath. It measure s50 cm by 150 cm long- quite challenging design wise.

I debated a lot with myself acknowledging the human toll- was it trite, was I treading on sacred ground? but in the end these people were the human toll for a tragedy which was far greater than any other we have seen in conditions that were far worse than any we have experienced before here in Victoria- to leave them out somehow denied that this very real tragedy speaks of the way we must change our lives- if only to honour them- so I chose even sided crosses as they appear through all cultures and religions. I had thought intitially when thinking about this quilt ( before the bushfires) to work with the theme - yes but does it hurt?, as some people seem to do so little until they are actually touched or impacted upon- so many of the things we can do actively will be good for all of us and even our personal budgets regardless of how we actually feel about climate change as a political issue. But since the fires the loss of human life and homes and pets and so many things- the answer can only be yes it does hurt- a lot- and res ipsa loquitur- we must change so that we can have some hope of avoiding tragedies on this scale in the future.

Slideshow of Caravanserai

Yes I am in avoidance mode, but in the spirit of still calling it work I have made a video of my Caravansearai Exhibition entitled Caravanserai: A Travellers' Tale- showcasing the work and inspirations.


And I am not going to New Zealand next weekend ( I was getting ahead of myself) but the weekend after- which means I do have time to hand stitch my Climate Change quilt. I also have to do a brochure for the classes I teach as I intend to do some workshops in Gellibrand. I am also close to getting my on-line lino-cutting course eset up- hopefully for a start in June.

My Climate Change quilt

Happy Mothers Day!

I have been pondering my quilt for the Climate Change exhibition to be held at Minerva Gallery, in Wellington in June- it's like I have almost forgotten how to work. I looked at lots of issues and even raised some of them in the blogging process but in the end I couldn't get the Black Saturday fires out of my mind. It was a totally devastating day on so many leveles ,but ultimately it also spoke of the very real changes we have experienced in our climate- it was the hottest day in our white recorded history- it was 47 degrees Celsius before the change came and when the change came it brought mini tornadoes with it- I have never seen tree branches as big as trees hurling in the air like matchsticks. The fire index was 6- three times higher than Ash Wednesday and higher than any other time since records have been kept. That alone says a great deal about what happened on that Saturday. The week prior we had experienced three consecutive days of 44 degrees celsius- also an event that has never occured in white recorded history in this part of Victoria. Yes some of the fires were lit, not all though, but no one was ever going to contain them on that day. So the quilt will be about fire and what i wrote about it in my journal. Anyway this is what I have pinned thus far-it will need lots of hand stitching I think- but do I have time??? I am going to New Zealand next Friday and it's supposed to be done by then.

My class at the Textile Art Festival in Brisbane is definitely going ahead. I will be teaching transfer printing and stitching ( ie working with lutradur)- there are still soem places if you are interested- just follow the link.

Tools of My Art

Yesterday these spools of rayon thread turned up from the Handweavers Studio in London- I use them for stitching in my travellers blanket.They are lovely to hand stitch with and are quite economical to buy- I just told them a range of colours and this is what turned up!

I tie dyed this piece of fabric for my climate change quilt- I am still sampling ideas and each sample is quite dark- maybe that is what is needed- more work to be done today!

Tasmania, Threads and Alice Kettle

These two books showcasing the work of Alice Kettle arrived in the post yesterday- I am so looking forward to having a good look at them once I get some work done on my climate change quilt!

I swapped these luscious threads for one of my small pieces whilst in Tasmania. They are hand dyed by Madhi Chadler and they come in a wonderful array of colours as you can see. Madhi sells the threads for $5 per skein or 10 skeins for $40 ( plus postage of course). Unfortunately she does not have a website but if you are iterested let me know and I shall pass any enquiries onto Madhi.

This was the wonderful view that greeted my mornings whilst I was teaching in Tasmania- the land in the far distance is Brunie Island- isn't it magical? I had a wonderful time teaching in Tasmania- a wonderful and varied group of people, I felt I learnt as much as what I taught and have come home brimming with some ideas for my climate change quilt on which I need to get cracking as I am going to New Zealand at the end of next week to pick up the My Place quilts. I also seem to have delusional thoughts that I want to do a lot of hand stitching on this quilt

Ohh and one thing I haven't mentioned before , but I am a firm believer in once you put information out there things follow- plans are well under way for the year we intend to spend in France in 2010. We shall be staying a small distance north of Montpellier- and if you are interested in organising any workshops in Europe whilst I am there please contact me. We will also be doing residential workshops at the placewhere I am staying, which has good studio facilities. So if you are at all interested in partaking of those please let me know and I would also appreciate some feedback on what you would like to learn or do in such workshops? And would any french person like to come and stay at my house- soon- my daughter really needs to practice her french for VCE???

