Moore Dismembered ( and More!)

The Henry Moore exhibition at Kew has finished and is being dismantled - I shall really miss having them around and wish I'd taken more opportunities to draw them. The Double Oval was one of the first pieces to go and as I didn't have a camera with me, missed the chance to take pictures of the combination of sculpture and crane ( both having been subjects of recent quilts!) . I've had my camera with me since as the sculptures are gradually dug up and moved to the end of the Broadwalk for crating up. They have fences and security staff ( not just for health and safety) so can't get too close but I rather like the strange juxtapositions and the 'bodies' taped up like bandages. It's like a cross between a zoo and a casualty department.

This weekend I had a frantic stitching and painting session and finished off my 'Thin Blue Line' challenge piece - I'm calling it 'Gythion Glow'. I'm not sure about the etiquette of sharing completed quilts before submitting them to exhibition so I shall just show a glimpse of the sky. I'm generally pleased with it - there were some problems with scale-up even tho' I'd done a 1/4 size sample. I need more practice mixing blues , the sea part didn't work so well but you'll have to wait to assess for yourselves.

My other recent project ( which I can now reveal as she's received it!) was a 60th birthday present for Sue. I knew she wouldn't want yet another cushion and wanted to make something that was useful and reflected our shared interests ( and her love of purple)

In the end I made a sketchbook cover with 60 samples of purple fabric from my stash, including bits of seams and buttonholes from shared charity shop buys , fabric she's given me and some African fabrics. I'm slightly ashamed to say that even with my recent stash edit, finding sufficient fabrics was no problem. I could also easily do the same for other colours.

I glued down the inch squares and zig-zagged them to a batik background (ebay purchase!) and used vilene as batting and made a matching card from a photo applied to monoprint tissue.

I've been interested to see the results on various blogs of a journal-making course run by Sue Bleiweiss. It's something I'd like to have a go at as a completed art project but for actual sketching in my view there's nothing to beat Daler Rowney hardback sketchbooks spiral bound as scrapbook/'lab-book' or casebound for drawing/painting out and about ( just have to watch that they don't have perforated sheets-I hate those). Having worked out how to do it, I now want to make covers for my own sketchbooks- perhaps with board inserts so that I can use the very cheap student sketchbooks available in floppy excercise book format.
If I could work out a way of having 2 extra hands that would be useful what with juggling my water pot ( lantern with handle) , watercolour box ('bijou' with thumb ring ) , sketchbook with bulldog clips (to keep page from flapping) PITT pens and No 10 travel brush ( not forgetting tissue to mop up the drips). I've tried substituting a water filled brush pen for the brush and water pot - ok for smudging watercolour pencils but not very satisfying brush marks.

Off to Cambridge on Friday with Sue for Quilters Guild AGM.- we're doing a workshop with Charlotte Yde and going on the coach outing to Ely. Should be fun!

Transformation

Well I know that snow was forecast (one of those multi-purpose weather symbols that could encompass most conditions) but it still came as a surprise. It's intriguing how the snow unifies various elements such as the conservatory, tool shed roof and next doors awning, to transform the view from the mundane.

Not sure how far I'll progress with the acrylic overpainting today on my Thin Blue Line piece as the white blanket on the conservatory roof rather blocks the light. It's beginning to melt (interesting patterns to enhance with Photoshop ) so may get the opportunity later.

I ventured outdoors armed with umbrella, the snow makes even the ugly crazy paving attractive . " I don't suppose you took the compost out?"says Ian with a sigh.

I looked for our resident robin in the Kerria japonica thicket but he was quiet for once ( I'm used to getting a ticking-off whenever I hack back some of his habitat)

What a difference from Friday when I walked around at lunchtime in shirtsleeves! I 'd taken my camera to work to take pictures of the dismantling of the Henry Moore exhibition ( more about that in another post) when I came across a skip behind 'Climbers and Creepers' containing huge quantities of discarded children's artwork. I dashed back to the lab to get a pair of scissors to cut off a selection, much to the amusement of my staff.

It looks as if it is poster paint (now very powdery) applied with feet, hands, etc to very large pieces of calico (I couldn't unwrap most of it , just some pieces from the edges). I prefer the backs in most cases where the colour has partially seeped through.

The question is now having rescued it, what to do with it? I was thinking of washing some of it to see if some of the stain remains but wondered how I could stabilise the paint?

Skylines

I learnt the trick of inserting straight cut inserts in curves from Alison Schwabe on a course at 'La Maison du Patchwork' in France in 2004. She is a master of this technique, slightly altering the width or putting tiny insets in the strips in her 'ebb and flow' series , although it is 'Mirage' which makes my heart sing! I put this into practice for the 'Silver Threads' challenge for 25th Anniversary of the Quilters Guild of the British Isles but haven't used it again until recently, adding some variety of colour line to my 'Thin Blue Line' piece besides stitching. This will also provide the colour cues when I come to paint it .

I liked what I'd achieved so decided to use some of the leftover strips I'd cut and insert them in the other kimono fabric I've been using which has an amazing mix of colour in the threads it is woven with. This, after stitching with a twin needle in bright variagated thread is my March CQ Journal Quilt 'Skylines'

Interesting effect on the back from the 'zig-zag' of the twin needle.

Having just looked at Alison's blog, I was a bit uncomfortable to find that my 'Skylines' shares a lot of similarities with her recent 'ebb and flow' piece. I don't want to paint this piece as I don't feel it needs it but I almost feel I have to, to put my mark on it, to distiguish it.

