Let's Create

Down Experiment Lane.

2011-03-13T20:17:00.010Z

I am still on the road of experimentation. I am gathering bits and pieces together, recycling pieces of work and fabric as well as my much loved felt.
I liked the piece below so much that I have replaced it as my header on the blog; as you can see the close ups are quite rich, as usual just click on them for a large view.

I do think it came as a discovery of the stitch doodles and I am not sure where it will lead me. I see them as freehand samplers. The original ATC sized stitch doodles I have sewn together as book for my use as a reminder of what is possible so it's actually a stitch book; perhaps I will show
this next time. It is working very well for me.

I am enjoying the freedom that it is allowing me. The idea though is to use the work as a reference in my future work; Perhaps allowing me some ideas when I work upon less abstract piece in the future. I am searching for a language in stitch colour and fabric; a language of my own I hope.
Obviously, to use this language in the future will also take much exploration but I feel sure that it is a path I should be following.

More Brooches

2011-02-24T22:09:00.005Z

Here are some more of the brooches I am making for my friend, these will be for the lady's day that they are holding in March so I just finished them in time. I hope that they like them.

Some are similar but they differ either in colour or design so everyone is infact unique. Just how I like it; I hate to repeat exactly what I do, I believe that is what machines are for, no I like to make every thing I do slightly different. Even when I make a series it should show variations.

These below are slightly closer photos of the ones above; they are not copies.

As always click on the pictures if you would like to look closer although sometimes the images are not as clear, my hand is not so steady these days. Never mind my sewing hand is. If you do drop by do leave a comment. Thanks to you who do. Tricia x

Back to doing some Brooches, a favour for my Northern friend.

2011-02-19T13:02:00.004Z

Ok these are the first of 30 that I am making for a dear friend who I met when I lived up North, I have already shown her these and she approves so I am continuing to make some more, the shapes are very simple but with lots of embroidery. I must have them done before the end of the month so I better get my skates on! Also below a couple of other things I made as presents recently:

About a year or so ago I made my Grand daughter a bracelet and she was mortified when she lost it, I told her not to worry and I have made her another. Silk embroidered onto industrial felt fixed with velcro. She likes it that's all that matters.

The next was a present for a very dear friend who took me out to lunch last year. She likes these colours, you can't see much of the felt I got a bit carried away with needle weaving. I just love threads; as you can see. It was based loosely on a picture of some art deco jewelry. I think Mary liked it. I love making presents for people. It's my favourite way of showing that I care about someone.

AS ALWAYS CLICK ON THE PICTURES FOR A CLOSE UP.
Well I had better get on, be back soon Love Tricia x

A reminder of a little stillness on a stormy night.

2011-02-04T01:57:00.002Z

Taken just a few days ago around about 6am dawn over Kent, UK

I love the star in these pictures sitting right on top of the new
crescent moon. A quiet interlude to remember on such a stormy
night

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

2011-02-01T08:26:00.000Z

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity Video on TED.com

My Stitch Doodles

2011-01-29T21:38:00.010Z

I have been continuing the theme that I began earlier and here are the results: I say results but this in a sense does not in any way indicate these are finished pieces of work. This is experimental work, like a sampler that is in miniature with no structure to get in the way of discovery. It is not about what these have become but what I have learned from making them. I hope you will enjoy looking at these as much as I have enjoyed making them. They are all ATC size.

RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE!!!

2011-01-07T09:29:00.007Z

I am a reader of the Natural dyes website, the newsletters get delivered straight to my inbox. I don't always find anything of interest but today I was shocked by what I read, I tried to add a link but you have to be subscribed before you can access it - it is a Yahoo site if any of you are interested.

Anyway, I felt compelled to at least add the information below which tells of the devastating distruction to the environment to grow cotton. I certainly never realised this. I always thought of cotton being such a healthy fabric.

I only have one thing to say here: good for all of you who recycle this precious but very poor environmental product. Keep it up and spread the word. I will certainly think twice before any cotton in my house goes to waste in the future. I am so glad that I am primarily a felt maker.

For further reading:
http://www.icac.org/seep/documents/reports/2010_interpretative_summary.pdf

http://www.organiccotton.org/oc/Cotton-general/Impact-of-cotton/Risk-of-cotton-farming.php

http://www.ota.com/organic/environment/cotton_environment.html

http://www.sustainablecampus.cornell.edu/getinvolved/Docs/Environmental_Impact_of_a_Cotton_T-shirt.pdf mpus.cornell.edu/getinvolved/Docs/Environmental_Impact_of_a_Cotton_T-shirt.pdf

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/agriculture/cotton/

http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.115-a449

A Present of Family Significance and a new approach.

2010-12-10T21:14:00.005Z

Here I am again and as promised here is the present that has been received by my very dear cousin in the North of England; this is where most of my family live. It was my mother who moved to the south when she married my Dad, he was very much a Londoner born and bred.

However the significance of this present as I mentioned above is that this represents the home my mother grew up in. Yes a proper Romany bow topped Wagon. My Grand dad was a true Romany you see. I don't mean new age travellers. We are talking about the early part of the last century. My Grandparents were born in the late 1800's Some people would feel ashamed of admitting these kind of roots. I am very proud of my heritage. My mother came through some very tough times, and survived two world wars and even worse the great depression. She taught me how to be a survivor and how to make do and mend. She taught me a lot of things that many today would be grateful to know. So yes, I am proud of being half Romany. Even though I grew up in a house that my mother fought hard to buy for herself. I will never forget my roots.

My cousin said she is so pleased with this, she has it on her wall amongst all the family photos, isn't that wonderful. The front of it sort of represents the idea of looking out from a wagon on to the view of a wagon itself. It took me many hours to make this, it is made from my own hand dyed and hand made felt and all of it is hand embroidered with a lot of hand painted variegated silk.

As usual click on the pictures for a closer view.

This next piece is a new approach for me. This is what I recognise as mixed media; for me anyway. First I made a clay circle, quite small. I made a series of small holes equally spaced around the edge; these can't be seen as the embroidery covers these well. The idea was to create a frame for this pendent so that it would hang nicely. The embroidery is a free hand design/stitch doodle; this is what I might call them in future. I feel that working with very fine silk in this manner is very pleasing. I am planning to make a series of these pendents in different colours; and maybe shapes too. who knows. Well that's it for now folks. Be back soon. Cheers and thanks for dropping by. Tricia x

Mandalas and Zendalas with stitch

2010-12-08T21:29:00.010Z

Hi all, Well I said i would be back and a little sooner than usual too. Even though I have not been well, work on a small scale has been happening when I have felt well enough.

Mandalas

Remember this, well it is well and truly finished. I have decided not to add eyes to the fish, as I want to keep the abstract nature of the design. This is my own design based around the idea of the lotus flower/water lily. Being a Pisces it does have meaning for me; at least.

click on this and all the images below to get a close up

Zendalas

Now for the Zendalas, the first one I wasn't completely satisfied, I enjoyed the exploration but felt that either the back ground was too busy or the thread was a bit heavy; this meant that I tried to cram too much into the small space. by the way these are about the size of a coaster.

This next one I started to get the feel of what was possible I didn't like the design much but I have to believe that this is because it is not really a conscious design but a subconscious one. After all I am in effect taking my thread for a walk.

Then, I know I did look briefly at one of the pen doodles that I had made here, if you remember;

but I simplified it to some extent so it was still a subconscious doodle that I

turned into a design.

I do believe I had already learned the essentials of working in this way. Ok for some the work might still be too tight but perhaps that is just me. I am learning to free up my ideas around stitch. I am trying to acheive a series of samples with out worrying where the stitches go.

I am experimenting with the two things I love the most well three probably line, shape and colour which really translates into pattern. I think that is enough to be working with all at the same time.

Below is the one I really liked because I just filled in areas as I went along and literally didn't know where the original line was going to take me. I still found myself trying to have some control. I worked in the chain stitch first which you can see is more predominant and as I went along I decided almost instinctively to use the variegated thread to decide when i was going to change direction. A funny thing to do but it worked a little for me.

You see I have recently bought a job lot of very fine variegated threads and it will allow me to practice my passion to my hearts content until I have refined my techniques and then for special pieces i shall use my favourite variegated silk. I do still have some planning in all of this and then of course what will they become? Ah we'll have to wait and see.

So what do you all think. Do you love them or do you hate them. I know, I am a 60/70's girl and it shows. I can see the paisley creeping in at some point, lol.

I've got some more work that I've posted as a present but until it is received, I will not show it yet. Be back soon I hope. Thanks for dropping by. Cheers Tricia x

Creativity comes in many forms

2010-12-03T15:30:00.007Z

Hi all,

I do have quite a lot of work that I am finishing but haven't photographed it yet.

However, I thought as I finally have mastered the art of downloading videos on here allbeit on the video bar ( I would have preferred to have had it in this post) I would like to share with you the video that my daughter took at my Grand daughter's big, big competition 2 years ago. Rebekah was only 11 years old at the time when she won her bronze medal for her country performing in an international competition in Glasgow competiting with global gymnasts including Russia.

She was the youngest ever to acheive a medal at this age. The only thing I would say is that it was a pity that the judges heads were in the way and that they had the best seats! lol. Still my daughter did get most of the best bits.
Now Acro gymnastics is short for Acrobatic Gymnastics. this is without a safety net, I might add. You can view the video in the video bar, just ignore the snooker, it's the first one on the bar and my Grand daughter is the smallest of the pair.

This photo here shows more of what she is capable of, Rebekah is the one in mid air and her partner is waiting to catch her; Thank goodness she always does! Touch wood!!!! It takes enormous trust to leap off of someones shoulders like this and do a backwards somersault. Still they do say that some children have no fear and as a toddler I can confirm that the back of my sofa was good practice for her future career. She now has a diploma in Gymnastics as well as the medal, not bad at that age don't you think? Well, I won't bore you anymore but do watch the video I know I am biased but I do think she is just so clever. Well as I say creativity comes in many forms and no one can tell me she hasn't mastered her art. Back soon Keep warm (if you are in the UK) Cheers Tricia

Zendalas a way to loosen up.

2010-11-05T17:31:00.004Z

Hi all,

Thought I would share with you something I have discovered whilst surfing. I saw Zentangles (These are the same as below except rectangular) noted on Gail Burton's blog Thanks Gail, these have really inspired me, I often find myself doodling whilst on the phone. Afterwards I look at what I have produced whilst my logical brain has been too busy to notice and I am usually amazed. There is a theory behind this, it goes like this. If you say "I am going to draw a door" Your logical brain says: " I know what a door looks like" so you end up drawing a symbol of a door, not a particular door. Your creative side of the brain should say shut up I need to study a door before I can draw it properly. Well, it's the same theory when you doodle. You release your creative side to do what it wants to do.

For a long time now, I have been trying to find ways to inspire pattern in my stitching. I have various up to date books on free stitching but have never really got to grips with it. I absolutely love stitch and pattern together. Now as you can see my first attempt was nothing special, I was just getting into it.

However, I do believe the next one is showing more promise.

The last one below I gave it a theme that I am often thinking about because of the symbolism in a trinity being so strong in Early Christian/Celtic Art. I think I can run with the ideas with this Zentangling or Zendalas ( I would call it Zen doodling if I had my way) in as much as I can use the lines to inspire my stitch. It will be a challenge to find ways of stitching to copy some of the patterns. So this will be were I will be going next. I feel sure it will help to loosen up my art work just what I have needed for so long. Wish me luck and Watch this space. (Thanks again Gail) Oh and you can see it demonstrated on You Tube, great fun to watch Bye for now Tricia .

A new start for me

2010-11-03T01:33:00.003Z

Sometimes you need to clear the way to make a new start. I have done this today by closing the two online forums I used to run. This will leave me more time to concentrate on what I want to do. I have lots I wish to achieve and although this is not the new year as we normally like to think of it. It is in Pagan terms. We look towards the dark gloomy days and wait for Spring but Winter can be a very productive time especially for those with nimble fingers. I am a bit of a Pagan myself. I believe in Mother earth and her constant renewal that we have all in some way taken for granted. Much of my work in the past has had Green themes. Especially when I was studying for my degree, I wrote my thesis on Green Art in our times.
Anyway, as I was saying a new start. To celebrate this I have revamped the blog a little and added a link to my flickr site to celebrate much of the work I have already made. The image at the top shows many pieces of work that you can see at Flickr and to get there all you have to do is click on my picture to the right. Then you will be able to see all these pieces of work full sized.
A few of these are no longer in my possession as the smaller postcards I swapped with other artists from around the globe. I hope the artwork gave them lots of pleasure. As does the work they sent to me in return.
Well, I am not going to say too much more now as there are no images in this post but do pop over to flickr if you would like to celebrate with me the achievements which have made me just a little proud. See you all soon Bye for now Tricia x

It's been far too long......

2010-10-25T00:42:00.006+01:00

Where has the last year gone? I have been trying too hard to juggle too many things and overstretched myself in more ways than is humanly possible.
On top of this I have been diagnosed with arthritis in my knee and back so that's why I felt so terrible and kept falling over!
This has all took it's toll and left me feeling very tired and more than a little despondent. Never mind life goes on....
Back to my work, I have started to look again at my recurring theme of geometry. I've been looking at Mandalas and found them fascinating. So I decided to start designing one of my own and I may do a series.

T
I have always enjoyed playing with a compass so that's where I began. As I have always loved ponds and fish etc.. I decided that my first shapes began to go in that direction.

Then the lotus flower seemed a natural centre piece especially for something that is meant to be used to help you to meditate.

Here is this small piece in progress, I am experimenting with stitching using a variegated cotton on the fish for scales. Although this is a small experimental piece, it could just as easily be enlarged to fit any wall as a hanging.

Well, I hope to be back a bit sooner next time. Bye for now Tricia

Ok, my blog back to normal with a mixed bag.

2009-07-11T23:25:00.005+01:00

Ok, so I've reclaimed my blog for me, lol. If you are looking for the challenge you need the forum now.
To begin with I have a couple of pictures to show you that I just had to share. Look carefully at this branch from my apple tree, is this friend or foe? I have never liked spiders much but for some reason this little fella really fascinated me. He had crab like legs and was completely white except for these red stripes on his side.

Here he is again below, making an exit, I think he realised he was being watched. Well, does anyone know anything about this arachnid? Is he native to the UK or did he come over on a trade wind or something?

Now for something that did travel to the UK. Last week I received some lovely pieces of textile from Teresa in Australia. First a very pretty coloured wet felt, the most beautiful blue you can imagine.

Then these fascinating prints from Teresa's native flora. Isn't it amazing and the colours are just so very rich. Teresa has sent these to me as she heard I was making a blanket quilt. I have decided to design something special around these at some point, when I have done so I will show you the finished pieces. Thanks again Teresa.

Right, I will add these to the forum later but just wanted to show what I had produced for this months challenge. The theme is Impressionism. I decided to make enough so that I could cut and make two postcards. One to swap and one to keep. The first one shows the felted picture.

The second below is shown with stitching.

