CQ Suitcase Collection : Indigo Hill Arches ( Henry Moore)

 The ' Suitcase Collections ' of Contemporary Quilt  are very popular and give the opportunity for all kinds of groups or individuals who borrow them  to see a  diverse selection of work.   I submitted  pieces for 2 previous  collections and  for the latest,  'My Favourite Artist'  I chose  Henry Moore. 
So difficult to choose a favourite artist, I like so many! I had intended to do a piece based on the  paintings of Wilhelmina Barnes- Graham  as I'd done  several exercises inspired by her work as part of online class with Elizabeth Barton on  Abstract Art for Quiltmakers . But with the deadline looming, I decided to  cut-down and re-use a piece I made several years ago based on depicting multiple viewpoints of a sculpture.

The Henry Moore sculpture that inspired me , ‘Hill Arches’ ,was part of an exhibition at Kew Gardens in 2007. At the time I as working there as a botanist and I loved having access to these sculptures over many months, able to view them in different lights and viewpoints.  I made several journal quilts exploring ways of  interpreting  a 3D piece in 2D textiles( see below)  I liked how the sculptures and their environment interacted and the marks on many of the bronzes reminded me of stitches.

Two black and white images  of  'Hill Arches' sculpture by Henry Moore  were combined in  Photoshop. This was inkjet printed using 'poster printing' function to split an image over 4 A4 sheets onto hand dyed indigo cotton and silk treated with 'BubbleJet Set'.  Machine quilted with variegated threads, hand stitched with cotton perle thread  

Develop your Drawing 6 : Metamorphosis

Week 6 of  Develop Your Drawing at City Lit  was intriguingly titled 'metamorphosis' 

  After initial warm up   with graphite sticks of drawing cones, spheres , cylinders and cubes with line  only to describe surface   we had a longer  session than normal looking at artists work: Rembrandt's elephant; Da vinci muscles;  Grunewald  folds; Henry Moore's Sheep and ( my favourite) Kathe Kollwitz figures with lines describing form with such sensitivity.

 Then dividing our A1 paper into four  and using HB pencil ( my least favourite drawing implement!)  we drew 2 objects on opposite corners, using only lines to indicate 3D structure. My colander  was rather more successful than the staple gun.

 

Then the 'metamorphosis' , using our imagination to show 2 different stages of change from one object to another:  my 2 were more like  paths of evolution with different bits lost!







Some interesting examples from others  of bloated hammers and bottles turning into hands, mine was very tame by comparison but then there was some good-natured  fighting over the best objects.

Next week we're released into the wild ( well Waterloo bridge)  with our sketchbooks to collect information for the following 2 sessions.  

David Nash at Kew - Installation

 A couple of weeks ago the instillation  of the David Nash sculptures at Kew commenced, starting with the winching into position of 'Oculus Block 2010'  outside the Nash Conservatory . The components of 'Chinese Irons, 2010' look like they're queuing up to get in!

 I've been looking forward to this exhibition enormously - the talk by the artist to staff was very popular and he was a very informative and amusing speaker. Much  as I was inspired by  having the Chihuly and Henry Moore exhibitions here , this is of a different order, mainly because he's working on site producing new work.



It gives a whole new perspective - I'm even looking at the skips with a new eye! I haven't yet been down to the 'wood quarry' but will be doing so very soon.



Light and Shadow- Indigo Hill Arches

Indigo Hill Arches

48 x 36 cm

Two black and white images  of  'Hill Arches' sculpture by Henry Moore combined in  Photoshop, printed on hand dyed indigo cotton and silk treated with 'BubbleJet Set'.  Machine quilted with variagated threads, hand stitched with 'House of Embroidery' Cotton perle thread .  

There's nothing like a deadline to concentrate the mind! When the theme of 'Light and Shadow was set in the 'International Quilt Challenge' I had lots of grandious ideas of continuing  the idea of the 'Taplow Vase' in looking at some pewter vases from multiple viewpoints and on  large scale. Then with reveal date looming and nothing started I remembered a  top I'd put together for a demonstration on inkjet printing using 'poster printing' function to split an image over 4 A4 sheets ( I subsequently used that technique to print 16 sheets of organza for my  'Rich as Honesty' quilt)  

After I'd machine quilted it, it was looking rather drab and uninteresting so I decided to stitch more into by hand. I haven't done much hand stitching in a while and I'd forgotten how addictive it is , sewing away watching BBC4.  My wrist is a bit sore despite using a 'Creative Comfort' Crafters Glove for support (although that could be the use of secateurs on Sunday on a serious hack of the garden)

The Henry Moore sculpture that so inspired me was part of an exhibition at Kew Gardens in 2007. I loved having access to these sculptures for so many months, able to view them in different lights and viewpoints and  I made several journal quilts exploring ways of  intepreting  a 3D piece in 2D textiles.
Next year there will be a major exhibition at Kew of work by David Nash.  Can't wait!!

