Wind Me in the Sea : July Update

  As we're (more than) half-way through the year, I thought it was time I gave an update on my daily/train stitching project 'Wind me in the Sea'

 I started in January , stitching scraps of indigo to both sides of a strip of Japanese kasuri kimono fabric. Those of you who follow me on  Facebook have endured many snaps of  it's progress  on Javelin line trains  travelling between Faversham and St Pancras ( sometimes a bit further afield)  The   comfort thimble is on a piece of elastic as I lost it on the floor so many times  as are the spools of  thread ( which are now much reduced in size). A couple of weeks ago I had  to start using 2 tables (below) as I joined 2 strips together ( I've now started a 3rd new strip which is more portable)  

  In January it looked like this ( above)  and has now grown to  over 2.5 metres ( below)

 I'm starting to play around with how I might display it, I still like the idea of a continuous Mobius strip (it's double sided) but it's not quite long enough for that yet

Suspending it from fishing line might be interesting so it wafts around ( it looks best with light through it) or perhaps putting stiffened wire down the edges so it can be manipulated?

 Or rolled up and placed on a surface in waves?

 Meanwhile the basket of scraps is overflowing and I still get excited trying different combinations of fabric ,threads,  stitch and spacings ( I'm trying to leave more of the background fabric showing through). This week it's been tennis stitching

Drawing Tuesday - Birch Baskets at the British Museum

Yesterday  was the first Drawing Tuesday of 2017 and  10 of us turned up at the British Museum ( must be all those New Year resolutions about drawing more...)   We had a very convivial lunch  spread over 3 tables, but  first the drawing . The  venue was room 91 , the shadow puppets,  which were wonderfully  intricate, colourful  and diverse but  after my visit to the BM in December, I knew I wanted to spend more time with the vessels and prints  next door in Room 90

 This  display was the print 'Winter Soderstorm' by Gunner Normann  with various  baskets by Finnish artist Markko Kosenen.  I loved the  combination of the delicately observed trees in the lithograph with the vessels made of the  material of the subject matter.  

  I started off with a very rough sketch  of the objects over a faint version of the trees, soon discarding the idea of drawing the willow basket, , gorgeous as it was.

 The notes on the construction of this birch bark basket were informative  about the use of  white birch  asymetrically woven  so the outer white part of the bark was inside. It really glowed.  It was challenging to draw, I kept getting lost, but persisted.  So many ways it could be represented, I  got involved in the quality of the edges, it would be interesting to have a go drawing it on a larger scale.

After such a labyrinthine  subject , I turned my attention to  the more substantial vessel made from layer upon layer of birch bark  which was then hollowed out, very satisfying to attempt to capture it's combination of fragility and solidity.  

 This exhibition   is so well thought out , every object and print so pleasing,   that I'll definitely be  making a repeat visit.  That  could not be said for 'South Africa' Art of a Nation ' which I visited after lunch.   I wanted to like it having  very fond memories   of a plant conservation  work trip there  several years ago but was underwhelmed.  It was just too broad  with  tribal artefacts  mixed up with contemporary art, neither a historical  or an art exhibition but a mish-mash.  The African  gallery downstairs is  far more interesting.