Last but not least the last image shows what I have been working on for a few weeks now. Continuing on from the Art Deco Challenge I am still working on this theme to make a series of brooches. These are not actually taken directly from images but are inspired by those I am studying, I am trying to understand the essence of the era. I am trying to understand why I have always been drawn to this style. I do believe it is because I have a love of geometry; I also feel that the simple stylisation of the period is almost timeless. I feel that it can be brought into everyday use and not feel out of place. The brooches below are very much in progress. I tend to work from one to the other until I feel happy with the image. I hope you like them. Well, I think that's enough for one blog. I'll be back soon. Tricia x

New Forum (July Challenge can be found on previous post)

2009-06-28T14:14:00.005+01:00

For a little while now I have been using my blog to write up the challenges. I found it easier to use than the Yahoo site which hosts my challenge site. I have decided to open up a new blog as a Forum for the purpose of writing up the challenges and also to enable everyone to see the work that all our talented members create each month. I am hoping that even if you are not a member you might like to drop in from time to time and take a look at what will be a showcase. I hope that if you do drop by, you will leave a comment or two, it's always good to get feedback.
This will mean that I can have my own blog back, even if I do mention what is happening from time to time on the Challenge blog.
It's early days yet and I am in the process of waiting to hear from challenge members what they think of the idea. It will all depend on members as to whether this idea will work. I see it as a way of showing what the challenge ideas each month can achieve from each individual member. It is much easier to post to blogger than it is to Yahoo. I will still use Yahoo but I hope it will be more of an administrative/archival use than the Forum will be.
The Forum will be more friendly and easier to see. The facility of being able to write something next to photos in itself is much nicer than having to look up someones work and then try to find the write up about it in the messages.
This is what I hope the Forum will look like, a typical page entry might look something like this, not my best work but just an example:
June Challenge: Art Deco

Shown above is a page in my sketchbook of drawings that I made of Art Deco Textile patterns.
The picture below is of a small felt postcard (unfinished) based upon the drawings above.

Yes, I hope this will be the way forward for a much more interesting Textile group experience for everyone involved. If you are interested here is the link, just pop back when we are hopefully up and running. Go Create now.... Tricia x

July Challenge: Impressionism/Post Impressionism.

2009-06-27T15:01:00.007+01:00

Thanks to Ruth for suggesting Van Gogh and Sue for her suggestion of Impressionism I have decided to cover both this month as Van Gogh is representative amongst others of the period just after Impressionism.
There is plenty of scope with this months challenge. Please feel free to choose either of the movements as inspiration. I am including two links one for each. From these two pages on Wikipedia you can choose to research further because there are plenty of links to other sites. The good thing about Wikipedia is that it will define what that movement is all about and which artists were involved.
So for Impressionism click here and for Post impressionism click here.
When you are thinking about the work that you might produce try to consider the essence of that movement. For instance you could focus on how Seurat mixed paint by combining different colours separately on the canvas, in other words he would for instance place red and yellow dots next to each other to give the impression of orange when viewed from a distance. This is just one of the elements but Seurat was the master at this so he is a good example to illustrate what I mean. If you were to use this idea you could mix your colours in a similar way, for example with seed stitching.
When I talk about inspiration this should not just be limited to making a copy of a painting, you could use the style to produce your own image. At the very least, if you do feel you would like to depict water Lillie's (Monet style) then do try to find your own image of one, it will not only stretch you but be much more interesting to create.
Please try to make some quick sketches before you start if you have the time, this will ensure that you choose the best angle/composition/image to work on in textile.
Most of all enjoy! OK get creating...... Tricia.

June Challenge - Art Deco

2009-05-17T14:59:00.006+01:00

Hi everyone,

Are you all ready for a great challenge, well I hope it will be. I chose Art Deco because I feel it is one of the most beautiful art styles ever. I feel the classical is epitomized in this era.

I thought that I would have to do lots of research for this before giving you a long line of Links. That was not the case, I managed to find just the right site to help you to look at this style and research it completely. The site I am speaking of is the V&A just click here. I hope that this link will provide you with everything you will need to introduce you to the wonderful world of Art Deco.

The great thing about this site is that you can clearly see all sorts of objects including Textiles from which to derive some wonderful inspiration. When I say objects, this in itself is a real advantage, because if any of you are thinking of making anything in 3 dimensions like a box then looking at these objects could well give you a stepping off point. There is a very clear statement in the objects of this era. Similar lines can be seen in all sort of things ranging from radios to buildings. There is even an interactive map on this site that shows buildings in London that were built at that period.

I know I may sound as though I am raving about this style but I often think I was born too late. I would have loved to have dressed up in the clothes of this time. Yes, you've guessed, I love this Art Style.

So here is your challenge, take a long look at all the Art Deco on the V&A site, make some drawings, try to get to understand the very essence of the Style/Period. Choose an object to make using this as inspiration and off you go. Good Luck Tricia x

A Little Distraction

2009-05-17T11:32:00.006+01:00

Or perhaps this should be titled a Big distraction. Gosh I forgot how much time a new puppy takes. I suppose after not being well it has been a good way to focus on something else.

Meet Spyro, (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel) he is meant to be my Son's new puppy but.... well, you know what that means if you are a Mum. It means that Mum does all the poop a scooping, and Son gets to play.

Spyro did not want to pose, he was in a playful mood.

Being playful is his favourite thing at present!!

Ok, this is the closest I am going to get to a portrait.

He can't be said to be modest either. Our old flat coat retriever pictured here is just so tolerant to having his ears chewed, I am so surprised that he doesn't bite back.

Be back soon with creative blog I promise.

May Challenge - Pattern - Swap

2009-04-27T12:18:00.009+01:00

Inspiration from some very talented young students.

I noticed in my archived photos that I still had some lovely examples of some of my students work from the Secondary School (Year 7)where I used to work. We did amongst other things a project on pattern. Students were asked to research and source some examples of patterns. I must say, I was very pleased and impressed by their efforts and I do believe they very much enjoyed this project.

Some of the students were quite creative in their ideas, in the picture below, this student understood completely how to use pattern, she decided to draw a series of repeated objects in her first example. Then she almost discovered Cubism in her third example by shading in the repeated shapes in blue and thus creating different planes.

So, what is a Pattern? It really is simply the repeat of an object or shape. Pattern can be found everywhere.

It can be seen in Mathematics: geometry. It can be seen in nature.

If you would like to learn more about this there is an excellent resource here.

The work in the picture above shows a variety of patterns the last one in red and black is stunning, it is a copy of a Peruvian textile.

The last two pictures shows how the students worked with pattern from their initial research. They were designing tyes. What do you think?

Pretty good eh for 12 year olds.

Ok, what are we going to do this month? I would like to propose that we make some studies from where ever we can find pattern. Then lets do something a little different with our research. I thought that we could make a needle case/cover using our pattern on the front, this could be in any material, I will most probably use felt because it is an ideal fabric to store needles. When this is done we could do a swap. So if you would like to join in this swap I will ask you to sign up in advance. Please leave me a comment below if you would like to take part in the swap. Good Luck Tricia x

April Challenge: Collecting Textures

2009-03-28T15:55:00.011Z

Textiles - Textures, the two seem inseparable. There are many ways to create textures, you can draw textures by mark making but a very easy way to do this is to transfer marks from one surface to another.

For this challenge we will be using a technique named frottage, a french word which artist's use to describe rubbing: as in brass rubbings. I am sure that many of us as children placed a coin under a piece of paper and rubbed it with a crayon or pencil to reveal the decoration on the coin. Well, this is an extension of this.

It seems strange that these experiments we make when we are young get lost and forgotten, especially so because with a little practice these can produce some fantastic effects.

In the picture below you will see some scraps of textured wallpaper. I have collected many of these over the years. If you go into a decorating store and ask from time to time you can often come away with old wallpaper books that would just be destined for the local landfill. This is what I have used as examples for this challenge but I am sure that there are so many other surfaces around us all that could be used, even the simplest woven fabric has a texture that you can borrow for this challenge.

I apologise for the quality of the photos but seen below are some very quick simple rubbings that I made, just to work out which textures I could use. I find soft oil pastels work the best for rubbings. You can use crayons but it takes a bit more practice and a firmer texture. The technique of actually rubbing should be noted, that is, always work the pastel or crayon in one direction, do not rub both ways or the paper is likely to move. The thinner the paper the better, for this I have used newsprint.

In the next picture I have used a yellow oil pastel and after making a series of rubbings I have used a blue watercolour paint to make a resist, this highlights the textures even more.

The next picture shows my first experiment with landscape, I realise that the photos are not as good as the real thing but I'm sure that you get the idea.

Now there are many different ways that you could step off from this starting point. I can give you a couple of simple suggestions but it is up to you where you decide to take your experiments.

Here are a few ideas:

You could use these frottage resists to inspire some embroidery, looking at the textures to help you decide the stitches to use.

You could repeat the experiments using fine cotton instead of paper. Making the frottage onto cotton and then making a wash over the top.

I'm sure that you talented ladies can find lots of ways to take these initial experiments further, don't forget to try lots of different textures. Look for them wherever you go; fabrics, stone, brick, plastics, leaves all sorts of places. Make lots of rubbings before deciding how you will use these. Think how you will put the different textures together, you may wish to use a wash to make a resist or you may like to look at different stitches.

There is one other way you might like to use textures, you could use it to print with. Depending where your texture is found. For instance, you could glue some samples of textured wallpaper onto board and use it to print with.

I hope that this challenge will inspire you to create work as marvellous as the work that you have made in all the previous challenges. You have all done so well in the last 3 months, keep up the good work. Good Luck Tricia x

Happy Mother's Day - and work in progress

2009-03-22T12:12:00.005Z

A Very Happy Mother's Day to one and all.

We have been looking at colour on the Textile Challenge site this month so to look at these flowers it seems an obvious statement to acknowledge and praise the wonder of natures colours. These flowers are a little more vibrant in real life; a deeper pink. In the real flower the yellow seems to sing in the centre of such a pink. I would probably be quite hesitant if putting these two colours together, but nature does it wonderfully albeit with mans intervention, I accept that these Chrysanthemums have probably been hybridised by selection.

There have been some wonderful examples of experiments in colour from members of the textile group, I do feel that we can all learn by each of these. I feel it has been a very useful challenge indeed.

My own efforts have been based around my fascination with changing light and sky colours and the effect that these have on the landscape. I have not entirely mastered what I wanted to acheive but I have made a start. Seen below are the first attempts in looking at group of Silver birch trees with a darkened stormy sky in the background. This scene also fascinates me because the field in the background appears almost gold in colour, even though it is actually just a field of grass, it is the sky and light which seems to effect it. A few minutes before this stormy sky appeared, this field appeared as green as the one in the foreground. It is amazing what you can see when you take the time to watch the changing light.

This felted piece is only work in progress and still needs a lot of stitching. As can be seen in the detail below. I will try to remember to show the finished piece when it is done.

Playing with colour.

2009-02-27T22:07:00.006Z

Hi all,
After spending a while in A & E this week, I have been warned to take things easy. I was in for Tachycardia with a heart beat of 185 beats per minute. Well, after feeling as though I have just run two marathons, needless to say I feel very tired. This is as far as I am concerned a really good reason for me to cheat, there is no good reason to reinvent the wheel or the colour wheel come to that so I am going to be helping you play with colour by looking at one or two really good sites I have been researching.

Now this challenge is going to be offered to you in three different ways.
For those of you who have never ever taken a look at a colour wheel, or indeed any of you who would like a refresher course in the basics I will ask that you go to this site here .
If you would like to be stretched a little in your knowledge of colour theory then I will ask you to look at the following site which deals with colour in context, this features the theories of Joseph Albers of Bauhaus fame; this part of colour theory is fascinating as it shows how one colour effects another.
The last of the sites I will direct you to deals with Discords , we have all heard about harmonies well discords put quite bluntly are those that we normally associate with colours that clash. This is not to say that they can never be used. It depends on so much but I hope those of you who know a lot about colour theory will take a look at discords you may learn quite a lot.
Now to your challenge, after choosing and reading your chosen area of colour theory you are asked to create a piece of work that shows what you have learned. Please make this at least postcard size, or larger if you would like. You may make your work in any media and you might like to try some colour sketches first. Good Luck everyone. BFN Tricia

Felt and pheasant

2009-02-09T14:01:00.004Z

Featured above is the finished tonal piece that I made for the Tonal Challenge on the previous post. This piece is the size of a postcard and is made purely from needle made felt on an embellisher. These challenges are part of the Challenge Site that I run, anyone can join just by clicking on the Challenge button to the left of this post.

Shown below is the weather we have been having in Kent recently, this was almost like a blizzard at some points. The Uk has predicted A Winter Storm later today and early tomorrow. What a contrast it is compared to the awful situation in Australia. My heartfelt wishes go out to all those who found themselves in the path or such terrifying fires. I will wish for rain and cooler weather for Australia and hope that the situation soon passes.

The picture below is another brooch that I made recently to give to the very kind person who gave me such wonderful Embroidery Magazines. Thanks again Patricia.

I thought that you might like to see what opportunists we have visiting our garden this winter. This pheasant decided that he was just as entitled to the fall from our bird table, infact at times he thought it fun to chase away the blackbirds, cheeky thing, it's such a good thing our dog wasn't out there!

February Challenge: Tone.

2009-01-30T18:32:00.010Z

This challenge has taken me quite a bit longer to prepare, I will attempt to show you step by step the way in which I have worked. Please remember that you do not have to follow these steps to the letter. You can deviate from this route at any point and/or come back to it; just dip in where, when and in whatever way it suits you, the main thing is to try something new and have a go as it were.

Now, I have chosen a very fiddly picture for my challenge, but I chose it because it had plenty of light and shade. I am going to suggest that you all try something a little easier with less detail. The photo below was a colour photo and I used a basic photo shop programme to take out the colour. As I mentioned earlier, if you cannot do this on your computer send me you colour picture attached to an email and I will change it to black and white and send it back to you. It is much easier to see tone in black and white photos than it is in colour so this is our first step.

As you can see below this picture I have traced my image, there is nothing wrong with doing this, especially as we will be making a series of drawings, it makes the whole procedure easier.

Before we begin to draw the tone into our traced pictures we will look at tone separately, in the photo below you will see that I have made two charts. Each has 10 boxes in each chart, the first chart is shaded with a pencil a good soft 2b or softer would be great. The second is painted with designers gouache which is similar to poster paint. The idea is that you start with white and work towards black by adding and mixing in a little more black for each box.

There should be a steady progression, this will help to train your eye to see different tones. This is a small tonal chart, when I was studying my Art foundation course we had to make one with 20 boxes, but I think ten is enough for now.

Next I took my first tracing and shaded in the different tones in pencil, working from light to dark with as many different tones as I could work out in my picture. In some of the picture the paper is left unshaded, this is the lightest tone.

Then I used the gouache paint to work into my second tracing.

The next stage is to look at one colour, so I used a blue watercolour/blendable pencil and combined it with a 2b sketching pencil, to make another tonal chart. The white of the paper combines with the blue to make the lightest shade and the sketching pencil provides the deepest tone when blended with the colour pencil.

Then, yes, you’ve guessed it, I made another tonal drawing using the tones from the chart above.

Ok, in the last part of the drawing exercise, I’ve worked in the same way, as above but in paint, so here is a tonal chart using black, white and a colour of my choice to make a chart.