It's been a while but I've had a session updating my website with  a gallery of new work - do stop by and say hello!

Chocolate Sculpture-Not Quite Moore

In preparation for Easter, chocolate sculptures have been popping up around Kew ( various people in fluorescent jackets have been wielding paintbrushes and pots of brown stuff). Not quite the Henry Moore that so inspired my quilts  in 2007  but fun nevertheless. We'll be in Crete for Easter but have a couple of Lindt Chocolate Bunnies on the mantelpiece next to the Staffordshire pottery dog awaiting their ritual slaughter. Ian is rather shocked by the violence with which  I  decapitate them.

Of Mice, Moore and Journal Quilts

This weekend mainly ignored the sun tempting me into the garden and concentrated on finishing off a few Journal Quilts that had been on my conscience.

January's 'Indigo Knife Edge' is a photo of a Henry Moore sculpture printed on some Indigo fabric and then stitched using the ideas from my drawing class of rhythmic lines very close together. I'd forgotten how tricky indigo can be to photograph- the above image was scanned, the one below photographed, the reality somewhere in between! The Henry Moore was from when there was an installation at Kew, I'm looking forward to seeing the large exhibition of his work at Tate Britain. February's 'Llangollen Snow' is inspired by the snowy landscape when we went up to 'QuiltFest'. It is recycled from offcuts from 'Thin Blue Line' and 'Breakthrough' quilts, already partially stitched and painted, just a bit of stitching required to join the offcuts and suggest the trees.

I'm rather taken with the back of this piece. Although it doesn't show my machine quilting skills in a good light(was having terrible problems with the tension- the needle didn't like going through gesso!) I rather like the loopy effects. I'm sure if I was trying to obtain this particular 'stitch' I'd fail dismally!
For several months I've been struggling with a barely functioning computer. I'd decided that this would be the weekend to back-up everything and grit my teeth and do a total re-install. Ian remembered that the cause of similar problems had been an incompatability between an optical mouse and XP , why didn't I try using a wired USB mouse instead. With nothing to lose ,I plugged in the teeny USB mouse from my laptop. Magic, problem solved, it was worth marrying him!! I've ordered an 'intellimouse' from ebay but while I was round the back of the computer plugging in my printer again (I'd been forced to print from my laptop for the last few months ) I found that although I had separate remote devices for keyboard and mouse, that the keyboard device worked for both. With 2 sets of signals,no wonder the poor mouse was confused and refused to respond to either!

Drawn from the Collection

For the double anniversary of wedding and the first year in our new home, Ian and I treated ourselves to a nice meal at the Rex Whistler restaurant at Tate Britain ( subsidised by a timely £50 Premium Bond win ). We dined elegantly , surrounded by the mural 'In pursuit of Rare Meats and then feeling suitably mellow after sampling the award winning wine list, ventured out into the galleries in search of Turner watercolours. I was keen to see his work again after my recent painting course (there's currently an interesting interactive display of his methods). However, on the way we were distracted, first of all by this wonderful Henry Moore sculpture, carved out of Green Hornton Stone, so different to the monumental bronzes we saw at Kew and apt since we've recently been in limestone country.

(Henry Moore: Recumbent Figure 1938)

(Edward Wadsworth: Dux et Comes )

I lost Ian at one point as he was absorbed looking at the paintings in the same room , particularly these 2 (above and below). Wadsworth was new to me but Nash is an old friend (his 'Winter Sea' is one of my all-time favourites).

(Paul Nash: Voyages of the Moon )

Also on the way to the Turners was an exhibition of drawings from the Tate collections. I've always tended to leap straight to paint after only cursary attention to drawing ,(probably because I love colour so much). However since my recent course I've been drawn back to line after experimenting with acrylic inks used very freely. The display of drawings was very diverse from finely detailed traditional pencil sketches to contemporary animation and monoprints.
One of the first drawings in the landscape section that caught my eye was this preparatory sketch by James Ward for his large painting of Gordale Scar. There's always a shivery sense of connection when you realise you've been trying to capture the grandeur that other artists in past have struggled with (Turner also painted here)

(James Ward :Sketch for Gordale Scar)

(Wihelmina Barns-Graham : Eight lines Porthmeir)

I like the subtle simplicity of the piece above - something to aspire to. The lines are softly blurred in places (the medium is chalk).

This charcoal ( and chalk) vigorous drawing of Peterbough Cathedral (below) was placed next to a very intricate drawing by Turner of Ely Cathedral. What I love about this is that it speaks of space and hints at delicate stonework and tracery yet is achieved with bold line and subtle rubbing out. It lets the viewer fill in the rest.