Custom Dyeing

I have been doing some custom dyeing and have to do some more today for Annabel Rainbow in England. I should have all the pieces finished by this evening especially if the sun continues to co-operate!

I am off to Tasmania to teach for the weekend- hope I can inspire some wonderful dyeing and stitching!

And I keep forgetting to mention it but My Place will be seen at a new event organised by Expertise Events named the Textile Art Festival in Brisbane at the end of May- there will be lots of interesting exhibitions and a wide range of workshops are being offered. I shall be teaching on the Saturday- Transfer dyeing/printing and stitching ( working with lutradur in other words). If there is anyone in Queensland who would like to do some exhibition sitting for me on thatSaturday whilst I am teaching please email me- I need towo people- one for the morning and one for the afternoon so you will have a chance to look around the other exhibitions as well. I shall also be deomonstrating on the Friday and Sunday. I am looking forward to it!

A Small Exercise in Abstraction

I was playing around today and eventually settled on photographing some of the sequences in creating abstractions form an original photograph. I often get asked how you do this when I teach workshops , and on the whole for me it is a lenghty process that might involve years- drawing shapes , refining them , looking for line, contour, shape and ultimately colour. It is something I have been able to do from reasonably early on as I have always felt confident in colour use- so for me often the overriding factor is how the colours balance each other and the rest sort of falls into place from there.
However I do use my own photographs in recreating images- photography seems to give what the eye sees but does it really? And then you are dealing with a very two dimensional medium such as textile- but it is saved by the possibility of creating texture which apart from embroidery none of the other mediums can do in quite the same way. So I have done some sequential photos to show where I was going and what happened.I have collaged the images so I could load all the images in one post




The top image is the original photo, already cropped which I took whilst beach combing in the Bay if Islands., New Zealand I particularly liked the spiral shape, because everywhere it is depicted as an unfurling fern frond, and yet here it was in a shell shape on the beach. After cropping the photo I printed it and then created a viewing rectangle from paper so I could place it on what seemd a pleasing arrangement and one which gave visual play as well as colour contrast.

I then drew line drawings of the viewing window- the blue ink one first, which I don't much like, but I did like some fo the shapes, the black one second- that was much more interesting because I stopped looking at the original picture except for cursory guidance- Instead was looking for positive/negative balance and line.I could see possibilities so refined it further into a postcard shape adding texture to the ink drawing in order to create positive/ negative balance ( but I was already thinking about the stitching at this stage so the texture also had in mind the kind of stitching i might do). Then drawn again and coloured in- not terribly successful , but I did like the emrgence of blue into the playing area.

Adding texture to the coloured drawing much as I might stitch- have completely let go of the original photograph- I am now playing in the area of poetic licence- what adds interest and what doesn't?

I decide to do it in two colour ways- one with a background not too dissimilar from the colour sin the original photo, the other what I found a pleasing colour combination- I vliesofixed the cut out shapes and then stitched using the texture drawing as a rough guide- but as I was determined to try the Aurifil Rayon 12 weight threads, my palette was a little different to what I might normally l use ( I used what was sent to me). I left the turquoise coloured background till last- and that is when my machine had a teenage tantrum- so I called it a day. But what an effect stitching has and how little or much does it look like the original photo? I keep on seeing Pinocchio in the turquoise background one, even more so once it was stitched.

Aurifil Threads Have Been Used!

A couple of weeks ago I posted an image of threads that had been very kindly sent to me by Alex Veronelli of Aurifil threads, and the link I have provided is to the Aurifil blog. I had particularly asked for some heavier weight threads- the Rayon 12 weight and Alex also sent the heavier cotton thread in 30 weight plus some of the lana threads ( yet to use but will be doing so). As some of you know who have done classes with me , I run two threads through the top of my machine in order to get a thivcker thread line ( and yes my machine has tension hiccoughs with that, but I think my machine is a tension drama queen and if she keeps it up she will be getting traded in- first I will see what happens if a buy a new set of bobbins as those plastic bobbins tend to get misshapen from the heat of spinning).