Below is the final picture using these colours, I have tried to simplify the image in this last picture as I am going to be working in felt for the textile image. I will be blending my felt, using dark brown and a cream natural fleece and adding a dyed coloured fleece to add the colour back into the tone, probably colours quite similar to this painting.

I am going to suggest that you choose any material or method to make this tonal piece. I can give you some suggestions but I think that you should work in a way that suits you best.

You could make a fabric or paper collage, by cutting up strips of fabric or tearing tones from a newspaper or magazine. You could even make a tonal chart first using these scraps so that you know what you have ready to make your picture. This particular method has been used successfully in schools for many years to help students see tones.

The images above are about the size of a postcard, you can make your images any size that suits you. Now, have I forgotten anything???? Oh yes, email me with a photo if you need it changing from colour to black and white.

If you have any questions just ask, but please enjoy it and be creative, remember you do not have to stick rigidly to this plan this is a guideline only, so long as your work is about tone that is the main idea of the challenge.

Good Luck Tricia x

A wonderful trade and a lucky find!

2009-01-30T14:25:00.002Z

I've been such a lucky thing this week, I was approached by Lisa to make a trade, she does the most amazing ATC's often using old photos (ephemera.) I was rather cheeky when she asked me what I would like to choose, I asked her if she could make me something special for my Grand daughter who has recently auditioned in the first part of the process for the Royal Ballet School. For those of you who haven't heard about my talented little Grand daughter, she was a Champion Acro Gymnast winning a bronze for her country last year at the age of 11. She has now changed her direction and is doing extremely well training as a dancer and hopes to go very far indeed.
As she works so very hard at what she does I wanted to send her something special so Lisa very kindly agreed to make me an Atc themed to Ballet. She sent me two! beautiful cards and my Grand daughter is just so thrilled and these little cards will be going in frames to go on her wall.

They are simple wonderful images, they remind me of Degas' work, what do you think?

Here is my lucky find, I subscribe to the local Freecycle groups and I just happened to be reading through the offered goods and look what I came across, over 100 Embroiderer's Guild Magazines, for Nothing! There are three decades here, it's an amazing addition to my library and they were being offered by a very nice lady not 15 miles from here and her name is Patricia, well, of course she is a very nice lady with that name, no seriously I was over the moon. These sites where you can recycle like this are marvellous, you imagine if I tried to buy all these. If these sites were not available they might have ended up thrown away, now isn't that an awful thought. Very soon I am going to be having a clear out and I will be advertising a lot of Machine knitting wool and scraps of fabric to freecycle, so hopefully some knitter might be just as pleased with their find. If you are reading this Patricia thanks again.

The last two images are the gifts that I have sent to Lisa, if you are reading this Lisa and you haven't got your parcel yet, don't look if you want a surprise, lol. Lisa wanted a landscape ATC which I have made inspired by a local view. I have also become quite happy making little fabric brooches and there is one below, made from felt and fabric beads and embroidery. Hope Lisa likes them.

Next post will be the February Challenge get ready for some work on Tone.

Best wishes Tricia x

January Challenge

2009-01-13T21:27:00.013Z

COMPOSITION
No matter what subject we look at to study when we decide to make Art/Design or Craft we have decisions to make. The very first decision that we should make is how to compose our image. Think for a moment what the camera has taught us. It can help to frame your image, this can be done by making a window/viewfinder.

In the picture below I have shown a simple viewfinder that is no bigger than an ATC (Artist Trading Card) I hope that you can see the measurements I have used. The size is not that important but this is a good size to work with. I am also using this size to draw my sketches into, see pictures below. So once you have made this little card window, you can use it to look through and also to draw around to create a box/frame for your thumbnail sketches.

So, now you have made a window/viewfinder (It doesn’t have to be perfect either, it’s only for you to use.)
Don’t worry, if you feel that you can’t draw, tracing is quite acceptable. If you do decide to trace, you will have to make your image slightly bigger, so that your final image is the size of an atc that is, as big as the outside of the frame above. 60mm x 85mm or 2.5 x 3.5 inches

Your subject will be of your choosing, however there will be a theme. This theme will help you to understand two ideas connected with describing a composition. We will look at two words that do this. The first one is Dynamic (this could mean to set an idea of drama in a picture) It often involves diagonal lines, as in the picture below:

Find an image, this is a photo I will be using

Place your viewfinder over the best part of your image that could describe the word dynamic. Here below I have done just this and found diagonal lines in my picture.

Using a frame that I have made by drawing around the outside of my viewfinder I have drawn only the lines that are necessary to describe the idea of dynamic. See the first of the pictures below.

You will only have to choose one of these words, unless you want to do both.

The next word describes rhythm, for this I have chosen an object that I was able to place my viewfinder over. The image below is showing a red cabbage, within this image are wonderfully repeated lines which can be described as a rhythm.

So once again, I have placed my viewfinder over, but in this case I have looked at different possibilities within the image.

Any one of these could produce a really interesting picture, I chose the middle one because I liked the simplicity of the two horizontal thicker lines of the cabbage. Here it is below:
Just to explain why I have asked you to do this, before we go on to what will do with these images, I would like to add, that as artists/designers/craftspeople we have so much choice, even more choice when working with textiles. It is important to start thinking about choice when we make pictures or designs because unless we think about it first, we are not beginning with the best possible chance of a really great piece of work.

Now to the Textile Work:
Ok, so what will be doing with your sketch? Simply this: Make a background that matches the size of your window/viewfinder, in other words the size of an atc. Make this background in any material of your choice. Then using a contrasting thread work the lines of your drawing in a running or backstitch.

To transfer your image:

If you think you may have a problem working these free hand then you can either use your tracing or a fun way to transfer an image onto a flat piece of fabric like cotton is to rub some crayon all over the back of your drawing and placing it over the fabric draw firmly with a sharp pencil to transfer the image. Obviously the crayon has to be a contrasting colour in order to see it. Hopefully your thread will be thick enough to cover these crayon lines.

One last thing that I didn’t mention is that is the orientation of your image. It is up to you whether you use landscape or portrait for your images. Mine above are both landscape. They could have been drawn either way, try your rectangular window either way to see what suits.

So to recap:
* Make viewfinder (Size of an ATC)
* Choose either of the following words

Dynamic (Creating Drama using Diagnols or

Rhythmic (Repeated lines.)

* Find an image that can describe the word you have chosen.
* Place viewfinder over image and find the best view.
* Draw or trace the image.
* Transfer your image on to fabric.
* Using a contrasting thread work over the lines in either running stitch or backstitch.

If you have any queries or comments about this challenge please do not hesitate to contact me. Best of luck Tricia x

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T00:18:00.002Z

Review of Work.

Just thought I would take a look at some of the work posted to date, it helps to look back at this time of the year. Now I think I might be ready to look forward to 2009. I would like to wish a Happy New Year to all my readers.

2008-11-18T19:13:00.002Z

I've been tagged! Thanks Teresa. Never been tagged before, so here goes, first the Rules:
The rules of this Tag are:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write seven little known facts about yourself.
4. Tag seven people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted

Teresa lives in the Australian Bush and has some really interesting visuals about this part of the world and some wonderful feltwork to go with it, which is based on her environment. Do go and take a look if you haven't seen her work already.

1. I hate form filling and paperwork.
2. I hate waste, I am always recycling.
3. Yes, that means I also hoard things.
4. I love listening to Music when I am creating artwork.
5. I love ponds, amphibians.
6. I have fallen in a pond more than once in my life, trying to get a better look.
7. Oh goodness this has been hard, erm When I was 16 I was kicked by a horse.

Ok, that's the hard part over. Now I am handing it over to you lucky/unlucky fellow bloggers, depending on whether you like this sort thing. Don't feel obliged if you do not wish to take part.

http://kaylacoo.blogspot.com/
http://dogdaisychains.blogspot.com/
http://everembellished.blogspot.com/
http://jacqcfibers.blogspot.com/
http://joellelg.canalblog.com/
http://shirleyannesherris.wordpress.com/
http://thefabricofmeditation.blogspot.com/

Woodland Watercolours

2008-11-09T22:18:00.005Z

Ok, now I know why I specialised in Textiles at art college.

Yes, I am quite rusty with the watercolours and I am working from photos, albeit my own. I have never liked working from anything but nature itself but needs must. I am hoping that once I begin to translate some images into felt the pictures will lose some of that stilted look that only working from photos gives you.

The main reason why I am making these studies is to find a formula for working with felt. I am exploring light and layers. I have made this decision in order to discover what is possible.

When I began to look at my woodland photos again today I realised that there are so many different ways I could work. Landscape is a very daunting subject, there is just so much of it. Choice is the hardest thing, when faced with such a subject, it's just so overwhelming.
You wouldn't expect that there could be so many

views in one woodland, I have nearly 100 photos that I took, well, some I probably won't find of use but I need to get a feel for the subject matter before I launch into felt.

Watercolour is the hardest medium of all to master. I have always known this, so why do I choose it. Well, it's a medium that you usually work in layers. In the next view I have taken a photo after the first layer, I waited for this layer to dry. When I work in felt I hope to work in a similar way. To put some abstract colours down as a background and then work on top with more felt. I hope to use all the different aspects of perspective such as those found in watercolours. Intensity of colour, more detail in the foreground, things becoming larger. All of these methods and more can be used in any landscape to provide perspective.

Well, after all this I think I am beginning to loosen up a bit. Here below is the finished work from the one above. I am beginning to really get a feel but it isn't easy. It takes a lot of concentration and I also find that I have to let things happen with watercolour, that's what I mean about loosening up. You need to have control over any medium but with watercolour it is a fine balance between being in control and allowing the medium to do what it needs to do to make the picture natural.

I have some more photos arriving next week but these I believe will offer me something else again. Must keep working. Lots to do. I'll be back soon.

The Weald of Kent In Autumn

2008-11-07T17:02:00.003Z

It had to be done, all the native trees are turning here in Kent, long behind many non native trees which are already bare. So I had to get out there and take some pictures.

A couple of weeks ago I took many woodland pictures, which I have uploaded on to a new to me picture hosting site (Pixum) Well, I tried out there special offer and found them to be very good value. The pictures were sent pronto and at a very reasonable introductory price. Under £9 for 99 standard prints delivered to my door.
Anyway I went today in what was left of the afternoon sunshine and took nearly another 150 pictures and I placed them into another album, I will get these printed up too, I intend to use all of these photos as inspiration for a body of work on Landscape.

I have only put the first few onto here today, many of those I have taken have focused on the Kent hedgerow. Many close ups included.

Some, like this one above, and the last one below, are views from my rear garden. I am so lucky living in this part of the world.

These are just general scenes but as I say there are more focused ones in the album, like this one below, which are full of texture, light and colour.

I am quite happy to share these images if anyone would like to use them as inspiration for landscape work, all I ask is that I am credited with the source photo from which the work comes. If anyone would like to see the full album or indeed my woodland album, please let me know and I will post you an invitation. Obviously in the Albums you can view them all as a screen show and see much clearer on a larger image. I hope you enjoy them as much as I know I will when I begin to work on my sketches for the work I am planning to do. My idea, is to capture this little part of Kent for posterity.

P.S. here are the sheep from the field at the back of my house, that provide me with all my lovely fleece!!

2008-10-31T12:13:00.005Z

What a lovely award I have just received! I do like the idea of an award that is called blogging friends forever. It's lovely, thank you so much Jean .

Here are the rules -
1. 5 people are allowed to receive this award.
2. four dedicated followers of your blog.
3. one is to be new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. please link back to the person who gave you this award.
Now for the hard bit, choosing 5 people

http://kaylacoo.blogspot.com/

http://spiritcloth.typepad.com/spirit_cloth/

http://herewitht.blogspot.com/

http://paulahewitt.wordpress.com/

http://malinaplass.blogspot.com/

Well, it was very difficult to choose because there are some wonderful blogs out there, but if you haven't come across any of these before, do go and check them out, they are well worth a visit.

From Little Acorns.

2008-10-28T22:29:00.005Z

From little acorns, I have been meaning to do this for some time, since I first heard that pure wool sweaters could be felted in a washing machine. So I have machine felted 4 sweaters. These are all plain colours so I decided to add some colour with some multicoloured merino wool that I've had for some time. This is not going to be finished that quickly, as I have set myself a labour of love.

This will eventually become a large patchwork blanket. In the past I have knitted and crocheted blankets but this time I just get to join the pieces and decorate, I call this fun. I have sort of invented my own method of joining. I have done this by making a simple chain stitch around each square. Then I weave in and out of the sides of each chain stitch and this becomes a decorative stitch in itself but is also very strong. It also means that you don't have to turn the edges or worry about it fraying because the weaving stitch covers it all nicely. I am doing this weaving on the back too. When I have finished I will show the final piece on here and then I will wrap my self in it because it looks as though this year, we might be in for a bad winter! It's got oh so cold this week.

On that note, I have also been busy making my grand daughter a scarf. She did ask if I could make her a baby blue one. It's lately become her most favourite colour. I've done some blending of merino and some of my own dyed fleece from local sheep and it has worked really well. I wet felted it and then I realised that the shape of it didn't quite work because it was a too wide for such a little neck. Then I considered cutting it in half length ways and I didn't like the idea of having a join.

The final design then came to me. I did cut it up the middle but I left a section at the end which acts like a collar and sits flat on the back of the wearer, similar to a sailors collar. It worked better than I had imagined.

I tried to keep the designs simple as she is growing up, she doesn't want it to be over the top. The stitching around the edge is made up of blanket stitch, running stitch with a weaving stitch between the two. This is becoming a feature of my sewing, and although time consuming I do enjoy the rhythm of this kind of sewing. To finish it off I made some simple braids from thin rovings and slipped them under the embellisher to secure them. It's in the post to her and I do hope it will help to keep her warm because it is a lot colder up the North East of England.

Just before I go, I must share this next picture with you. This was the view this morning down one of our nearby Kentish lanes. The colour is still on the trees, and hedgerows, it was bitterly cold, the frost can be seen on the grass to the left. The sky was a beautiful clear blue. A picture worth recording, even from the car window. Snow is forecast, so here comes winter...

Tif Challenge My Workspace

2008-10-19T19:01:00.003+01:00

The Tif Challenge which Sharon set this month was to think about My Workspace. Some times I would rather not, lol.
It's just too small!!! I spend half of my time tidying, moving things around to make more room. It may look organised from this first picture but no, there is just far too much in one room.

The problem is that when I want to use something I normally have to shift something out of the way. You see this room is only about 7ft x 8ft and there is a cupboard taking up most of the space.

Yes, I have my lap top and two machines on one desk.

This is the opposite side of the room with the desk under the window. This is supposed to be my drawing desk, huh... hardly! Note the felt pieces laying in a tray at the back. So, does anyone out there have a magic word that makes a space extend??? If you do please let me know. Thanks Tricia

A Round Robin, Some dye work and a walk in the woods.

