Drawing Tuesday at the Brunei Gallery SOAS

 On Tuesday, the drawing group (10 of us!)  met in the comparative calm of the Brunei  Gallery of  SOAS  to sketch the current exhibition ' Embroidered tales and woven dreams'. 
UPDATE  - you can read what the rest of the group got up to in Margaret C's  blogpost


Being half term , London was packed with excited children !  It took a long time to settle , surrounded by such gorgeous textiles, but in the end attempted to capture the different textures of  the fabric, basketry, wood and shadows of these stools from Baluchistan.

  I didn't get the perspective right in the quick sketch so instead  spent my time on the details of the stool legs using various hardnesses of pencil  and 'reverse drawing' with erasers ( better in some areas than others ....) 

 I definitely need to return to study the exhibition in more detail and perhaps even get round to using the coloured pencils and pens I'd brought with me to record them

I left relatively  early to return to Faversham, meeting up  with Ian   for an early dinner at ASK  before heading to the Alexander Centre for recording of 'Gardeners Question Time' . The modest ticket price included a glass of wine and  if you wished you could write out a question for the panel.

 It was both great fun and informative. They were recording 2 episodes and for each chose 8-9 questions from those submitted including mine on suggestions for wildlife friendly garden when you only have thin turf over rubble and serious soil envy! It will be broadcast on 24  March.

Ikat

 If it's seemed a bit quiet  here , it's because  we've been having the lounge and bathroom redecorated - they look very smart now. On Friday I did a combined trip  up to town to see the Ikat exhibition at the  Brunei gallery, SOAS and then meeting Ian at the BM for the Sicily:culture and conquest exhibition followed by another excellent meal at Savoir Faire.  You weren't allowed to take photos in the Ikat exhibition ( although there was one annoying lady taking some  'furtively' on her phone - she could at least  have turned the sound off!)  So I'm sharing here some of my collection  bought from John Gillow.   The larger pieces have been  reassembled from garments - the one above  we had in the 'parlour' in our last house, I never tired of looking at it.

  This sleeve with the  embroidery  and tassel  on the cuff  I bought with the intention of incorporating into my own work.

 This subtle Thai/ Cambodian silk sarong is beautifully  soft

 So here's the revamped lounge: 'lavender quartz' paintwork with Scion 'Navajo' curtains. I've just noticed the similarity to the ikat patterns and colours ( perhaps no coincidence as they were  chosen to go with Turkish kelims)