Korea: East and West - SDA Journal

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from Surface Design Association (SDA)  about renewing my subscription ( I've been a member since 2006).  With regret, I've  come to the decision that  at $75  + $20 postage I no longer afford  it .I'm not making best use of my membership,  and although I've dabbled with other textiles (like the infamous 'Taplow Vase'), art quilts are my primary  interest and membership of SAQA  ( along with CQ) best serves this need.

My main reason for joining was hoping that some day I could attend a conference and learn Pojagi techniques with Chunghie Lee . So it seems fitting that the last issue of their excellent journal I receive has Korean textiles as it's theme and it's an absolute cracker with many innovative works, particularly  the  3D structures such as 'cloudscape' below and the work of  Do Ho Suh 

 Cloudscape -Sojie Feliciano Solomon  

As I've said before, I've long appreciated Pojagi techniques, making this door curtain with machine stitched seams many years ago ( unfortunately it was 'site specific' ,there's no place suitable for it in our current house ) . I really enjoyed the Masterclass  with Chunghie Lee I  participated in at FoQ in 2009 but  although I'm still intrigued by layers of organza (such as recent 'Dislocation' piece) I haven't taken  Pojagi  techniques  further   (unlike Molly Bullick who also attended that class and has used them to fantastic effect).
I'm coming to the conclusion that  this may be because they belong to another culture  and I'm more concerned with exploring techniques and marks personal to me ( not just because  my stitching is getting larger and larger, which wouldn't meet  with approval!) I do however have plans for some of the semi translucent Japanese fabrics I bought with Pojagi in mind following interesting discussions with Ruth Axson at Rydal Hall retreat.

100 metres of thread

Yesterday I posted my entry for CQ Horizons exhibition at Festival of Quilts. I was stitching the facing and sleeve on late of Tuesday night - I'd taken time off work on Monday and Tuesday to do that but couldn't resist adding extra stitching -it's addictive!! I reckon I've used  over 100 metres of thread, estimated from  counting the lines on the back (above).

 I did the majority of the stitching (thanks Hilary for the photo of me in action!)  while on  Summer school retreat at Farncombe , a joy to be among supportive company in a peaceful, beautiful landscape, well fed and watered.

Re-purposing old textiles combined with painting with acrylics and hand stitch  brought together what I love best . I've  still got some of this old red and white strippy quilt left  and am pondering how best to use it in a similar fashion

More Bookwraps

On Saturday I took the bookwraps I've made so far to meeting of Thames Valley Contemporary Textile  group  to  encourage others to make some for the tombola next year at FoQ. There was quite a lot of interest,  and also a few requests on where  I got my  A5 sketchbooks (Seawhite of Brighton 'Starter').  I'd stocked up at the London Graphic Centre  but they're also available online directly  .

I used up yet another project ( an experiment with steam fixed silk paints)  and worked  out a cunning means of fastening - pony tail elastic bands!!

The first of the zigzag offcuts covers worked well  with the bonus of an interesting inner surface of various backing fabrics.

Working out ideas for hardback sketchboooks, I incorporated a sleeve at one end but a strip/band  at the other so it will accommodate different thicknesses of  book. Finished this one off  with binding and a ribbon.

Adapting the idea  of overlapping  sleeves I use for cushion backs, this  wrap using cut up  ophan quilt  blocks was very quick and easy - much easier  than binding. I'm going to prepare this as a tutorial for the 'patterns'  page on the website, with a variation incorporating the strip/band.  

SAQA Benefit Auction and other news

The SAQA Benefit auction of my 12 inch quilt 'Indigo Waves' is  now open for bidding ( page 2b).  Just sold for $350!!!
 Another indigo piece 'Rules the Waves' is  featured on the Contemporary Quilt Website  - it was in the Guild challenge ('What Britain means to you' ) at the FoQ.
The TVCT exhibition 'Whatever Floats Your Boat' which includes my 'Taplow Vase' currently has another outing at the National Needlework Archive.