2008-10-12T22:48:00.004+01:00

Ok, I'm tryng to catch up. This is only a fraction of what I have been doing lately but it's all I've got pictures of as yet.
This picture below, is a felt background which has been made as a base for a Round Robin that is taking place on my challenge site. The idea was to make a felt background based upon the theme of Landscape. Once we have made the background we will post it to the first person on the list. Eventually our background will make it's way back to us after everyone has added their own bit of stitching etc.. I am looking forward to seeing how this works, it is the first time I have held one of these, if it goes well we will probably repeat it on another theme.

This next picture shows, not very well because of the light, apologies, but this is the big bag of fleece I have been dying. This wool is all from local sheep, infact some of them are in the field behind my garden right now. You wouldn't guess the dye is from a drink powder, Koolaid. I experimented and mixed the colours,
The reason why the colours work so well is because of all the citric acid in the powder, it helps it to cling to the wool fibres. Sorry the picture doesn't do the colours justice, as it was taken in artificial light. I've still more to do, but I have some silk to spin first.

It's been a really funny time lately for our family, we had some wonderful things happening with my Grand daughter but we also had some pretty awful times too. This has made it all rather stressful and tiring so today I decided it was time to take some time out. I went for a short but beautiful walk in the woods.

The colour is just starting to turn here in the South of England.

The light through the trees was so beautiful.
I took loads of pictures, I haven't had the time to go through them all properly, but I am hoping to use some of them for inspiration on my landscape work. That'll be on the next blog. Bye for now Tricia

A Bronze for her country at 11 years old

2008-10-05T12:05:00.004+01:00

SHE DID IT! Our little Rebekah has won a bronze medal for her country at 11, would you believe that!!!!!

Well, I could hardly believe it either. Her Mum said as she told me the news on the phone, "Mum, she can hardly hold the flowers and the medal, while supporters crowded around her all asking for her autograph. This is amazing, we have never had anyone in our family win anything like this before. Isn't she wonderful? Thanks everyone who wished her good luck, it worked! It'll be some time before we come back down to earth I'm sure. Speak soon Tricia

How did she get this far?????

2008-10-04T17:00:00.002+01:00

This is only going to be a very short blog, no needlework/art today. I just had to let you all know the progress of the World Championships in Glasgow.
Rebekah has made it to the finals!!!! How did she ever make it this far at the tender age of 11. I'm stunned!

The first round, yesterday, on the 3rd, Rebekah was obviously suffering extreme nerves and I'm not surprised. Representing your country is no mean feat at 11 years of age! She was not doing so well yesterday, she lost a couple of marks for small timing errors apparently. this sport is just so strict. We all thought that was it, we had been given the impression that she wouldn't be able to pull herself back even if today were perfect.

Well, I don't know how this judging thing works but today I heard the news, she is in 8th place. She goes through to the finals tomorrow and while we are wondering how on earth she got this far, we are feeling for her and her Mum thinking it must be awful having to go through it all tomorrow again. Now tomorrow they all start from scratch and basically it is all about how they are on the day. It could go anyway, so to speak.
Well, what ever the outcome tomorrow I think she is incredible to have got this far. I shall be glad when it is all over, my stomach is churning just thinking about it. So how must she feel, goodness only knows. If you read this, say a little good luck wish for her, she tries so very hard and deserves it so much.
GOOD LUCK BEX from all of us here. Love Nanny x x x

I can't help but be proud!

2008-09-20T20:30:00.004+01:00

This is Rebekah, my beautiful 11 year old Grand daughter, I took this photo when we went to the coast for the day, she came running towards me just like this and I snapped. This is so much a picture of how she is, always relaxed, happy and such a thoughtful and yet very modest person. I can't help but be proud though, because in a couple of weeks she is off to Glasgow to represent her country in her sport. She is the youngest I think that they have ever had. She is on the British Team and will be competing with gymnasts from all over the world.

She recently was asked how she felt about all this and they have quoted her modest words on the Durham City Council website which you can read for yourself here.

Rebekah trains everyday, she is very self disciplined and has to watch her weight, you see she is a top, that means in terms of Acrobatic Gymnastics that she is the one who has to climb on to her partners shoulders. She does sommersaults and allsorts from this precarious position. If she didn't watch her weight her partner wouldn't be able to lift her and do the very dangerous moves that they make together.

Rebekah has added problems, she is an anaphylactic which means she is highly allergic to lots of things including nuts. She also has other food intolerances which all in all make it really hard for her to watch what she eats. About a year ago she had another problem which affected her heel, quite a few young atheletes have this ailment but for weeks it meant that she had to train with pain to her heel and found it hard to land. She has exercise induced asthma too. All in all she has many problems but she overcomes all of them and carries on.

Now she has reached this very giddy height of representing her country. I just had to share this with you all. I'm just so very, very proud of her. Well done Rebekah and Nanny wishes you very good luck in your very special competition.

Struggling with my direction and some landscape work.

2008-09-03T12:34:00.005+01:00

Even the title shows my muse has vacated. I just replied to a blog and this is what I wrote:

I have been reading your blog for some time now, I felt I had to reply to today's entry because I feel I am having similar feelings about my own art work.
The trouble with textiles is that there is the functional which is the everyday utility that everyone recognises. Then there is the conceptual. As well as this I have a real problem within my own art work in that I love decoration but always feel hesitant to use it.

Whilst I was studying towards my art degree in textiles we theorised on the use of borrowed images from other cultures and times. It always puts a big full stop in my mind to anything I would like to do; Gosh Art college has a lot to answer for.

Anyway, I also haven't been able to focus for some time, I flit from one idea to the other and I really don't feel that I am allowing myself the freedom I need. I am not sure whether any of this is the same or similar to the way you feel but I just felt I had to write and let you know, that if it does ring any bells with you, then you are not alone. Good Luck with your directions in the future. Tricia

As I said, I am struggling at the moment. I am wanting to make some meaningful artwork but the only direction that pulls me at all is landscape, I get so far and then I feel lost.

To that end I have been doing a lot of photography. Then I thought, why, it will cost a fortune to print all these pictures off in colour, even on a small scale. That made me think about something that I did learn to some use at college. We were taught that true sketching should be just that, sketching should just mean capturing the essence of a subject. We were always pushed to this end by making 2 minute studies of the life model. The model would pose and in 2 minutes the model would be told to change the pose. This way you were never able to get more than the essential down on paper. So I adopted that idea with my digital camera. After a couple of minutes it turns itself off when I am studying a scene. Below are my very early attempts at capturing the essence of some landscape photos I took recently. I know what the scribbles represent, and that's all that matters, I suppose.

It's the shape of the landscape I am trying to capture, not the detail.

It is harder than you think when you are on a self imposed time limit. Yes, I am rusty, I admit that.

Well, enough of that, here is a drawing I made of a photo I took sometime ago, not sure if I even know where the photo is. Anyway, the drawing was made in Oil crayons, perhaps I should move on to colour with the above drawings next.

I decided to try to make a small piece in felt from this piece of work. Here is the result:

I am not entirely satisfied with the result. I do feel my landscape work needs much more exploration and experiment before I will be happy with it.

Two Blog Awards in one day!

2008-09-01T22:07:00.003+01:00

Two Awards in one day, Wow, what have I done to deserve this?
Thanks Jean.

Now that just leaves the difficult job of who to pass these on to.

I have some regular blogs who I visit because they are always a really good read. Then I thought, Ok whilst I am visiting some of these regulars I will take a look at a few others that I haven't looked at before. So the first few are my regulars and then I added a couple I have come across who I feel really deserve the award. So here goes:
http://paulahewitt.wordpress.com/
http://herewitht.blogspot.com/
http://www.thefabricofmeditation.blogspot.com/
http://shirleyannesherris.wordpress.com/
http://suebleiweiss.typepad.com/sueb/
http://jollygoodyarn.blogspot.com/
http://spiritcloth.typepad.com/spirit_cloth/

If you haven't come across any of these before, do go and take a look, they are well worth it.
Well, thanks again Jean, now to go and let all the winners know.

The Beauty of Silk

2008-08-31T18:10:00.004+01:00

As well as all my landscape photography I have been working with some silk again. I spun and dyed some a little while ago. I just love the results that I get with this.. When you think that I start off with this:

Raw silk, It is actually a lovely pale cream/golden colour, it almost looks white until you look a little closer. The sheen on it is exquisite. As I say you start off with this and then after spinning and dyeing it you end up with this:

I wish the pictures were better. I love rainbow dyeing. I love working with colour in this way and it is true, silk does take dye ever so easily. These skeins were done in the microwave, a 3 minute zap and they are done.

Some of the photos seem to lose the brilliance of that shine, I don't know why.

The way I have been exploring colour with these skeins is through the use of the primaries. Difficult to beleive but I just have three colours, yes, red, blue and yellow. That way the colours that I am trying to find whilst experimenting are either the secondary: greens, purples and oranges. Also I mixed up some browns, in the picture below, I wanted to go from a warm chocolate brown to a tan, then a golden right through to a colder almost green/brown, it worked.

Here are the four skeins ready to use. I will be embroidering on to my felt with these. I love the contrast between the flat/matt colour of the felt against the shiny silk thread.

As far as the eye can see.

2008-08-30T11:59:00.005+01:00

I am rediscovering my childhood, about a week ago when my daughter came to visit I went down to the Isle of Sheppey. Now when I was a child I would visit there once a year with my family, I grew up till I was 11 in London. In a little row of Victorian terraced houses. My Parents were not that well off, they were buying their own house, so for the 5 of us to go away every year was quite an expense I expect, and quite an adventure too, for me. I only ever saw a green field when I went on holiday or when my primary school took us to the common for sports day. We didn't even have our own playing field.

Now I know that everything looks bigger when you are young, last week I realised this more than ever. My daughter drove me into the chalet site where I used to stay, I even recognised the chalet that we would stay in, it's still there!!! The campsite looked tiny and very overcrowded, many of the chalets are in poor repair but I think that they must have been sold off. Mind you they are goodness knows how many years old. We started to go there when I was a nipper so we are talking about late 1950's. It sort of brought a lump to my throat when I think back to how my parents managed that holiday every year. We would go by coach, my Dad wouldn't drive, even though he had during the war in the desert. In those days, we didn't have all the facilities that we have today. Clothes were heavier, wool and cotton, not so many light weight fabrics. My Mum often said I don't know how I managed those suitcases! Still we went every year.

So this week I went down to Sheppey to explore a part of it, that I didn't know existed. Along the inner edge of the Island, that part that edges the Swale River there is a fantastic nature reserve. Ok, the scenery to some people might be a little bland but I love it. You can see for miles and miles. It's mainly a bird sanctury on wide open marshes but whilst we were there, I saw my very first hare in real life. I wish I had been quick enough to get a picture. We saw allsorts of birds, Marsh Harriers, A beautiful Heron and other water fowl.

It really is hard to believe that all of this is on our doorstep. It took us just 45 minutes from door to door.

I just love the open spaces of this place.

Now this scene is along the edge of the Swale. The tide was well out as can be seen. We were trying to figure out what all these sticks were in the ground and then realised that they must have been from a landing stage of some sort. The mud flats were covered in some sort of algae/weed

Coming home we took the old bridge, the new one is to the right. I sort of recollect going across here, in my far distant memory way back in those very happy childhood days.

Inspirational Landscape Artists and my experiments in felt.

2008-08-27T17:48:00.012+01:00

My inspirations come from all sorts of sources but there are two artists one of whom I met when working as a teacher in a secondary, the other a very well known artist, they both give me a taste of what I would like to create as landscape.

The first is a Russian Born artist who I met after she had been working in Ireland, having never been to see my own roots from Irish Grandparents I was fascinated by her take on a landscape that has always held a mystery for me. Her name is Varvara Shavrova, if you visit her website here and go to the past work, the work I was introduced to in a slide show held at the school was entitled Inscriptions. So was I taken with the work I rushed down to the Gallery where her work had been, even though I missed the exhibition itself, I managed to buy a copy of the exhibition catalogue. During the workshop which she managed with my students she showed techniques that would change the way I looked at how I work and what landscape is all about. We did some large scale mono printing directly from the art room desks/tables, they were fantastic. She described how she made some of her work with graphite and her descriptions fascinated me for a long while afterwards. She managed to create landscapes which for me were both abstract and yet real. A fine balance between in order to succeed with this.

This leads me on to my other favourite landscape artist. Ivon Hitchins. His work is also abstract and yet he painted in such a way that you feel you could walk into it. He often used elongated canvasses for example one entitled 'Garden Cove' measures 44 x 108. He said he often used this long shape because he found a square-shaped painting unsatisfactory because the horizontals are cut short. Garden Cove fascinates me, it is a landscape and yet there is a suggestion of a door in the image. When I say a suggestion, I mean just that. You could almost miss it. You scan his work visually and are looking for the tangible, it is there but you can't say for sure where. If you get the chance then take a look at his work, there are a few pictures on the web at certain galleries.

Now this all brings me on to a body of work I have been trying to create with my embellisher. I have been creating a series of samples in Postcard and ATC size from a larger piece which was made from scraps of wet felt that have been in a bag for sometime from larger projects. I joined all these scraps on the embellisher, my idea was to randomise the colours and shapes to see what is possible in the abstract. The only control I had over this process was when I was cutting the small rectangles from the larger piece. I tried very hard not to look at where the colours and shapes fell when I cut these out. My idea was to take it to the extreme, I therefore told myself to use all the fabric I had made and tried to fit in as many as I could from the large piece I had created. The results you can see below. As a series of rectangles which can be seen as abstract landscapes I hope. I am trying to work into these by adding some texture with stitch, either following the lines within the piece or by infilling the shapes.

the first few I have not sewn into yet.

Some of the rectangles work better in portrait than in the landscape format, purely because of the horizontal lines within.

The picture below shows how a scrap was embellished into the piece, this scrap was originally a little leaf that I had sewn around, it seems to work for me, but I can't say why, can you?

The piece below reminds me of geology and rock formations, where rocks have made abstract patterns where the different kinds of rock have been laid in layers and then moved and squeezed together.

This is where I start to add texture, in the form of seed stitches.

The stitches on the left hand corner of this were already in the felt before I embellished it together.

The texture, or should I say small motif in the piece below was just a scrap I had experimented on long ago before I put this together.

I was thinking of framing these, rather like I had framed all my atc's. I am now very unhappy with the result of doing this and I won't be continuing as I do not feel it adds anything to the work.

Below following the line of the shapes this time with a little seed stitching added.

Atc size below, again following the line of the shapes.

Before I finish this post I am showing some other felt pieces I have been experimenting with. Felt with machine embroidery below:

Below is some reverse pattern felting, well that's what I am going to call it. Working from the reverse, the first one is the front and the second shows the back and how the little circles of linen have come through from behind.

Some further scrap paintings as I think I will call them. Just putting scraps of felt together on the embellisher in order to see what can be made from them

Here to finish off this rather long post is a traditional landscape that I made last month, this is slightly larger than the other landscapes I have shown on my blog, it is nearly A4 in size.

Two Bracelets for Two lovely Lassies

2008-08-25T20:57:00.005+01:00

Before my Grand daughter went home from her holiday with us, I promised I would make her a bracelet. Actually times two. She has a very dear friend whom she trains with in her gymnastic's profession, they are inseparable, and because when their Mum's buy something nice for one of them, they usually buy the same for the other one, rather sweet thing to do really, they often walk around like twins. Who am I to break with the tradition?

