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

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

July Challenge: Impressionism/Post Impressionism.

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.