On Monday I gave a talk (Powerpoint and lots of quilts) at  Dulwich Quilters meeting (thanks Khurshid for inviting me). I had a lovely time, they were so hospitable and asked so many interesting questions.  I hope to get to their exhibition in November. Many of them said their favourite quilt was 'City Girls Dream of the Sea' - it's  mine too and lives on our landing.  Most people won't be aware of it as it was completed in 2000. It won 3rd place  at Great Northern Quilt Show in Harrogate   and make it on the cover of Popular Patchwork but  hasn't been on show since.  I've made so many seascape quilts now, it would be wonderful to have the opportunity to put them all on display somewhere, including the older pieces like this one.

I've just booked for the Quilters Guild of the British isles 2013 AGM and Conference at the University of Nottingham. My first AGM was in Paignton in 1987 and for quite a while I went every year as it was the only large quilt gathering going on and a great way of making new friends and meeting up with old ones. It then turned into every other year and then more infrequently as there were more and more quilt events which seemed more relevant to me and competed for my limited time and funds.

While I enjoy the lectures and activities at the AGM conference, it is having top quality workshops which is what now attracts me (or not).
My last AGM was in 2008 in Cambridge when the draw was an excellent workshop with Charlotte Yde - I continue to use the curved piecing methods she taught.
So I'm very much looking forward to coming to Nottingham for a workshop with Uta Lenk. There's been a lot of grumbling about the price of the weekend  but compared to the costs of workshops at say FoQ it is excellent value and I get all the benefits of the conference too! ( apart from anything else Nottingham  is where I spent 3 years doing research for a PhD)

Meanwhile, the bathroom is getting there- a few setbacks but the tiling is mostly done and towel rail installed. We're getting a little tired of  going downstairs to the loo and the bath is at an increasingly jaunty angle  but it will be worth it!

National Quilt Museum USA 2012

 I'm thrilled to say that 'Strindberg Shore' will be going into an exhibition highlighting UK contemporary quilts  at the National Quilt Museum, Paducah, USA next year! Appropriate as it was made for QGBI  'In the Spotlight' exhibition on behalf of Region 1 (London) at Festival of Quilts 2007.

 A turning point in many ways (it was made during the time I was moving house!) it was  my first large scale foray into painting with acrylics on quilted fabric. Working with African fabrics brought the challenge of how to mark for stitching (I used  more than one spool of 1/8 inch masking tape ) and then after months of stitching the sharp intake of breath knowing there was no going back once I applied the first brush stroke....

 You might find it difficult to believe that these  fabrics lie underneath the paint ( sample above and below,  before and after) but they make all the difference to the texture and vibrancy.

Masterclass in Composition and Thoughts on Colour

Among the preparations I made for Elizabeth Barton's Masterclass was ( as instructed) , files containing images that inspired me, copies of 'good' paintings by artists of the same subject. I had a folder of waves, another of vases, a portfolio of images at speed from a train. I settled for using the one on doors as being more graphic they seemed easier subjects for the exercises. Given the plethora of pictures I had, it was surprisingly easy to choose an image from the village at the top of the Anovreti Gorge in the Peloponnese. It hadn't changed much from when I did a watercolour of it 8 years previously apart from peeling a little more and that particular Greek blue has stuck in my mind for decades Laying tracing paper over the photos, drawing then photocopying and cropping resulted in this image which got the thumbs up during the critique process from my peers. The combination of diagonals and wonky lines is particularly appealing.

On day 2 we discussed the importance of tonal studies, not something I've done much of but potentially very useful. I only had time for one stab at it so not quite balanced but definately worth pursuing. It also came in handy for my painting course!

Interesting thoughts from Elizabeth on colour - on using ones that sum up the emotions associated with the subject rather than being representational. Something I definately need to work on in helping me move towards abstraction. Co-incidentally, a post on this topic today from Robert Genn in his Painters Keys. Also an apt quote from 'Bright Earth ' by Philip Ball which I'm currently rereading

"The seventeenth -century French writer Roger de Piles clearly felt that painters re-created the landscape to suit their own vision- to such an extent that this 'imagined reality' impinged upon the artists very perception of nature:'Their eyes see the objects of nature coloured as they are used to painting them.' "

That's me! Seeing purple in everything!