I don't often use beads, except sparingly in my work. When my GD asked me to make a bracelet I had visions of sitting for hours threading, as it happens, it still took quite a while but I decided to make the bracelet base from felt, no surprise there I suppose.

I decided to plait some white and lilac coloured rovings to begin with, then I lightly felted it under the embellisher. I continued by sewing small seed beads along the edges of the plaits, then I added some of my finger braiding with a large bead at each end, this is to tie the bracelets with. I sewed some more seed beads to the top of the braiding. At each end I added a special glass flower bead, these are quite lovely and they came from my mother's collection of beads. In handing these little beads down in this bracelet from my mother's collection to my GD, It was a very special moment I found when I was sewing them on. It's funny how the simple things in life can mean so much.

A day at the beach and some challenge swaps.

2008-08-23T19:00:00.004+01:00

Everyone needs a break now and then, I've had my Daughter and my very talented Grand Daughter staying with me. Some of you may remember my telling you that this little girl is an acro gymnast. She has worked so hard in her little life, we are all so proud of her. She is already a British Champion and she is only 11 years old. That's not all, she qualified this year to go to the Worlds Competition which is being held in Scotland and she will be on the British Team competing with athlete's from all over the world, I can't say that she gets her suppleness from me but she is very artistic when she is performing her moves. Well, we had a real fun day at the beach, and when she saw the trampolines, well, it had to be done.

When I got home I found this on the door mat. Sue one of our textile challengers had not only sent me this beautiful brooch for the brooch swap but also some really special treats. A beautiful hand made card. An absolutely amazing little envelope made from hand made paper and finished wonderfully with a bead fastener. Enclosed in the envelope I found the brooch and a really special key ring. I don't know how Sue knew but my favourite ceramic is blue and white, I collect willow pattern so I adore this key ring. Thank you so much Sue.

Here is my little brooch. It is hand made felt and embroidered with my own hand spun/dyed silk with couched hand spun/dyed mohair with beads added to the design. Well, after my little break I should be refreshed for some more work. back soon......

Eye Candy, Samples and Experiments

2008-08-17T22:43:00.012+01:00

Plenty to see here, lots of visuals, I decided to make some samples, the following small rectangular pieces are all atc size. I had cut some backing fabric ages ago to this size when I first became quite excited about doing lots of swaps. Realising that I didn't want to do that many now, I decided a good use of these would be to do a series of experiments, which became samples and in turn became a sort of sampler.

This first one is needlefelted, the lighter shapes are pieces of my hand made paper that I have cut out and embellished between the layers of wool.

I decided to do some of these pieces as experiments in stitch.

Here is some more hand made paper shapes between the layers of fleece.

Some experiments in border stitches.

To break the monotony I decided to play with some free style stitching.

More handmade paper, this time just torn, more abstract.

Just playing with colour in chain stitch.

This was interesting, hand made paper circles outlined with stitching.

An image from Rock Art, simple stitching of outline.

A nice way to make a frame, stitching over a thick yarn which had been felted down to begin with.

I couldn't resist trying the circle idea again, it was so much fun to do.

An abstract piece, thinking primitive shapes.

Playing with stitches again over hand made paper square/diamond.

Framing a circle.

Hand made paper again, letting the abstract go free. I kept thinking standing stones, or doors when I was stitching these.

Voila! Here they all are stitched together, it is just a visual record of my ideas and experiments, to place on the wall to remind me of what is possible.

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Another Experimental Piece.

I just wish that I had taken pictures of this in progress, it would have been easier to explain and also to remember how it was done.

I began this piece by making a natural white/cream felted background. I was inspired by some stones that I have been sketching. I started to embellish some blue linen into the felt and then decided that I didn't want this effect over the whole piece. I experimented with different colours and then when I had finished what I felt was enough of an abstract background I decided to add some stitching, I did this with some hand dyed cotton which I dyed with rust/tin last year, it seemed to tie in perfectly with the colours that I wanted.

The next two pictures will let you in on a little technique I have discovered. This is the back of the piece. After stitching I felted some of my hand spun yarn down to make a rock art design. The beauty of this if you look closely at the following pictures is when it comes through to the right side it punches the design right over the stitching and it is slightly raised so you have another layer/texture.

These first two pictures show the back of the work.

These next photos are close ups of the front. I hope that you can see how punching the yarn from the back makes another layer. It is slightly raised.

I must admit to being very pleased with this discovery and I feel that I will be using this technique again to create different layers.

I don't know whether the photos really show what I am trying to explain, but if you look carefully you will see that the stitching does indeed disappear under the embellished outlines of the rock art drawings.

Well, back to work. BFN Tricia

A Pincushion & Pressies from Mary.

2008-08-05T22:54:00.003+01:00

Well, I am a very lucky person, I woke up this morning not feeling the best, a bit of a headache after a poor night's sleep and guess what, I was soon cheered up by the postman. I knew that Mary was sending her Pincushion to me but I didn't expect all the lovely pressies too.
I received three lovely postcards and a special one with Mary's work on the front as well as all these lovely fibres and trims, it felt like Christmas and I was a kid again.
The detail in Mary's Pin Cushion is delightful too. So many beautiful stitches, the work that went into this Pin

Cushion is astounding. I would like to say a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to Mary for being so generous and working so hard on the challenge. THANK YOU Mary, I will treasure your Pin Cushion, thank you for making my day. Cheers Tricia

Tif Challenge July: Half Way Mark and other things.

2008-08-01T19:17:00.006+01:00

Well, it's the first of August I finished this challenge last night. I didn't blog about it before hand as I wasn't sure until the last minute whether the idea would work.

It was really an experimental piece of sorts because I tried different techniques to those I have tried in the past. All in all as a piece of work I don't particularly like it but it says what I wanted it to say, well I hope it does.

Half Way Mark to me made me think back to the hot summer exam days. Sitting in a hot classroom in silence watching the clock tick by trying desperately to finish my exam paper before the time was up. I would always be thinking whether I had reached the half way mark of the exam. Half way through the time and was I half way through the paper yet.

Well, as it was Summer I wanted to try an image of my sunflower in the garden, this was to represent the time of the exams. The Sunflower seemed the perfect vehicle to represent the feelings that I had at that time, just wanting to escape from the exams into the holidays, so this in a subtle way became my clock.

You can just about see the hands on the sunflower, I didn't want the image to be any stronger than this because the feelings of being trapped inside a classroom at that time of the year were very strong but the summer holidays blotted it all out afterwards and I was able to forget, so that's why the hands of the clock are so subtle. I hope the meaning is understood.

HAY MAKING.

Well, the last few days the farmers have been haymaking, infact as I am writing this I can hear the bailing going on. A little while ago this field looked so different, tall golden grass shimmered in the sun. Now it lays flat in this picture.

Sometimes I feel a little sad at the end of a summer day, I also feel somewhat disappointed that I can't see fully the wonderful sunsets because we have so many trees around here but then I wouldn't be able to take such lovely pictures of the light streaming through the trees at the end of the day. I love these two pictures because of the atmosphere that is created by the broken light.

Both of these views are taken from the back of my garden, I am so lucky to live here.

SCOURING THE FLEECE.

I's funny thinking about the two pictures above. Now that the hay is bailed, the sheep will soon be returning into the field behind our house. Another reason why I am so very lucky is that I have got to know the local farmer and he lets me have a few fleece (from the sheep I see behind my garden) for a very reasonable sum. Now the hard part, I am half way (that's funny those words again) through the scouring. I have five left to do. I was able to have five black and five white. I only have the white left to scour now. Here is the last of the black soaking in my giant washing up bowl which I bought many years ago just for this purpose. It soaks overnight and then I rinse it in the morning, before letting it drip in, guess what?

The old dog cage I have. This works just brilliantly because not only does it support the weight, which you must do when the fleece is wet as it damages the fibres if they are stretched, but it also stops the wind from blowing it about and it contains it, and stops my pets from thinking they have a new bed. As you can see my cat is taking quite an interest. I think that they like the smell. My cats are always trying to get into my workroom which is out of bounds to them because being siamese they can be the naughtiest cats you can imagine, they will shred my fibres all over the place given half the chance.

This fleece doesn't look much at the moment but once it is carded it will be lovely, it's so very soft and I will have great fun blending it on my drum carder. Oh well, must get on with some work. BFN Tricia

Geometric Piece & Gardening

2008-07-26T11:33:00.006+01:00

As promised I am posting the finished geometric piece I have been working on. I feel there is a lot potential for further designs using this technique so this is how I will be working for a while.

Close Up.

I like the dimension of the relief of this way of working. I also like working with both sides of the embellished felt.

Gardening in July.

Well, the last week it has been sweltering, I don't know how I have been coping with the heat as well as working in the garden but it has been worth it once you look at the results.

Van Gogh eat your heart out, beat this for a sunflower picture.

The Californian Poppies have been wonderful this year and I was so thrilled to see this little gypsophelia pop up beside; this was a favourite of my Mother's so I look at it and think of her.

Many of the flowers in the main border self seeded from last year, this is what I like, flowers for free. That lovely cottage garden effect.

I love Morning Glory.

I spent two days tending the strawberry beds, boy did they need tending. Weeding, and training the new runners, I was shattered, I finished 9pm the other evening.

Graham's beloved pumpkin is doing well, should be a good one ready for Halloween.

Last but not least, this is only the second year that I have grown garlic. I have two trays full, like this drying in the greenhouse. We have two crops of onions, yellow and red. Our tomatoes don't seem to be suffering from that awful blight that plagued us last year so lots of pasta on it's way. Must get back to work. BFN Tricia

Flower Pin Cushion challenge and work in progress.

2008-07-22T12:00:00.006+01:00

These are the drawings I made for The Flower Pin Cushion Challenge from my Challenge site. The Challenge was to make a pin cushion with a stylised/geometric/art nouveau design to it. The first one above is of a Love in a Mist flower.

I then went on to make some studies of various other flowers, foxglove, penstemon and aquilegia. I became quite interested as always by the division of a circle, I found myself looking at the back of the aquilegia and noticed how the petals are divided. I then made a simple pencil drawing but the final design ended up to look much more like the water lilies on my pond, so I went along with that as it seemed to work very well. Not absolutely satisfied with the end result but I am quite pleased with the colour considering that I don't usually like working with bright pinks. Strangely enough I am more pleased with the green around the pink which I added a little silk to as I felted it.

Work in Progress.

Ok, as you can see I am back to my circles. I love geometry!

Being still quite new to the embellisher I am still experimenting with it to see it's possibilities. The piece of felt below was made by using up scraps of mainly brown felt, felted onto a wool blanket that I dyed a nice shade of pink. I then felted some chiffon headscarf material on to the back of this which was a combination of blues and golds and pinks. The beauty of working this way, I feel is that I make a piece of felt and then not only does the work from behind give the piece some nice unifying colours but also once cut into the shapes I want to use, I find that I can then use both sides which are slightly different but that compliment each other, as I hope you will see by the smaller pieces I have placed over this one, see below.

I hope that you can see the subtle change from the front and back. The back is the chiffon material and it is the smaller piece. I have done some machine embroidery onto this fabric and purely by accident in a way the rayon which was in the bobbin which was a shiny cream thread inspired me to embroider with some silvery thread around the outside of the top circle. The lower, larger circle is not so distinct and has a bronze shiny rayon machine stitching on it.

Here is a close up so that you can make out the differences between the two layers.

It is going to be very much a layered piece with the material alternating from back to front being used.

Another close up, this time of the petal features.

I haven't got all the petals motifs finished yet but you can see the idea of how it will look when it is finished

Well, I can honestly say I am now working in a manner that I am happy with. I feel that I need to make a series of these. So I hope to post some more and I will place the finished article here when done. B.F.N Tricia

Brillante Weblog Premio 2008 Award

2008-07-09T16:03:00.006+01:00

Today my good friend Judy from http://cjstitchingandblooms.blogspot.com/ sent me this email after she had nominated me and 6 other's for the above award.

Hello Tricia,

Your blog is very deserving of this award, and I look forward to seeing who you pass it on to. I love all your wool felting creations. I have been wool felting off and on for a few years, if you would like to see what I have created in felting you can find them in my OLD blog posts. Hugs Judy

I don't know what to say except a very big thank you, after reading all the other blogs who were nominated yesterday too, I do feel honoured to be in such good company. Judy does so many craft things she makes some adorable quilts and friendship dolls. she is very deserving of this award herself. Thank you Judy, I really appreciate it. Now what am I meant to do? Lets look at the instructions below:

The rules for receiving this award are:
1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.

2. Link to the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated.

Well here are my nominees, I can say it has been very hard to decide, but for me these are the blogs that I feel really deserve this award:

http://www.artbybethrobinson.com/

http://suebleiweiss.typepad.com/sueb/

http://hebartjournal.blogspot.com/

http://malinaplass.blogspot.com/

http://thefabricofmeditation.blogspot.com/

http://postcards-and-stuff.blogspot.com/

http://doreeng.blogspot.com/

http://www.blissfulexpressions.com/fairywebmother.htm

I have nominated 8, I am not going to tell you about these blogs as I do beleive that the fun is to explore for yourself, I hope you enjoy your journey into their lands as much as I do.

Tif Challenge June: Stories

2008-07-09T00:05:00.006+01:00

I want one.
Well, you can't do for one and not the other, it was always the same when my daughter was growing up, now she is grown up she isn't jealous of her brother anymore but my grand daughter had a bag from me last month for doing so well in her gymnastic's competition and when she saw it my daughter said those three little words. "I want one"
Of course it had to have her name on it too, just like my grand daughter's. Well, I did have some fun with it. I used my new toy; the embellisher. Well, I didn't have a pattern, I started with an idea of making it somehow geometric. I began with squares with the idea of a patchwork.
I used some lovely linen which I bought at a fabric sale recently, on this I embellished some silk from behind. The effect I wanted and managed became very soft and furry a little like faux suede. One of the silks is an orange shot silk and I noticed by embellishing this a lot the colours of the orange almost seperate as they are weft and warp after all. the other silk was an old hand painted silk scarf. the effect was amazing, it was like creating a new fabric.
Here is a close up of the silk scarf needle punching that I did from behind. I embroidered her name and the surround of this oblong in my own hand spun silks
I used curtain rings and a cut down chop stick for the clasp as I liked the wood with the linen. I also used the wooden curtain rings to attach the strap.

There is a story behind this bag. I have always been interested in symbols and symbolism. I think sometimes I almost think in symbols. As I was making this bag I was thinking how difficult it is when you live so far away from family. My daughter lives up one end of the country and we now live at the other end. I know at times she would like her Mum and Dad to be near by, when things go wrong it would be nice to be able to help each other.

Well, this made me think of how I felt when my own Mum passed away. I was trying to come to terms with feeling very lost, we had been so very close for many years. This feeling of being lost I remember articulating in one sentence, I can remember saying to someone, "it's as though I have lost my compass and I have no point of reference anymore."

