2021 CQ Journal Quilts : INDIGO January to April

 I've been making  Journal Quilts every year  since 2003 ( and with Contemporary  Quilt  of QGBI   since 2007) .  This year  they are  to be of a  theme and shape(s)  of your own choosing  but designed  so that at the end of the year they  can be joined together in some way  for possible exhibition.   My favourite / most successful   set of  JQ's   is from  2013 when I chose 'Indigo' as my theme  so that is what I've chose to revisit  but deciding on size/ shapes  took a lot of pondering on graph paper!  I decided in the end on  a combination of : 8 x 8", 10 x 10" , 8 x 10", 10 x 8"   which  I hope will give me enough scope for experimenting.   So far I'm on track , having completed  January  to April  and  May's the current piece of ' trainstitching' 

January ( Jellyfish Bloom ) is wet bulb thermometer wicks stitched onto shibori dyed section of old quilt.

 February ( Hidden Depths)  is monoprint of net on silk layered with indigo dyed wadding and linen tablecloth , kantha stitched.

 March ( StitchResistRipples) Stitching back into a piece of Mokume ( 'woodgrain' ) shibori was almost as time consuming as doing the stitch resist ! Combined with a monoprint and a small scrap of Ndop stitch resist indigo from Cameroon.

April ( Thunderbolt Pier ) A couple of years ago  the ' Edgy Stitchers' ( CQKent)  had an outing to Chatham Historic Dockyard  as inspiration for  our exhibition later in the year.  This is  a recycled sample based  on photo of 'Thunderbolt Pier' , manipulated in Photoshop, printed on fabric  and  fused  to background of quilted silk arashi shibori.

CQ Journal Quilts 2019

Been catching up on my CQ Journal Quilts for September to December  and then looking through  my  blog posts realised I hadn't posted any of them here ( though I did post them on the dedicated albums on Facebook page ). Bad blogger ! 

The ' rules' this year  were A4 :with different patchwork/ sewing techniques Jan - April; alternative ' fabrics' eg paper May- August; different surface design techniques: Sep - Dec. I mainly repurposed old  or part started samples  

January 'Pebbles'  ( applique )   

February 'Spiral' ( logcabin) 

March 'Woodgrain' (chenille )

April ' Choppy Seas' ( pieced offcuts and trimmings )

May ' Meanwhile 1' ( Abaca tissue and paper) 

June ' Meanwhile 2' ( Abaca tissue and paper) 

July 'Frottage 1' ( Colourcatchers) 

August 'Frottage 2' ( Colourcatchers)

September 'Monoprint' 

October 'Iranian Door' ( printed photograph and monoprint) 

November 'Limpet Stack' ( appliqued photograph on fabric ) 

December ' Limpets: interiors/exteriors' ( appliqued photograph on fabric) 

EDAM Week 3 Surface Divides: Layering Concepts

The final  session  of   3 week project 'Surface Divides'   involved   moving into abstraction working from details and fragments of drawings  already generated   from the  cross-section projects of the previous 2 weeks  including supporting photos, objects and images. As I'd missed the second week, Amanda  had helpfully  sent me the handout and some pictures of other students work had been loaded on the course Padlet site   which gave me an idea of what had been covered. 

 

As the emphasis seemed to be on working from 'paper architecture'  rather than the fruit and veg of the first session ,  I chose  to work from a couple of photos from my Puglia course  last week :  a bamboo structure on the beach at Calafetente  near Pologna San Vito  and my  drawing  on fabric of a squashed plant pot , drawn  without looking ( and I brought a plant pot  with me!) 

Christine Hiebert

Rem Koolhas 

Stephen Talasnik

We looked a number of artists  that demonstrated a sense  or illusion of space and depth, use of tension or contrasts and  looking at form and content  both planned and accidental  eg templates unfolding  and ideas around navigation.  I hadn't been able to get to the  recommended exhibition of Julie Mehretu  but I've seen and admired her work before , both in BM print exhibition and at Tate Modern . It was also good to have  a reminder of  composition structures.  

 We then spent the morning experimenting with techniques - wash (ink and acrylic  so not working on pure white surface ) ,   monoprint , stamping, transfer techniques , stencils etc 

 Drawing into printing ink and taking monoprint than ink  drawing over the top 

Drawing  with ink over 'ghost print' 

Prints on tissue paper overlaid over drawing and transfer prints.

Transfer printing was my favourite  technique, new to me  and involved working quickly. On a photocopy  of  the bamboo structure  attached to the drawing with strips of masking tape to act as a hinge, I painted the lines with acrylic paint and then flipped it over and rubbed it down. I loved the marks this method produced  

In the afternoon   we worked on a final piece up to A1 scale using layering techniques to give a flat surface ( the aim was to achieve some of the visual effects of layering  without relying on collage or physical overlays).  

As usual I struggled scaling  up : the one above is A2, the one below A1.  We only had about an hour and a half to  do it in and  not having  a detailed drawing from last week to work from , the composition is appalling !  But there are areas of interest if you  zoom in or crop the image  and   the course at this stage is about experimenting with new techniques and concepts  and I'm enjoying being challenged!