A Present of Family Significance and a new approach.

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

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

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.

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

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......

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