I felt I put something very special into the design of this bag because the circle and lines around the circle symbolise the points of the compass but I have also placed some of them to one side. It's like saying we may not be near by but we are still here. We live our seperate lives but we are still part of the same family. All the squares in the bag fit together and this symbolises a kind of unity even if we are apart for much of the time. I am going to tell my daughter to read this when she receives the bag as I am sure it will hold a lot of meaning to her too.

Well, I may be late with my June Tif Challenge but better late than never.

Back to my roots

2008-07-06T19:22:00.003+01:00

Well as we start to eat our way through this seasons growth I began to think of things that I did when I lived in Kent and when I was studying art, oh many moons ago now. Well, I have been walking up and down the garden a lot lately watching the veggies grow, subconsciously, I kept looking at the colour of some of the greens we are growing. I know I have seen them all before but I kept thinking how lovely. Then it reminded me that I once did a whole project based on colour theory using the humble cabbage as a starting point.Some of these greens are not even green in places I know this often happens, I can't tell you why, it's as if some of the larger leaves lose some of the chloraphil and it's almost like when autumn comes, it's usually the larger flatter leaves nearer the base of the plant that turn a beautiful colour.
Even the green ones are beautiful with the light behind them, showing the all the veins in a wonderfully architectural way.

It's when the leaves change from green to yellow and then to red that it fascinates me. Oh how I wish plant dyes were stable. How to reproduce these colours, colours of nature, colours that we can easily overlook if we don't take time to stop.
How beautiful are these?

Ok we know our onions!

yes we grow allsorts, I just love vegetables, but that's me.

we grow flowers too, in the front half, but talking about flowers, I heard somewhere that in the states, they grow runner beans just for decoration, I wonder if this is true, what a waste, they taste so good too.

Our Marrows are on their way, or if I get impatient they will be courgettes.

There was point to this blog, before I got carried away with my veggie pictures. Well, back to my roots is simply symbolic for me, I think as an artist I need to go back to creating and not worrying who it's for. My daughter says I won't compromise but there again she sees things from a business perspective. I don't make good art when I am thinking about who is going to buy it, so instead of trying to please everyone else I am going to be true to my artistic nature and please myself. I am going to study nature and colour and textures and what aesthetically pleases me, if someone buys it great, but if they don't at least I'll like it. so back to my roots means to study, research and enjoy. We'll see what comes of it and time will tell if I was right.

Artist's Block, Motivation and Challenges

2008-06-27T10:58:00.003+01:00

I am just blogging today about how I feel about being an artist and what motivates me to create. Well, I am not even sure if that first sentence is going to describe the rest of what I will write here. Never mind, here goes.

People often speak of artist's block, when I was training to be an artist one art teacher said to me two things that I remember. You are only as good as your last piece of work, the other was that you should as an artist create everyday. I don't know whether this has motivated me, it probably has.

I have been wondering what artist's block is really about for me. I don't normally have a shortage of ideas. In fact my problem is that I usually have too many to cope with. I never will have enough time to do all the things that buzz around my head, not if I lived to a century or more. So it's all about choice.

I started to participate with many challenges on the web. I did this as a way of keeping in touch with other artists, this important for me. I live in a rural area and I dont see any other artists at all, I wish I had a friend near by who I could talk to about my passion, someone who is also passionate about textiles in all it's wonderful forms and possibilities. I doubt if that is going to happen, but I live in hope.

Well, thinking about the reason why I joined all these challenges, it's not for the challenge so much as the meeting of people. Ok, I am struggling a little at present keeping up with the challenges, but as I said, it's all about choices. I have decided I am going to have to make some serious choices soon because running a challenge myself aswell all these fingers in pies elsewhere it is going to mean I won't get as much done as I would like to. You try some things and if they don't work for you, you move on.

I wonder what the motivation is for others, I would really like to know. I get a buzz from making for someone in particular. It pleases me to make something for someone else. I don't know why this is. I often think, I am going to make something for me, but it doesn't hold the same motivation for me as it does to make for someone else. I think this is why I enjoy making cards to swap.

So where do I go from here. I need the interaction with other artists, artists often find themselves so isolated. They work long hours to create and this is usually done in isolation. I like to get feedback, but on these challenges and other sites it is feedback which is always far too polite to be really useful to me. What I mean is that I haven't yet had anyone make a neutral comment about my work, let alone a negative one. Having been through art college I was trained to expect criticism. In fact at the end of every week we would have critique which was extremely useful for everone. I miss this honest opinion. I know that my work has changed even since I have been involved online, it has become far too twee for me as it goes. This isn't because of the online community, it's more that I suppose I have been testing out ideas in being commercial. I think I must have been thinking about the tourist industry and wondering what I could take from my surroundings in order to make art. It's become far too chocolate box for me. Well, where do I go from here?

I am thinking about starting another site, but one with a big difference. A site where artists can put there work to get honest useful but polite criticism. I wonder how many people would like to join? Good question. I think I would have to moderate it well. I don't want others to feel that they will be attacked verbally in anyway. I think that I would have to work out some guidelines. I think it would be nice to create this site with someone else to help, two heads are better than one. Well I think I will sleep on this idea for a while and maybe I might just try it.

If anyone out there reads this and feels that they would like to get involved perhaps they would let me know. Tricia

The show must go on: One more Postcard safely received

2008-06-25T20:55:00.004+01:00

Before I post the next swap that I sent to Karrin in the States I wish to thank everyone who sent kind wishes in response to the last blog which told of our awful trauma of a nasty car accident. My hubby is still in pain with whiplash but he survived the accident and that is the main thing.

We are without a car but the show must go on as they say.

Well here is the card I made for Karrin (this was for the postcard swap on stitching fingers) which she has just received.

this is a view of a Kent Farmhouse near to where I live. 17th Century I believe. I have embellished some tweedy woollen fabric for the brickwork which seemed perfect for the job and the rest is just fleece with a couple of stitches to outline the windows.
Oh well back to work.

Always look on the bright side of life

2008-06-16T19:33:00.002+01:00

Ok, who wrote those words, just when I thought things couldn't get any worse this month, it did.
Yesterday, late afternoon, Fathers Day here in the UK. My hubby was going a few miles up the road to the nearest supermarket when someone on the other side of the road came right over his side of the road and put him in hospital.

The worst thing about it was that someone tried to phone me at the scene of the accident and our stupid answer phone kicked in too early as it does, I could hear the people on the other end of the phone and got the gist of what was happening but no one could hear me. I immediately tried to phone out on my mobile but couldn't get a signal. A few minutes later a lovely elderly couple arrived in our drive and announced what had happened. I was already in shock, they took me to the scene and I saw the car first, or what was left of it. Well that was it, I couldn't even see my husband, he was on the floor behind the car. the ambulance arrived before I had really got my head together and carried him off in traction. I was just wobbling around like a zombie/headless chicken. Well, I don't drive and I live in a rural hamlet, no buses on a Sunday. All I could do was keep ringing the hospital. Well, I knew he would be going to xray. A couple of hours later when I rang I was told that they suspected a broken neck!!! They would be doing a CT scan. Well, I didn't wait to phone back later, I rang my very dear ex sister-in-law and her husband took me over to him, I just wasn't functioning by this time. Well, by the time we were about to leave him, a doctor came on the ward and said that he had the all clear and could go home. Some one was looking down on us yesterday. My hubby is in serious shock today, the doctor has given him some sedatives as he couldn't sleep last night at all. At the end of the day, we are without a car but he survived, so I will look on the bright side of life. Things could have been so much worse. He is just so, so lucky!!!

Adding my swaps

2008-06-14T21:42:00.004+01:00

Before I place the cards I have made on here, I am adding a picture of some of the wonderful foxgloves from my garden which I grew from seed. I am putting these flowers here to cheer me up, it's been a terrible week for me in more ways than one but the main reason is that I have lost a very dear cousin who died on Monday. She was in her mid 70's which is no age these days. It came as quite a shock because as far as I knew she wasn't in poor health. It just goes to show that none of us knows what is round the corner. She will be in my memories for a very long time as being someone who would be there for everyone, she would help anyone and always had a good word to say about everyone she spoke of to me. She will be sadly missed by many.

Well as promised here are some of the cards I have recently made for swapping with different people. These have all been posted now, I hope that the recipients like them.

This is a needlefelted landscape I made to swap with Helen on the postcard group of Stitchin fingers.

This next one is winging it's way to Alis from unlimited textiles.

the one below is a small atc that I made for the hand stitch lottery on the textile challenge site run by Carol T. The stitch I was given to use was fly stitch. I have used the stitch on the path as well as the flowers.

This last ATC is on it's way to France for Anne who made me the beautiful cross stitch teddy. In this needlefelted piece I thought that Anne might like to see a scene from where I live. That's why I decided to make a very small scene of two oast houses, these can be seen all over Kent . I hope Anne likes it.

Been very busy

2008-06-12T13:41:00.006+01:00

Well, I have just tried to start a blog on Stitchinfingers but I'm afraid I have given up. Not only did I lose it all after pre veiwing but the darned picture thing that keeps stretching all pictures that are above a certain size is really getting on my nerves. So I will be blogging here instead. I did try!

On a good note, I have been oh so busy, what with my new toy (The Embellisher) and all the swaps, I have had to make lots of lists. I'm getting a bit overloaded but I would prefer that to being bored.

Well as I promised everyone, I will add my first big project that I used the embellisher for.

I thought I would make my Grand daughter a little pressie, she is such a clever lass. She is already a British Champion in Acro Gymnastics and she is only 11 years of age. Very shortly she will be going in for the trials for the Worlds Competition and she will be the youngest competitor. She has had a lot of obstacles to overcome to get this far and she never gives up, so she deserves something nice.

My Grand daughter as well as my own 14 year old son have been into Goth fashion of recent years. So when I asked my Daughter what she would like we had a chat and we both decided that a Goth Fashion type bag would be appreciated. Well I couldn't find the material I wanted for the project so I decided to make my own on the felting machine. here is the result:

This is the front of the bag, made with needle felt that has been woven the make the check fabric.

Here is the back, she is so pleased with this especially as it has her name on it, she is Rebekah really but she likes to be called Bex.

Now my teenage son wants a hat, he likes a flat cap he has which he wore when he was younger at one of the Victorian days at his primary school, trouble is this one is brown, so now I have to make a black flat cap, help, I've never done this before. Well, I've made a paper pattern from the one he has, but I won't be using felt. I have some plain black fabric so I'll just be doing a standard flat cap. He doesn't even want any patterns or motifs on it so it shouldn't be too hard. He looks so cool when he wears his flat cap with his shoulder length wavy hair. I can't wait to see him in the new one.

Well, the other reason why I have been so busy is that I have been making lots of swaps. Here are the ones I have received today;

This one is from Helen Miles The photo doesn't do it justice I'm afraid, it's simply beautiful, it really reminds me of the sea and I just want to go down the coast when I look at it. Thank you Helen, your's is in the post, I won't put the picture up until you receive it, I would hate to spoil the surprise.

This next one is from Liz we met on the Unlimited Textiles site and this months challenge is to make and swap a Postcard with the theme of landscape. This is a beautiful piece and it is made with a lot of beautiful silk, how did Liz know I loved Poppies? Thank you Liz.

This last swap is an ATC from Anne in France, we were introduced to do this swap by Doreen in Australia, apparently they have been doing swaps for some time now. Thank you Doreen for introducing us. Thank you Anne for such an exquisite little card, you wouldn't believe folks how small these stitches are. Don't you just want to give her a hug. Your card Anne is in the post too, I hope you like it.

Well that's just about it for now, but I will put my cards here that I have swapped next time. Till then, bye for now. Tricia

My Textile Challenge Site

2008-05-31T18:31:00.010+01:00

I was quite surprised when the site which I created just over a fornight ago had so many members in such a short space of time. People are still joining even today we have a new member. (You can click on the button at base of page to join)

I am hoping that I will be offering something a little different if I can. There are loads of these challenge sites out there but to do something different is important if members are going to feel challenged, that is after all the kind of site it is.

I said we would be quite a laid back site, as I don't want to put anyone under any pressure. I don't do pressure, not anymore anyway. Well, how do you make something challenging without pressure? You make it stimulating, well that's my theory anyway.

I want the site to make members think, I want them to think about the way they work, I want them to think about how they fit into the big creative world. This is something I am constantly thinking about. It's not an easy one this, it chucks up all sorts of questions, like why do we create? Who do we create for? Is it for our own pleasure? Is it to try to make money? Is it to give other's pleasure? Do we share what we make? The questions are endless.

That last one though makes me think, I was reading something that someone posted on Stitchin fingers it was about principles of Art and it talked about, amongst others things, intellectual copyright. Well, anyone who has ever thought about this must realise it says that designs are all around us, ideas are all around us too. There are obviously some things that are protected but anyone who has been through art school would realise that artists have been borrowing from each other for centuries. Infact, at art school you are openly encouraged to copy from the "masters", this is how we learn, we learn either to follow their ideas or take parts of what we learn and make them into our own. I find inspiration everywhere, I am never short of ideas, that's what art is all about. That's why on this blog I am happy to share my ideas, obviously if someone was to copy my exact work and try to carry it off as their own I would not be happy, but if I can share my techniques or ideas so that other's might find it easier to get to where they are heading then that's great.

The reason why I bring this up is because I want my textile challenge site to also be a buzzing place where everyone is glad to share and exchange ideas about their own and other's work. I will be working to encourage this. It takes a while to work out how best to use the site and I am only now beginning to realise that there are probably more possibilities than I have tried so far, so watch this space and the site as I do my best to develop what is there.

I am adding some further challenges to the site as optional extras. One of these is going to be a monthly challenge entitled: Research an Artist. Initially, I will be going through many fine art artists to see what we can do with their work, in order to inspire us when we create something. I do hope those members who do have plenty of time will sometimes dip into this extra challenge and see what they can do with it. Eventually, if this idea works for a while, we might be able to start to explore textile artists over the ages and research how they have worked and perhaps use some of their methods to create modern pieces. Who knows, it's early days yet.

When I was teaching art in schools, I found that I had inspiration happening to me everyday from my students as we all see the world through different eyes. It's quite amazing sometimes when you see a youngster create something and suddenly you get a buzz about how you can go ahead with your own work. It might be a combination of colours that they are using, the way they are working with the media, or just the subject matter that they have chosen. It can all give a person inspiration. So I hope that anyone who is a member of my challenge site now or in the future will be glad to share our talents to help everyone in the group to move forward on their own creative journey.

Another Swap safely received.

2008-05-29T15:32:00.004+01:00

I can put this one up for viewing now that I know that Doreen has safely received it in Australia.

I made this especially for her and I was inspired by something that she said to me. She asked me for my surname and I said that I often forget to give it probably because I don't like my married name. Well, when I told her it was Cook she said to me, where would Australia have been without Captain Cook and that she thought that there was nothing wrong with the name.

Well, when I couldn't decide what to do for her I thought about what she had said. Well, when we lived up north we went to a place about 30 miles from where Old Cap'n Cook was born. It's a lovely place called Robin Hoods Bay, you can see it on the internet as it is a very well known holiday and tourist attraction on the North East along the Yorkshire Coast. Many an artist has sat and painted it from different views as it is so quaint and picturesque.

So there you have it. This is why I made this ATC for Doreen, I am really getting into this landscape work in needlefelt. It's like painting with wool.

