Train Stitching Part 2 : a beginning

 After several false starts and ideas that didn't come to fruition, I've finally got going  on a new 'train stitching' piece. I began it on my birthday, gathering together some scraps to take with me and pin to the  background fabric 

I didn't want to replicate exactly 'Wind Me In The Sea' ( detail below) which I'm delighted to say has been accepted for 7th European Quilt Triennial  which will open in Heidelberg in September but I like the idea of using indigo again but combined with some other colours . I tried different combinations  of colours and materials for scraps and backgrounds  but nothing was really gelling .   

Then looking again at the work I'd put together for Cwilt Cymru 'Traces' exhibition  with it's use of Musa's kola  fabrics  with indigo shibori   along with  paintings  seen in Margate and the colour palette I'd used for 'Painting the Novel' , I  made the connection that the subtle hues of the shoreline are what  grabs me at the moment. Working with a restrictive palette gives more opportunities to explore the tonal range, shape and composition as well as mark-making. I'll probably use the same range of colours for course with Gizella Warburton in  a couple of weeks.  

So I've  started gathering together scraps into  one of my African baskets and am  experimenting with wrapping some strips around the kasuri background fabric .  Lots of decisions to make - how many strips of kasuri to use, whether to join them together in a loop or as separate strips,  what colour threads to use. But the process is what's fun and at last I'm excited to be stitching again. 

May to August Journal Quilts

 After months of  preparing house for sale and then maintaining it  in 'show house'  viewings condition, I'm FINALLY  regaining studio time and space and actually using my sewing machines and 'sew-ezi' table finishing my CQ  Journal Quilts before deadline of end of August. It's been a bit frustrating  tracking down where threads and equipment  are as my studio was set up to look tidy rather than for practical use but it's proving useful in thinking about planning  layout for new studio space in Faversham.
After worrying whether I'd  complete 4 quilts in time , I've actually made 6, all based on the 'mark-making' from my 2 City Lit courses  ( Printmaking and Develop your Drawing) and CQ Summer School  which took place during this period of time.

  Photo of Collagraph of  feather printed on fabric and applied to monoprint of threads

 Photo of A1  drawing in graphite  of pewter pot from multiple viewpoints, heavily machine quilted with variegated threads

 ' Landscape' of layered lines  achieved through fabric collage on wool constructed on CQ Summer School

 Another fabric collage using fabrics with marks ( 1 commercial, 1  discharge  fabric from Dorothy Caldwell masterclass). Quilted with fancy machine embroidery  stitches ( hearts and stars)  with connecting threads left.  Needs more practice but this technique has possibilities in producing a different set of marks to my hand stitching and usual machine quilting.

 My favourite drawings from CQ Summer School of positive and negative circles built up of tiny pencil marks interpreted in black stitches on boiled wool fabric purchased in Shrewsbury. Edge finished with blanket stitch. Mainly sewn on train journeys! This fabric is lovely to sew even though it stretches, I'll be doing more stitching experiments  with it.  

Photos  from CQ  Summer School drawings printed on hand dyed grey cotton : spiral in ink; circle of fine pencil marks ( as above); graphite stick filling  square with tiny white circle left.  Quilted with spiral lines

My next set of 4 ( or more) journal quilts will be based on  my eco dyed/ printed  fabrics

Indigo Journal Quilts for 2013

My collection of Journal Quilts for this year for CQ Challenge . Apart from sticking to a 12" x 8" size and submitting onto yahoo group on time, we could choose our own theme.  Mine was indigo and I've enjoyed experimenting with different types of indigo cloth , both real and manipulated in Photoshop to look like indigo. Some of them were sample pieces for larger quilts, others used up scraps from those quilts, most of them were about mark-making and responding to the cloth itself. I still have a basket of pieces  and a head full of ideas.

Joining the dots and finding the edges

 My attempt  - Joining the Dots

 Turkey Tolson TJUPURRULA Straightening spears at Ilyingaungau

 

A weekend of drawing, painting and quilts. On Friday I got back a little earlier than expected from a meeting in Swindon  so managed to squeeze in an hour at the RA's 'Art of Australia' before heading to my class  at the National Gallery. As when  I visited the Australian print  exhibition at the British Museum, and thinking about my recent course with Dorothy Caldwell , it was the mark-making  that really struck me. More in another post once I've looked in more detail at the catalogue  and deciphered the notes in my sketchbook! What I did do while it was fresh in my mind is to have a go at the marks made by Turkey Tolson - alternate lines of yellow and red ochre which shimmered with energy.  Smearing dots of paint together while  seemed to work reasonably well - one to explore further.

At the National Gallery we were looking at  how artists defined the edges of their objects - with sharp defined lines or with soft loose brushwork and attempting to portray these qualities in pencil.