Rock number 59 - Zhang Wang

My head is buzzing after an inspirational day up in town, at the Contemporary Quilt AGM and some serious retail therapy at London Graphic Centre ( sketchbooks , Golden acrylics and media ). Apart from lots of catching up and admiring other peoples progress with Journal Quilts and 'Thin Blue Line' pieces, the afternoon lecture by Alice Kettle was thought-provoking and awe-inspiring. What particularly struck a chord with me was the emphasis on physical engagement with colour , her painterly approach and and looking at sculpture to study the interplay of light on surface. I've certainly gained an appreciation of the latter with my 6 months close proximity with Henry Moore bronzes at Kew. En route to Covent Garden I popped into the British Museum and was bowled over by a contemporary sculpture by Zhang Wang associated with the First Emperor exhibition that summed up all Alice had been saying about light and surfaces.

It is situated in the Great Court, made of very shiny stainless steel, modelled around rock formations (such as are venerated in Chinese landscapes)

It picked up the colour of banners around it but what really fascinated me was how it distorted the very regular geometric patterns of the glazing in the Great Court to something far more organic. Magical! I should say that all these photos have not been manipulated in any way although you could be forgiven for thinking it was all created in Photoshop.

CyberFyber Postcard

I've finished my exchange postcard to return to Susan Lenz. It was the first time I've done a postcard - I thought having worked at A4 scale for many years it wouldn't prove too difficult but although I enjoyed solving some of the technical problems that arose, I can't say I warmed to the technique.



I finished the back off with a digital print ( 'second' quality) and practised using the machine to stitch my signature (normally you can't read my writing so that's a step forward!) However it hid the stitching that I'd done - I like the backs of my quilts to be as interesting as the fronts and they normally are with the amount of stitching that goes into them

I used Timtex to give more rigidity than wadding but it's really wierd to stitch. It's a bit like a shock absorber, swallowing the 'hills and vales' that you get when quilting with wadding. When I was trimming it down , you could see the stitches embedded when viewed in cross section.

This lack of dips and rises became more obvious when I came to paint with acrylics over the stitching (the front base was a slubby kimono fabric) Instead of the stitching pulling up the fabric and wadding, the stitches stood proud on the surface so I didn't get the variation in paint texture I aim for.

Given the limitations I was quite pleased how it turned out but I won't rush to do another.

Thin Blue Line Started

A couple of weeks ago I did a 1/4 scale sample piece to test out ideas and fabrics for Contemporary Quilt 'Thin Blue Line' challenge. I made it double sided - both main fabrics used were kimono/yakuta ( conveniently already a narrow width ) and painted with acrylics both sides. The woollen slubby fabric didn't work that well (at least on this scale - its delicacy is more suited to postcards etc) but I was pleased with the results on dark blue/black patterned cotton yakuta fabric which has a slightly starched finish So the Easter weekend was spent scaling up! The original inspiration was of boats moored at Gythion in Greece with the 'thin blue line' of hills in the background. I snipped sections out of the photograph to compress it down to a composition and proportions I was happy with and matched some of the colour in fabrics to insert as thin strips. Having to work to a fixed size of 30 x 120cm meant I had to use some maths and measuring to PLAN where I was going to insert them - not my usual style at all (normally I judge by eye and let things evolve)

I used the technique shown by Alison Schwabe - the strips are 3/4 inch wide and using a scant 1/4 inch seam allowance and careful adjusting and matching under the machine, can achieve gentle curves without using bias strips.

I've just started quilting( using the same fabric on the back although without the inserted strips means that if it all goes horribly wrong when painting, I get a second shot!) I'm using Vandana variagated thread and a double or triple needle. I managed to break 2 new double needles by not re-adjusting settings before inserting the needles - blame the Cava consumed!

Next steps are quilting from the back with perle in the bobbin to emphasise the boat masts and some serious hand stitching

Crane Construction

My February Contemporary Quilt 12 x 12 Journal Quilt is based on the cranes on the GWQ site that I see every day on the journey into work. They produce fascinating angles and silhouettes and I like the variety in size and colour (there's at least 8 of them). I played around in Photoshop to simplify the shapes and patterns.

Rather than using applique for the cranes I wanted to piece them so that they were part and parcel of the final piece. Despite fairly careful thought and planning there was some 'unsewing' along the way. First of all I added sky strips to the crane uprights and then cut into the background fabric. So far so good but I came a bit unstuck doing the same with the diagonals - far more difficult to match up ( thank goodness for a sharp new seam ripper!) I thought the insertion of the last red upright would be straight forward but as the strip was wider then the seam allowances had to chop off some of the width so the diagonals didn't look too odd. Perhaps applique would have been simpler but I did achieve a slight 3d quality to the cranes by pressing the seams inwards.

Next the quilting. After establishing some basic lines, I worked mainly from the back using silk buttonhole and cotton perle thread in the bobbin, interpreting some of the patterns in the gridwork in the cranes (they're really complex and change according to what angle you're looking at them ). The sky was quilted following the patterns and swirls in the background fabric but in retrospect something simpler would have been more effective

And then I painted over it in acrylics! I really like what I achieved on the cranes themselves - just what I was hoping for, with the quilting and background colour showing through the paint. The sky was less successful - mainly as the quilting was too fussy

Overall I was pleased with the results , especially the composition and the patterning on the cranes - definately scope for further development of ideas. I also had a go at attaching a facing using the techniques explained on 'Jeri-Rigged' blog. This worked reasonably well for a first attempt but another time I'd use thinner strips for this sized piece.