Anyway I am here to report that I love love love those twelve weight rayon threads ( yes ms drama queen machine did have a few annoying tension jumps as you can see from the close-up) but how wonderfully do these threads sit on the fabric in the quilting process?? The threads are saying look at me, aren't I gorgeous. The blue and yellow thread are the rayon and the red and variegated thread are the cotton. I really like both. So I will be finding out how I can get more colours as this is exactly the kind of thread I have been looking for. The piece is constructed from orange coloured polyester fibre ( lutradur for want of a better word or spun polyester) which a friend bought in a Toto in Paris, with hand dyed cotton laid underneath.

The piece measures 35cm square and is for sale for $95 US Inclusive of postage.

The Roman Gate in Palmyra

I have been in avoidance mode in doing my bookwork for the accountant - I am behind and it has finally gotten to the point where I can't avoid it any longer- or can i??? I needed to create some space to sort accounts, and found this smallish quilt I had made for Caravanserai which I don't think I have put on my blog before as I finished it at the eleventh hour before AQC. The image was transferred to fabric using a product called Inkaid which I bought at Zijdelings in the Netherlands. I have not seen this product in Australia- but I have also not been looking that hard. It creates a much nicer image on fabric than bubble jetset- though it does change the hand of the fabric. And as you can see you need to be careful in applying even coating on the fabric as uneveness does show up - in the black bit.


And I made good progress on sorting the accounts ( which I had stuffed into a box- every year I resolve that I am going to be better at this and do the bookwork at the end of each month- but it never seems to happen - how do others cope with this?) and should be able to get things to the accountant by the end of the week- once I start I fi9nd it is not as hard as I thought it would be- just requires a bit of organisation!
Oh and I gave myself a bonus for also sorting this years accounts whilst i was at it ( I may even end up ahead of the game) I ordered some more rayon "cheeses" in a range of colours from the Handweavers Studio in London. It is the thread I used for the cross stitches in the Palmyra piece and also the thread I have used for the travellers blanket- and you can just never have enough thread! They have over 300 shades of yarn.

Dirth

You could be forgiven in thinking that this blog is not about textiles at all- I seem to have shown precious little in recent times- and thoughI have been very slowly working on my travellers blanket-Blue, I don't seem to have done a single thing on the machine since the end of february- do I remember how to use the machine???? Looking at other blogs everyone seems to be so productive and I have little to show.

I hand dyed this piece of fabric yesterday to sort of represent our sunburnt and drought ridden country for the climate change exhibition- in a way it seems too vibrant to me- it will have fire going through it, and the swirling motion of the darker areas does remind me of the tree limbs that were flying around our house on that horrible Saturday in February. I am still thinking about it.

The print above is by an Italian artist named Ugo Barraco- it is of a quintessential Venetian scene, and I hope the artist will forgive me posting this image. Unfortunately there is very little presence of his work online so I can't give you any links, but I bought one of his prints many years ago at his little cart at Piazza san Marco in Venice. On my last visit to Venice his wife was there with his cart but all I could afford was a poster. However trawling on ebay a couple of weeks ago, I found this print and I loved it so it arrived in the post yesterday.

This was my paltry effort for yesterday- stitching the wool fabric I bought- it seems static to me- I am so used to the liveliness of the hand dyed fabrics- but I do like the depth of the black colour- maybe it needs hand dyes on there rather than woollen squares. I don't know. I seem to be curiously bereft of any ideas or creative spark at the moment. I really should do something about getting my Carvanserai exhibition seen elsewhere- but I am aa bit stuck on where? There is still an icon piece I want to make for it also, but again ideas about this have deserted me. In an effort to find enthusiasm I have been reading through some of my older journals- trawling for ideas but that is not doing the trick either.

I am dyeing some muslin at the moment and have ordered a whole lot more. The muslin is a much lighter and softer weight and is beautiful for hand stitching as in the Travellers blanket I am working on ( if anyone would like me to dye any let me know as I intend to do some daily dyeing for the next week or so). Then i one of my workshops I taught a couple of weeks ago someone suggested I should do a 72 Ways book of hand embellishing a la travellers blanket style- I had not thought of doing this, but the idea speaks to me , and then as most of my fabrics are hand dyed and printed how best to do this- though I suppose any fragments of fabric could be used.