More swaps

2008-05-29T10:54:00.003+01:00

Hello again,
I've, just received this beautiful ATC from Ati in Norway, I am so proud to be in possession of such wonderful stitchery. Ati also posted some lovely fibres to me with this card, it is so generous of her, Thank you Ati. I thought it such a clever idea to post something extra, I had to do the same. I hope it arrives safely for her, as it does make it a little bulky especially with my needlefelted piece. I won't put Ati's on here yet as I don't want to spoil the surprise. Hope you like it Ati.

Cyberfyber swaps

2008-05-29T10:34:00.006+01:00

Hi all, I am a little behind taking photos at the moment, so I thought I had better catch up. First there is the Cyberfyber swap. Here are the two cards I decided to request:

This is the postcard and is made with Bridal Lace, isn't it beautiful, I particularly like the way it has been coloured.

This one is the ATC and has lots of interest, stitching, layering, there is metal foil under one of the layers and then there is the architectural feature with cherubs. It's really delightful. Thank you Susan, I love them.

Well, I hope that Susan likes hers, I have concentrated on a really Kentish/English theme. The first one below is a Postcard and is needlefelted with embroidery. It is called Old Kent Orchard.

Here is a close up of the Postcard.

This next one is an ATC and is the same theme but obviously on a smaller scale.

It is entitled: Old Apple Trees

To Sell or not to sell

2008-05-27T17:14:00.004+01:00

That is the question?
Well, I've been reading a few things online from Artists who are also deliberating about selling their work.
I have exhibited my work in one or two places since I graduated as a textile artist, but this was many years ago. Life got in the way for a while but I am now much more sure to the kind of work I want to produce, the problem is, who am I producing it for?
Recently I have been quite active with the online community, I started up a textile site so that I could be in touch with other textile artists, I have also just begun to get involved with swapping Art Cards. Now when I make one of these little treasures I feel as though I can put my heart and soul into it, why because I hope it pleases the recipient. I really believe that most other textile artists would appreciate the work of others so you don't mind putting so much work into it. Then I ask myself, if I were to try to sell a piece of work like this I couldn't command anything like a price that would account for all the time and effort that goes into it. So what does an artist do? If you read this and you have any suggestions please let me know, I would be very pleased to read other peoples experiences about the art market.

Two for the price of one.

2008-05-23T12:13:00.003+01:00

Doreen Grey has so kindly trebled my collection of ATC's by sending me two examples of her needlefelting, I am just so grateful to her, they are beautiful, it really does show what is possible with one of those lovely embellishers. I so o o want one now.

Here is the first one she sent to me:
I love the fine muslin that is added in two different colours in this. I would love to know how this fabric is felted to the background so firmly, but I suppose that's the difference between the embellisher and needlefelting by hand.

As well as the Atc Doreen has very kindly sent me another example that I can use as a book mark, it's beautiful.

Thank you so much Doreen, I won't post my swap here until I know that you have received it, I don't want to spoil the surprise, it's on it's way, let me know when you get it. I think I am now going to get rather addicted to all this swapping, I'm sure I am going to get to know my postman rather well, lol.

New Textile Challenge Site

2008-05-20T15:10:00.004+01:00

Hi there all, well, you might already be aware that I have started a new challenge site, it is called Tricia's Textile Challenge. We have 15 members to date and we're doing fine, there are some very talented people already on this site so it's quite exciting, go take a look and if you'd like to join let us know.

Well, I said I would blog about the piece I made for the first challenge.

The first challenge will last till the end of June and then we plan to do a swap with the results. It is entitled Ancient Symbols. I asked everyone to make a postcard sized piece based upon an ancient symbol, could be a hieroglyph or a rock carving, infact anything from any culture, religious or otherwise. We've had some very interesting results already.

Well, here's how I did mine,
I have a little book all about ancient rock carvings mainly from the North of England. I am fascinated by what they might mean. Having done a little study about symbolism including universal symbolism I think that the one I chose has probably got something to do with the sun and seasons.
Some of the symbol has obviously worn away but you can gather what it did look like originally.
Well, I cheated, not having seen the rock and only having a picture of the symbol I decided to find a nice stone amongst my collection of stones and so I drew a picture of it and then drew the symbol on top, superimposing it as it were. Here is the drawing below:

The finished piece here below is 6 inches x 4 inches (postcard size) and is needlefelted. The symbol was embroidered on to the felt exactly as it looks in the book. The edging is also sewn as are the little line stitches on the background. The edging I hand dyed myself using a rust technique which worked remarkably well, this picture doesn't do it justice, the thread of the edging is two toned as it almost carries the imprint of the rusted metal it was wrapped around when it was dyed.

Last but not least here is a close up of the piece.

I Hope the person I swap with likes it.

Speak soon Tricia

New Textile Challenge Site

2008-05-13T20:28:00.003+01:00

Hi all, well, I just couldn't wait for another challenge so I decided that I would very much like to try a group of my very own.
I opened it today and I am hoping very much you will all join me in a very laid back challenge.

The site is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TriciasTextileChallenge/ If you have any problems reaching it just let me know.

I am hoping it will be a really fun place to hang out with like minded passionate Textile/mixed media folk.

I am going to run the first challenge until the end of June just to make sure that any late comers have the chance to catch up.

I hope to do some swaps from the first challenge if enough people sign up. Do drop by and let me know what you all think.

Look forward to seeing you all there, oh and you are more than welcome to make any suggestions. See you soon Tricia

Tif Challenge for May: What do I call myself?

2008-05-10T15:14:00.004+01:00

Well, I have finished the challenge, as I said before in the previous post on the challenge below, I have based my idea around the idea that artists often have other angles to the things that they do. I chose Seurat as he was often described as a scientist of colour. There are other artist's like this, look at Leonardo for instance. How could he be described? Artist/? Engineer? Biologist perhaps?

Well, anyway, back to my challenge.

I have used monotone to show that there are other ways to analyse. I think that this is one thing that makes me an artist, I analyse what I do and see. Seurat analysed the picture in terms of colour using pointellist techniques. I have analysed his picture in tone using the play of light and shade to indicate forms. There are no unnecessary details in his work or my piece that was inspired by it. I admit I used the computer to turn the picture to grayscale before I made the work. This is a first time use of the computer to inspire my textile work so that's a new techinique in itself. Here are a couple of close ups of the finished work.

I hope that I have also managed to show that paint is not the only medium that can be used in an impressionistic manner.

Well, I hope you like the work and understand the theory behind it's making. Bye for now Tricia

I took a few days off to catch up wth the Garden

2008-05-10T15:00:00.004+01:00

Hi again, I have been taking a few days off from stitching to catch up with the garden.

Between us, yes all three, that includes our 14 year old, we have weeded, cut the ever growing grass (I won't say lawn), planted four fruit trees and re sited the pond. That's without the greenhouse which needed to be re built after last years winds. The weather has been wonderful, this picture was taken at dusk, it doesn't really show how much sun we've had in the last week. I am burnt, yes sunburnt, much worse than that though is the fact that I have been eaten alive with midgies/gnats; Why do they always attack me?

We are so lucky to be living here. We've had the Cuckoo out there cuckooing for all his worth. The birds we have in this area are so varied and beautiful. This really is "Darling buds of May" country. I was told by someone when we moved back to Kent 18 months ago, that the field behind our house was actually used in one of the episodes of that very wonderful programme with David Jason. It is as he would say "just Perfick".

Tif Challenge - What do I call myself

2008-05-06T20:19:00.005+01:00

Ok, so I've been thinking about this for quite a few years so I am probably ahead of this Challenge. The way to portray it may sound a little cryptic but it isn't really.
I call myself a textile artist, not only because that is what I earned as a title when I studied for my honours degree but also because that is very much how I feel. I studied art before I chose my specialist area. I did a two year pre foundation and a years foundation course. It is from this art background that I look mostly for my inspiration. Yes I dabble in all sorts of crafts but I do believe that this dabbling informs my more serious work, not to denegrate the craft aspect in any way but I often see it as a way to experiment, this is only my point of view.
The visual means of this challenge has inspired me to think and look at a great artist that I am sure many people know, his name is Seurat. I am going to analyse ( an important word here, which I will come back to.) one of his best known paintings: Please look at the following link: http://www.artchive.com/artchive/S/seurat/jatte.jpg.html
Seurat used scientific principles to paint this picture, does this make him a scientist or an artist? I use this question to help in understanding what it is I actually do. Now, back to that word analyse. I think that on the whole this is what generally helps me to see myself as an artist. Like Seurat I tend to analyse what it is I do. I also use research in much of my work, for instance I have read a considerable amount about symbolism and also about Celtic Art amongst others subjects. It is this research and interest in my subject that I believe tells me I am an artist.
Well, on to the image, I am almost finished but I will not post it until it is properly presented. The image I have chosen is of course the one that can be found at the link above: Sunday Afternoon at the Grande Jatte.
I am taking a small section of this and I have turned it to Grayscale. My intention was to analyse Seurat's picture not in colour as he has but to analyse it in tone, form, shape. I was quite surprised how many of the shapes of the figures seem to be repeated throughout this work. I have been fascinated by the outline of the figures and by the costumes of the time. These seem more obvious when the colour has gone.
Well, I will post my finished work soon. I have only just discovered this new way of working with needlefelt, that is to work in monochrome, I found this when working the last challenge and felt it was quite an appropriate transition for this next challenge. Same materials different subject. Well, I hope all will become clear when you see the finished work. Till then, feel free to ask questions if you are unsure what I actually mean in this post. Good luck to everyone else in your challenge.

TIF Challenge for May - What do you call yourself and why

2008-05-02T12:40:00.001+01:00

Oh the perennial question I have pondered with ever since I started my fine art textiles course. This was always a hot topic but then the fine art course seemed to know where it wanted it’s student’s to go. It’s a fine balance between art and craft and the cross over is always ultimately there. The boundaries have been blurring for many years but we are all still not sure when we are making; or at least I am not sure. It’s a compromise isn’t it? Do we make and hope to sell as an artist or do we make and hope to sell as a craftsperson? Is the difference in utility? Will your quilt be too good to put on a bed? Do you hope it will be admired as wall art? But then what do we make of Tracey Ewin’s unmade bed? I don’t know where this is going to take me Sharon this month but it certainly will be an interesting journey. There are just too many questions and not enough answers in all of this. I don’t know whether there is a straight answer and then trying to interpret it in a piece of work well, is this going to be asking too much, I just don’t know. I suppose we will see. You certainly have set us a hard one here.

Essence of Kent

2008-04-26T21:56:00.004+01:00

Helen and I seem to be on a similar wavelength at the moment. She has inspired me to put some of my pictures that I took recently of old buildings/outhouses. It is the one thing that makes me think of my part of kent. I am wanting to make some studies of things that make me think Kent as I remember it when I was a child so I went with a friend to her friend's home to help her feed her donkey and cats whilst she is away. I took my camera because I know the land around which used to be a small holding/orchard held just what I wanted.This is a little house for the goats to go to in the rain.

Disused hen houses

I love the old shallow tin bucket with handle on the top of this pile, I have one of these myself at home that we use to take out the ashes, it was my mothers. I wonder what it was used for, probably animal feeding or such like.

Yet another view of an animal shelter.

I'm not sure exactly how I will use these images as yet. I have made a couple of quick sketches but I think that I need to only use part of these and concentrate on the ageing process when I do make further studies.

TIF Challenge April - The way I see change

2008-04-21T16:18:00.005+01:00

Well, here are the different views/studies that I made from the picture to insert into the wheel. I know that they don't look much on their own but once they go between the spokes of the cart wheel, I believe they come together as a whole.

I had to start with the horses head at the top of the wheel.

I know that the studies of the people in the picture are not really portraits, in other words I couldn't get their likenesses but it's on such a small scale and it is felt after all, not making excuses though, I just wanted the essence of the picture.

The bow top wagon is in the picture but only a little is showing behind my grand mother so I have looked at other images, it is only a simple study.

The picture of my Grand mother here, I was only trying to capture a little of the period dress, they always wore pinny's on top of their clothes in those days,

I couldn't get a likeness here either but I have tried to capture my grandfathers swathy/darker complexion with a darker, natural fleece.

Ok, this was not in the picture but I did research from a book I have and it is such an iconic symbol for the travelling way of life, I added/lit the fire after adding this element to the wheel.

This was just a scene from the same book as above.

I had to include this figure, with his cloth cap, even though I don't know who he is.

The finished piece I beleive works well, and I am so pleased that I chose to keep to the monochrome as I have been promising myself I would see what was possible with natural fleece colours. I have give the piece a wavy edge with blanket stitch as it reminds me of the mud that would be picked up on the wheel as it travels. Below are a few close ups.

I have really enjoyed doing this challenge, especially as it means somuch to me and I expect that it is a piece of work that one of my children will enjoy in the future to remind them of their travelling heritage.

One more close up here

Well Sharon, I am waiting for May now to see what you will come up with, I hope it will inspire me the same way this has. Thanks for a great challenge, keep it up.

TIF Challenge for April

2008-04-19T15:27:00.008+01:00

The TIF Challenge for April is "How do I see change" Well, whether this is good or bad it is debateable but I see change as moving house, not staying in one place as I rarely have. I think that travelling is in the blood. My mothers parents were from Ireland but although my Grand mother was what you would expect from a true Celt, my grandfather's side were romany people. I don't draw very often from my head because I nearly always use symbols in my thought processes but it was a starting place. The wheel is a very strong Romany symbol which is often used by the travellers so it was an obvious choice. I then thought of the people walking besides the wagon and also the idea of putting down or pulling up roots.

I was going to work with Sun dye as this changes the fabric. However, we don't have much sun here in Britain at present and I was not completely happy with the way that all this was going.

Then purely by chance I came across this old photo of my Grand Parents and
my mother. The back ground is, My Grand dad who is sitting in the foreground, his mother came from Spain and they were horse people. My Great Grand dad on that side was a horse doctor and bearing in mind this takes you back many years to the time of the great famine in Ireland, he was quite an important rural visitor as he would travel around all the farms and help to cure the livestock with his herbal cures. They lived in bow top wagons. Well, because of the potatoe famine my Great Grandparents came over to England in the mid 1800's. There have certainly been many changes since their time, there have also been extreme changes even since my mother's time. She was born in a wagon in 1921 around the time of the great depression, times were very hard but they were survivors or I wouldn't be here. The two gents in the rear of the picture I believe were just friends of the family. My Grand dad who is sitting in the front of the picture died just after the picture was taken. I believe he died of the effects of mustard gas he had inhaled during the first world war. My Grand mother is also sitting in the front and my poor mum who looks thoroughly fed up is standing in the picture, she is only 7 years old. I suppose they had to stand still for a while in those days for pictures to be taken. The picture was taken, I believe, because they had just won a race with one of their horses, I think that there is some sort of trophy on the table. Well, this is where my challenge starts:

I have decided to work in monochrome as the original picture is and it seems so appropriate to show yet another change in the way we look at photos today. This piece I have needle felted in natural sheep wool colours.

My idea is to take parts of this picture and place these in the wheel. Look back to see how I get on.