( Dennis Creffield : Peterborough Approaching the West Front )

Chalk and rubbing out of marks were also used by Tacita Dean on her huge blackboard drawings. The use of multiple images give a wonderful sense of motion and although mainly drawn in outline, there's a hint of volume given by a small amount of chalk left after erasure. Quite wonderful.

(Tacita Dean : Roaring Forties )

I came away buzzing. Besides some notes in my sketchbook to jog my mind I was excited to find on the Tate's website that all their collections have been digitised and you can search its database in many ways (including every page of Turners sketchbooks) - I could browse for hours. I've also just signed up for their online course which looks at a variety of artists' methods with excercises to try these techniques for yourself. A great follow up to the Studio Journal Course and a bargain at £20.

100th Post, Labyrinths and Elements

I've had my head down in more ways than one - finishing off my pieces for Festival of Quilts whilst suffering from vertigo and dizziness as a result of viral Labyrinthitus ( as if the tooth infection wasn't enough!) It's just as well that I'd finished the 'Tideline' piece which required machine stiching and some thought and concentration whilst painting.
This 'elemental ' piece was started in Angie Hughes 'Poetic Images' course during CQ summer school last year. Buying some wooden print blocks and printing more lettered fabric extended the piece beyond 'Sea' and 'Sky' to 'Fire' and 'Stone' ( component parts below). I'd already auditioned fabrics and roughly pinned it so only hand stitching was required which has been very therapeutic. It's colours are more subdued and gentle than my usual colour palette - a bonus in being soothing to stitch.


It's almost a year since I started this blog and this is the 100th post!
In that time I have moved house (and had the builders in); travelled to Greece, Romania and Iran; been inspired by Henry Moore sculptures in my work environment; participated in several challenges ( TIF, CQ Journal Quilts, CyberFyber exhange); had pieces of work in 2 exhibitions ( 3 if count the display of 2007 Journal quilts at Sandown).
Throughout the year , I've gained a great deal of insight by working through ideas and thoughts by writing about them here. The links forged between other like-minded bloggers have been even more important and their thoughtful comments have provided encouragement and inspiration. When I first started reading blogs and thought I might like to start one of my own, I had no inkling of the generous community spirit there is in 'blogland' (nor how addictive it would become!) Thank You!

Giant revisited

Continuing the 'field' theme. In a post last year I wrote about working with this piece of a few years ago, based on sketches of Devon fields( red soil and the glow of a cereal field against a stormy sky) , to add a Henry Moore figure inspired by the poem 'Giant' by Katrina Payne
" ...... stride like a Giant....solid like a Henry Moore Madonna as I stride over trees, field, hills....."

To test out the idea ( and for June's CQ Journal Quilt) I printed out the sketch on the computer, and stitched it in a similar way to the larger piece ( from the back with silk buttonhole thread in the bobbin)
For the back, I'd used the same sketch when I went on a silk painting course a few years ago using steam fixed dyes. I'd started stitching it by hand with buttonhole thread but abandoned it long ago so used the whole thing, synthetic batting and all! ( bit of a mistake as the machine quilting puckered and wrinkled more than I'm used to with cotton wadding) The back has turned out quite interesting as there's a mismatch of stitching and painting.
I printed out a photo of the Henry Moore bronze 'Large standing figure:knife edge' on silk organza and applied it to the quilted sketch (only stitching enough to anchor it to retain the volume and floating quality)
I then painted over the background with acrylics with mixed results - in some areas its a bit heavy handed but I like the grasses in the foreground
This has given me the basis to go ahead (or should that be plough ahead-groan) with altering the orginal field piece- the foreground was what particularly bothered me and overpainting will resolve this, I'll just have to be careful not to overdo it elsewhere. I'll have to print out the figure on more than one sheet of organza and join it (probably try to do that along one sculpture edges and make a feature of it.) But I like a challenge!

Had a stimulating time at the QGBI Region 1 'Quilting in Action' day yesterday. People seemed very interested in my work and the methods I'd developed and when I was discussing these afterwards in the 'Demonstration' session, I learnt a lot too from other quilters about their what they'd tried. Jenny Hollingdale and Grit Traum ran a 'quilt forum' offering critique and advice to several brave souls who shared quilts and projects they were having problems with. This was so valuable - not having ever done any textile courses like C&G I've missed out on this and had to develop my own critical faculties, it was thought provoking to see their approach.

Ian treated me to a fishy meal out yesterday evening at 'Oporto'. As we're not followers of football ( Ian famously asked why Brazil weren't playing in Euro 2004) we'd neglected to realise that the opening match of Euro 2008 was Portugal v. Turkey and the restaurant was packed! Despite not having booked, they found us a table and we had a very enjoyable evening people watching. We couldn't quite see the tv screen but could follow the action from the cheers and groans( Portugal won 2-0) Very entertaining , like eating out in a foreign country.

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!