I digress - talking about colour always does that for me. I argued for using 'Greek Blue' for this piece because it is so much about the colour itself but it would be interesting to try a different palette of colours eg reds- that's where Photoshop comes in handy.

A useful part of Elizabeth's class was the the one-to -one attention and opportunity to get another opinion. As part of the selection of artists intepretation of doors I'd brought along this newspaper clipping about Prunella Clough. Following on from our'homework' looking at artists and quilters we admired, I was more able to articulate why I like this piece - the bright fine detail inserted on top of a looser , larger scale painting, the interest this generates.

This made me think of how I could combine texture of peeling doors with image of the whole area without having the same level of detail all over. With Elizabeth's input looking at my photos, we combined a photo of the door area with a photo of frayed sample done for QuiltWOW workshop on distressed doors. Definate possibilities!

Leaks,Breaks, and Breakthroughs

Following Tiggy's example, I took a photo of my selection of 2008 Journal Quilts before they went off on their travels, not at Minerva for me (tho' my 'Thin Blue Line' piece is there) but up to the Contemporary Quilt stand at Festival of Quilts.

We were given instructions on how to join them with strips of white netting which allows easy folding. What a great idea: flexible, stable and unobtrusive. It opens up the possibility of doing a 90cm rather than 60cm piece for the current CQ challenge 'Breakthrough' - acrylic paint cracks and creases easily as I found to my cost when a quilt was returned to me folded rather than rolled. But if I could use hinged sections.....

I've also made a breakthrough in my FoQ entry this weekend. After playing with different sized ovals, I went back to drawing from life onto several tracing paper sheets laid over a photo of the quilt so far and found that what worked best was smaller ovals but more of them. Reminded me of the value of going back to source material when inspiration falters.

So I've been slaving over a hot sewing machine ( although a least it's not so hot outside now ) The problem is that I've broken a toe on my 'pedal foot'! I stubbed it on the bedroom door on Monday and as the pain and bruising had increased by Wednesday, went to A&E. Not much to be done apart from strap it to it's neighbour and keep taking the painkillers ('red medicine' helps too! ) I did consider posting a photo but I think that would count as 'too much information'. The rather impressive bruise colours might make their way into a Journal Quilt
Apart from my poorly computer being taken away to be checked out, the 3rd bad luck incident this week was finding at 4 in the morning (when the weather broke with a deluge) water dripping from the ceiling in the upstairs landing. Roofer came to check it out on Saturday morning and is due back anytime now with his 'cat ladder' to replace some tiles and clear a blocked gutter. If it stops raining ......

Stitching, Sunflowers and Pimm's

Another tantilising glimpse of my FoQ entry! I've finished stitching and have decided it is too complex to include a mid layer of organza, so am now planning the top (painted ) layer by drawing on sheets of tracing paper over a photo of the completed top. I didn't get started until today with distractions of gardening and related activities - somehow 1/2 an hour always turns into 3 ! I only went out to water some plants,then while I was filling the watering can , noticed a couple of nice ceramic pots with dead plants, in down the side of the house- empty them out and replant them and it would save a trip to the garden centre. After that I hacked back some vegetation at the end of the garden so Ian could dig out some more turfs. With hazel hurdle in position (tho' not yet secured) it's beginning to take shape.
I don't know what made me think of it but I suddenly remembered some sunflower fabric and panels that Ian's cousin Heather in Canada had sent us for a wedding present. Perfect for garden tablecloth and cushions and smartens up the inherited plastic furniture no end. Still got to sew some matching napkins (or 'doilies' as they're known in this house) but I'm not a huge fan despite usually getting food down my front. Being the end of the month, we've run out of beer and rose wine for spritzers so was reduced to looking through the backs of cupboards. Found Ouzo for Ian (I'm not keen) and then hit gold - an unopened bottle of Pimm's I bought in Duty Free a few years ago, as an example of a typical British drink for a conference fuction in Hungary. Dispatched Ian to the corner shop for R Whites Lemonade and with mint or lemon balm from the garden and lemon and cucumber we feel we're at Wimbledon.Cheers!