Miniature Art, buttons and brooches

2008-04-15T18:19:00.010+01:00

The Image above shows the size of these brooches next to a £2 coin.

I've been working very hard due to the inspiration I have been given by Helen, it was something she said about my Celtic wallhangings which made me realise that an opportunity had been staring me in the face.

Well, to cut a long story short, I was about to make some of my felt buttons and then I decided to make some brooches too, the latter being with a Celtic theme/flavour. Some have got miniture landscape pictures in them, the others are purely decorative motifs that I have been studying for some time. There is a wealth of inspiration in Celtic Art.

I also decided to try some thread painting and this time I managed to do exactly what I wanted to do. I bought some little tubes of microwave dyes called Quick Colour. I only bought the primaries and it is so simple to get the effect. You don't need many drops to dye some thread so it works great to get the variegated thread that I have been trying to get for some time. Here are some of the examples: the picture does not do it justice but believe me the colour combination I acheived was just so rewarding.

Well back to the brooches:

I am obviously happier with some of these than others but each one is very different either in colour or design.

Here are a few of the other more decorative brooches:

I am now sewing a backing on to each of these brooches with a brooch pin included like this:

The last of the pictures I am placing on here today show my felt buttons, these are great fun as you can see and are useful for knitted jackets but can also be used as an ornament to a textile piece of any description. They often remind me of sweets, depending on the colours I use. Each button is secured with an embroidery method I invented myself based upon a minute cord made on the fingers which is attached to the back so that attaching them to the textile piece is made simpler.

I will probably be putting some of these items for sale on etsy once I have finished them all. I hope that you have enjoyed looking at these as much as I have making them.

April in Kent - It's been snowing!

2008-04-06T22:05:00.004+01:00

Well, it looks more like December doesn't it? This was the view out of my window this morning and by all accounts I hear that it has been worse in other places where the ground is higher.

I just had to share a couple of photos with you. These next two views are taken from the back of my house this evening.

What a sunset it was.

The next photo is very strange, I don't know where the flying saucer came from, lol?

Well, it's been a funny old day and these pictures confirm that. It's not the first time we have had snow this late in the year, apparently back in the 60's we had snow in May. So there you are. Roll on Spring.

Green Man

2008-04-06T11:18:00.002+01:00

Well, as promised, here he is in all his glory. He's a doleful character, benevolent, He is needle felted in a slight relief.

He represents my love and trust of nature, trust, yes, because I do believe even with all this talk about global warming mother nature will see us through and hopefully correct the worst of the man made effects we might experience.

Having said all this, we should be doing our part, I was listening to local radio last night and they were talking about the low energy light bulbs. Apparently we should be very wary of these because they can be quite a hazard. There was some serious research done in Australia and it is said that they can be difficult to dispose of. They have warned us that down under they are not allowed to put them in the normal bins. That they need to be taken down to the local authority disposal to be put in a special bin. How many road miles is this going to cost the planet? Also that if a bulb breaks you are meant to ventilate and leave the room for at least 20 mins and they pieces must be picked up wearing rubber gloves and on no account hoover the floor. This does not sound eco friendly to me, does it you? The bulbs contain mercury and phosphorus. It was said that none of these hazards have been printed on the box, great isn't it.

Well, there must be other ways to keep this planet turning. Personally I would like to know why our governments have not issued everyone with solar panels years ago, it will be as at least sustainable as our planet is. After all, if the Sun isn't there, we won't be anyway! When these low energy light bulbs are forced on us in about 5 years when they will become compulsory who will gain from it? The planet, the people or the manufacturer's. Does our government really believe in these products or are they just paying lips service to the idea of being green?

Well, I couldn't put my green man on here without having a moan about green issues. It was the theme of my dissertation whilst I was studying for my art degree. Many artists feel the same as I do and there are many artists all over the world who are either campaigning or making art about green issues, there are even some who are really getting involved in the whole process of recycling.

In our household we do our bit. We recycle all our kitchen waste for our garden, we even tear up cardboard boxes and put them into the composter; it all goes back to the earth, it just takes a little time. We are quite aware of how much difference it makes as we don't have wheely bins where we are and we have to put our rubbish out in black bin liners so we try to limit how much goes into them. You would be surprised at what a difference a compost can make to the quantity of rubbish you throw away in the bin. Try it and see and watch your garden grow at the same time. Oh well, must get on, pop back soon and see what else I've been up to. Bye for now.

Busy, busy, busy!

2008-04-03T20:27:00.007+01:00

Yes, I am being very busy at the moment. Since joining the blogging community as well as the fiber arts site I have been spurred on to work more and more, it's great. I feel I have been trying to work in isolation for so long but now I feel part of a great textile community where I can get feedback I have a real purpose it seems to keep working.

I also would like to get enough of a body of good work together to take to a local gallery to see how my work would be received by the public.

Well I don't want to spend too much time on here so I will just add a few more of the pictures and then I shall carry on working.

The piece above is needle felted and it is designed to incorporate a theme I have been wanting to work on for some time. The idea was to make a series entitled Celtic Landscapes, this landscape is based on a drawing I made whilst visiting Robin Hood's Bay. The Celtic shape was drawn from a Celtic brooch and the idea of having it as a frame, almost like a window looking through to the view beyond has been something I have been experimenting with but until now it hadn't come to fruition. I can thank my felting needles for this one. It allows me to work very small and detailed.

This is the same theme but with a different view, the view is taken from a drawing I made when I lived on the edge of the Peninnes in Weardale, County Durham.

This was another Celtic design with a picture taken from a drawing which I made of the Wear river. These designs are still in the experimental stage and I feel that given time I will perfect the theme to do exactly as I visualise it. Well, that's enough for now. I will probably add my Large Green Man piece next time. Do come back soon.

Helen's beautiful ATC

2008-04-02T13:10:00.005+01:00

Thank you so very much Helen for the beautiful ATC that you have sent to me. It far surpasses my first little attempt, but perhaps I'll improve with time and patience and practice.

You've got me hooked now you know. I just want to do swaps, if they are all like yours I want to swap more. It's so delightful seeing how others work, especially on such a miniture scale.

I took one look at your piece Helen and felt as though I was beachcombing and that I had just found treasure. I'm not sure if that's what it's really about but boy does it remind me of the shore.

Knit Design

2008-03-31T01:04:00.009+01:00

Well, here I am again, I thought I would let you see that since I left college with my textile training behind me I have been trying all sorts of things. For a while I was busy being a mother to a young baby, (he is now nearly 14) During this time I did a lot of knitting and so it was a natural thing for me to try to design some things. I was recommended to a company who bought designs and I did try very hard to come up with things which would be very different, I sent off for some lovely yarns from the shetland Isles and the first of these images is knitted from these plus some hand dyed/spun kid mohair (blackberry). This one was meant to be for a Jacket and obviously the theme was Autumn, it was drawn out on Graph paper first; This wasn't accepted because although they liked the colour and design the materials they said were too heavy.

This one is knitted from a combination of ordinary yarn and some of my own plied experiments. I also added some felt on to this one. The design was meant to be for a short sleeved jumper for Christmas; Obviously when you make these designs you add as much as you can because it is just supposed to be a swatch. Some of the image/design would perhaps be put on the reverse.

Here are a couple of detailed

pictures.

I can't remember why this design was rejected but it was, so that was the end of

my efforts as a knit designer.

Hard Work this blogging!

2008-03-30T17:52:00.006+01:00

Well, I have just spent most of the day trying to get to grips with customising my blog but right in the middle AOL decided to have one of their regular blips, lost the lot and had to start again Grrrrr!

Still not happy with the design or layout so if there is anyone out there who can help me then please get in touch, I hate using the set templates, they just don't do what I want them to.

I have just finished taking photos of a lot of work. Some is from way back, some is from a little while ago and some is very recent. Now all I have to do is figure out how to put them into this blog.

I think what I will do is this: I will write a blog next to show a little of where I have been in terms of my creative journey. I will try to remember what was going on at the time when I made the work. Perhaps then anyone reading this will be able to see some sort of progression, I hope!

So lets see to introduce this journey, not right from the beginning but some of the way along in terms of the pictures I have taken I will show a picture first of a piece of work that was a breakthrough for me at the time. I did not like working small although this piece is about 18 inches square. I had left college and was hoping to get involved at the time with a co-operative of artists which I did for a short while.

This was small in relation to the work I had completed for my degree show which was 7ft x 5ft and was a 3 dimensional sculpture. I will not show this piece as it is no longer in my possession, I left it on permanent loan at a school where I worked later on in my career.

Well, I had been looking at Mola work having studied the textiles of South America, I marvelled at the work these people could do and it occured to me that felt could work very well under material as it doesn't fray. So carrying on with the theme I had worked on in college I made a 2 dimensional piece named the "Tree of Life". As I said it was a turning point for me as it was to encourage me to make Art on a smaller less ambitious scale.

Well, that's it for today, my family have to eat. I will be adding more in a sort of chronology so pop back soon when you have time.

It's been a while.

2008-02-10T17:58:00.001Z

Well, I have come back, no more pictures of my work yet but it's been a difficult time. Late November last year I went in for an operation which has taken me a long time to recover from, just when I am feeling better it seems that I have been too optimistic and I need to take it easy again. Such is life, or lack of it.

I was really hoping that the New Year would have seen an end to all my inactivity.

I am hoping that I will feel more energetic soon, problem I have is that I have so many ideas buzzing about in my brain but I never seem to get any of them out there.

I am going back to needlefelting at the moment, I tried to see if I could do it when I first bought the needles and felting book, but I didn't have time at that point to take it any further than making a small ball. Well that small ball has just become the head of a little green elf like creature, Although I have been wet felting for years I have been very pleasantly surprised by the possibilities of felting with a needle. Now I have even more ideas and they really are begging me to try these out but I will have to pace myself because as usual life has to go on around my creativity.

Talking about creativity, I have rediscovered my love for home cooking. This may have been due to having to eat my husbands meals since being in hospital, no to be honest I can say his dinners are better than the hospital food, but I do prefer to cook from scratch and his dinners do tend to be limited to processed ready made pies etc... It has probably been coupled with the fact that I love home cooked veggies and after my op I had to keep things moving as it were.

We are falling into a new equilibrium of sharing roles too. I can no longer do very heavy lifting. So at last I am learning to delegate and ask for help where as once apon a time I would just dive in and struggle.

Hubby is also going to have to work very hard to get the garden well nourished with manure and other substances to lighten the heavy clay soil, we made a good attempt at this early last year, (being our first year here) but I have been told that I can't dig heavy clay anymore because of the strain it will cause me; and believe me I don't want to go through that operation again. I do however enjoy gardening so I will have to pace myself there too

I am hoping that hubby will start to encourage our 13 year old to do some of the garden as we grow our own veg now, he did try last year by buying some Giant pumpkin seeds, my husband ended up planting these and growing them, our son did however take an interest in making the pumpkin into an evil looking lantern once it had grown in time for Halloween. I managed to make a lovely curry with the flesh of the pumpkin.

We are still home educating, I did wonder if we would be nearly one year on. Talking about one year on, my 13 year old has only this week been harrased by the bullies once more over the internet and he is not sure how the so and so's managed to find out his details, I wonder if there will ever be an end to all of this. Just let anyone tell me he would be better off at school. In the short year that we have lived back down south I have realised that the state of the schools in Kent have really deteriorated. There is no real discipline or respect, I'm not just talking about the children either, the teachers down here have proved to me that they have also dropped their standards of respect towards the children too. I see no hope in the future for the next generations, not unless the parents take back responsibility for their children's education. Well, enough of that.

I am hoping to take some pictures of my work in the near future so that I can continue this blog in the way I intended originally. When I do put some more work on here I would appreciate any feedback as this is why I am writing this blog. A rather late wish to you all for a very Happy New Year.

Lets Create The beginning

2007-09-29T19:58:00.001+01:00

Well, this is the beginning, the name, first, I couldn't think of a more appropriate one than this, it was the name I was going to give to a business that I was once going to start, it was going to be holding art workshops with children in schools, a bit like a residency with a difference, it never happened, although I do still occasionally hold art workshops.

Me, well, I've always done a bit of this and a bit of that, I did settle on something in my mid 30's it was always to be so, that I would go into the art world, allbeit late in life. Opportunity doesn't always knock early for some of us. I decided at some point that my art school training was not just about earning a living although I have done that along the way, just to prove that it can be done in the Creative Arts.

I figured that University is about education for life as well, when I say life, I mean about learning about yourself and about the way to live life to suit your nature and desires. What is the point of becoming intellectually broadened if it is only to fulfill the needs of some mind numbing employment.

Philosophically speaking, I wonder how many people have really considered what we trade in life for the money we are paid. We give up hours of our life, we get stressed, we miss our family, do we actually look back and feel fulfilled at the end of the day, or the end of our lives? No, I feel too many of us actually sell ourselves quite short when I think what we give and weigh it against what we receive. Perhaps if we tried to live more simply we might feel better about ourselves. Anyway, enough of the Philosophy. I only thought of all this because I am at present home educating my son of 13 years and I am wondering what his future career will hold for him. I used to teach in secondary schools and I do wonder what we expect from education today and whether it really prepares the next generation for the new world we are moving towards. New Technology and all that. It's all moving so fast I wonder if we can ever keep up. I read somewhere that what is wrong with education today is that it is always changing and this means that each generation of parents are excluded from understanding what their children are learning. I think this is so true. Anyway, I write all this because it is good to take stock of where I am at present in life. Yes, my biggest task at the moment is to try to give my son everything he needs to get an education about the world in which he will work. I hope he makes the right choices for him.

When, I have fewer commitments in that direction I hope I will be able to really get to grips with my own work. My biggest desire in life has been to create. To be an artist, yes I know I have a degree that says that's what I am, letters BA.(Hons) Textiles. That's only really true though if I continue to practice my art. One of my art teachers said, ' You are only as good as your last piece of work' That stuck with me. It made me feel that I should always be practicing, but that's what I desire anyway. It has given me the justification I need when others expect me to just turn my degree into a wage.

My creative studies have given me and my family much much more than just a wage. It's not always been apparent to everyone but as I said on my profile I am still growing and I do believe that is a merit in itself these days, especially when you have a child relatively late in life, I need to be able to keep up.

Well enough of the philosophy as I said way back.

Now to the important bit. I am on here because I would like to record how I feel about my work and I would like to invite others to tell me what they feel, I need to be less isolated as an artist. I need feed back from other practitioners. So that's why I am going to write this blog and share images of my work. The images will not be in any particular order so I will add work when I have pictures available. At present I only have one on my PC so it's a good a place to start as any other:

The image above is a picture of a present I made for an elderly cousin of mine. I know she liked it but that's not what its important to me here. When I said that I would like feedback, I meant just that, I don't want just to know whether someone likes my work or not, I need to have a real critique. It's hard to know how others really see your work and all I hope for is honesty, otherwise, how on earth can I make progress, I need to improve, to do that I need feedback, so please, not just on this, but on all future images, if you have any comments at all I would love to hear them. Good or bad, so long as they are polite, I will take constructive criticism and hopefully my work will grow with me. Thanks for reading my ramblings, do come back again soon. Tricks