For someone who likes to work loosely, I actually enjoyed following the patterns and lines of 'Agony in the Garden' by Andrea Mantegna   more than trying to copy Rubens work. Maybe it's  the medium (still not sure what I think of pencil!), more probably because I was tired after a busy week but I definately ran out of steam and accuracy!  

After a long night's sleep , with  Ian at his parents, I spent all of Saturday and Sunday morning  stitching and painting samples and quilts  for Cwilt Cymru 'Connection' exhibition. Then to Henley on Thames in the afternoon to see the 'Water, Water' exhibition  and to stock up on threads at 'Lady Sew and Sew's' warehouse.

Red Knots and Loops

 

Debating what to do when I changed my ideas  for a challenge with the theme 'red', inspiration literally fell from above, with a piece of silk that Reiko Damon gave me on my trip to Japan several years ago falling from the top basket of my stash.  I cut off pieces for sampling, first of all  backing it with  other vintage kimono fabrics then settling for an African tie dye  where the marks show through the pale areas.  

 

Besides extending the original stitch marks of the shibori, I've been having great fun experimentsing with loops and knots  following suggestions in Helen Parrott's 'Mark-Making' book. I love the graphic quality, like quirky calligraphy,  and the shadows cast add to the effect. Now to decide how to use these on the 'real deal' which is already looking pretty sinister like some monstrous red cactus. 

Thread Count



 Reading through  the section on threads and needles in  Helen Parrott's 'Mark-Making' and the article in the latest Quilter by Sheena Norquay on seed stitching, I've been having an audit of what I've got!
The hand threads I like to use best are cotton perle no 8 (or equivalent - House of Embroidery 'Mystique' is a favourite) . I untangled 2 large plastic boxes worth and divided into 4  boxes instead.
I've blogged before about the Gutterman silk buttonhole threads my mum bought in the 70's, a treasure which is a joy to use.

I have several  biscuit tins, it started with cotton quilting threads  and then I've recently discovered Wonderfil 12wt cotton , plain and variegated - a very well behaved thread with a tight twist and slight sheen . It reminded me a bit of  a thinner version of DMC cotton a broder which I also like to use. I have quite a few white and cream threads (including sashiko) which I mainly use to dye my own indigo threads.



My mum was a very keen embroiderer and hoarder. Threads I inherited  range from fine linen to thick 'Perlita' with Anchor soft embroidery and cotton perle 5  along the way. These I mainly use for zig-zagged couched edging to Journal Quilts

I sold/ gave away the goldwork and wool tapestry threads  but held onto the stranded cotton which I thought might come in handy one day. The requirements list for the Dorothy Caldwell workshop include  stranded cotton in black and white. At last, their day has come! Apart from  I don't have those colours......  Just like justifying fabric stashes,  it seems you never have exactly what you need , however large your collection.

Sketchbook Posted

 Just posted my 'Grey Side of Life' sketchbook to Brooklyn Art Library (the deadline was 31 January) after scanning it, taking photos  and saying goodbye ( but at least I might see it again when it tours to London )

 I was even later finishing it than last years  despite my best intentions - I rebound it with handmade and khadi papers months ago!! It contains an eclectic mix of 'proper' drawings  and experiments such as  ink blots and monoprints.

 Mainly though it is about mark making through stitch and copying the stitches in ink. One of the nice things about working on paper is that you get to see the patterns the stitches make on the back too.

2012 Looking Forward with Patience and Doubt

 Yesterday (last year!) , after 6 days of hibernation, we started the acclimatisation programme to the wider world with a visit to the British Museum for the Grayson Perry exhibition. As inspiring and as thought-provoking as I'd hoped and more. We love the British Museum (we had our first date there) the quote from Grayson on "coming on a journey ever time I visit"  resonates, there's always something new to see.  The selection of artifacts from the Museum that he had chosen (and his thoughts on these choices) along with his own work which referenced both them and his inner world  were a fascinating mix.

 I scribbled down phrases that caught my imagination especially on craftsmanship -" a  long and sympathetic hand-on relationship  with material,a relaxed, humble, ever-curious love of stuff"  . It particularly made me think about my own art practises and preferences.  I'd already been pondering on the importance of both using my own images and seeing the 'hand of the maker' in my own work , developing my own unique mark-making. Looking  forward with patience and doubt (in terms of questioning and curiosity) are good starting points for  considering this further although I need to develop my own power words.

 After a leisurely lunch at Savoir Faire (lovely to catch up with  Irene  in between her calculations on how she was going to fit 100 people in for the evening celebrations) we revisited the Museum with fresh eyes.
A slight misunderstanding on the differences between Assyria and Abyssinia led us  after  a detour to the Lion Hunt reliefs to the Egyptian galleries where there were covetable stone palettes in the shapes of animals (the hippo was my favourite) .

With that thought, time to get back to some painting and stitching
Wishing everyone a peaceful and productive 2012.