Sailing

The last day at the Bay of Islands we spent sailing and looking at dolphins. I had not intended to do this, as we were on a budget , but the water looked beautiful and the thought of sailing was enticing. So what the heck we did and we are glad we did. We went with a company called Sailing & Dolphins and the catamaran was called Carino NZ and was skippered by a woman ( Yay!)We did get a bit of drizzle but we had a wonderful day and we did see dolphins! The beach paraphernalia was from the small beach at Robertson Island, which was the place where Captain Cook landed in New Zealand however the whole region had already been settled by Maori, who were great seafarers.

Today I have to myself apart from having to go into town for banking and posting- what shall I do...........

We are Home!

We arrived back late last night and now I have to go off and take care of my father and partner's dogs for a night- I would so much rather stay home...

Did quickly drop in and see a small amount of Wellington Symposium goings on and did see Katherine Morrison's wonderful, simple, powerful work at Pataka and was lucky to have afternooon tea with Clare Plug where she showed me her fantastic Antarctica photos and inspirations and her even more evocative interpretations of her experience which will be shown at the Hawkes' Bay Museum and Art Gallery in Napier in beginning in May sometime.It was a treat to see how the artist had worked with the material/inspiration which is at once so alien and yet also familiar with stories of racing for the South Pole and bravery and death.I am hoping I can see the exhibition fully installed- with not only Clare's work but educative , interpretative material as well, particularly the fragility of the environment as Clare encountered it. I also was lucky to see some of Clare Smith's new work , which I liked a lot ,some of which will be shown in the Climate Change exhibition which will be shown at Minerva Gallery, Wellington in late June.

Ok and we were tourists the rest of the time.... we visited the thermal area near Waio-o-tapu where the Lady Knox geyser dutifully frothed into life after been given the soap to break surface tension to allow the pressure to shoot out the cold water- there is a about an hour and a half walk around the thermal area itself- lots of steam and rotten egg smells, some wonderful colours, particularly at the Champagne pool and some of the smaller sulphur eruptions.Then onto Bay of Islands, a quick stop at the Hundertwasser public toilets in Kawakawa ( which unfortunately were not all that well cared for, and exuded their own kind of odour) and a two day wind down which included a day boating/sailing to see dolphins. More tomorrow.

Am I inspired??? yes and no- have a lot of work to do, did buy some pure wool to work with for stitching, not quite sure what that will bring on, but it demanded to be taken home. Did do a small amount of work on the travellers blanket- but when you are the driver and tourist guide for two teens with varying degrees of interest into the wonders of the physical environment you do tend to be a bit tired at the end of the day! Ok got to get dressed and go to my fathers house about an hour from here! Oh and I will answer the questions about the mono-print in my next post.

Off to New Zealand

Some photos of mono-printing I did the other day. I finally bought a sheet of glass with which to do some mono-printing- I am just playing around really and not quite sure whether I shall even use any of these. I could have drawn shapes into these, but just wanted to see the effect of swooshing brush strokes.

We had to get up early in order to get to the airport for a 7.15 am flight to New Zealand- off course we got the time kind of wrong because daylight saving also ended tonight- at least we have an extra hour hence my blog post. My Place will be shown at Minerva Gallery in Cuba Street Wellington. Am looking forward to a break in the land of the long white cloud and then getting stuck into things on my return!

Aurifil Threads and Linoleum Cuts

I am constantly amazed by what the internet brings and makes accessible, but I must admit there is also soemthing to be said for good old fashioned post. Whilst in Adelaide teaching the popst brought me a packet of Aurifil threads with which to do some experimenting- I was particularly interested in the heavier weight 12 rayons and can't wait to get going on something and see what it is like. Aurifil also sent me some colour charts and I am particularly enthused about theFilato Lano 12 thread- which is wool and acrylic thread for the machine and hand embroidery- I can see another travellers blanket coming on using this thread- there is a good colour range though I would like to see more lime/mustardy greens I can also feel another book coming on- in fact two-!

Then the post brought From Kandinsky to Corneille- linoleum in the art of the twentieth century-what a wonderful selection of linocuts by many of the twentieth centuries' most well known artists as well as some lesser known ones- I am falling more and more in love with this form of printing- just have to find a press somewhere one of these days. The book covers are actually made of lino and I was able to purchase it off the Silk Cut website ( see the link above). And please look at last years silk cut printing winner here. This is all part of the research I am doing for th elino-cutting course I am devising- I really want to look at the design side of lino-printing and so have been searching for examples!