Snowy Retreat at Rydal Hall

Last week I was in the Lake District at Rydal Hall on  my annual retreat  with North West CQ group  ( the 5th time  there).   As I left Faversham on the Monday there were already icy flurries of snow  which caught up with us on Tuesday. On  Wednesday there was more snow and on Thursday a bitter wind which  blew the snow around ( we didn't go out that day ).  I travelled back with Judy to Crewe on Friday for the preview of Cwilt Cymru's 'Traces' exhibition  and  stayed another night to travel back on Sunday as I wouldn't have got home given the train cancellations and disruptions.  We have had snow before at Rydal but not on this scale!

These photos were mainly  taken on Tuesday - waking up to see the view  from my bedroom (top) , while it was sunny I went out  ( wrapped very warmly!)  straight after breakfast to explore my usual haunts

No   drawings from the 'Grot' this time , too cold to take my gloves off! 

Back in the cosy ' Old Kitchen' studio I made thumbnail sketches  from the photos and had a frustrating day on Wednesday trying to convert  these into fabric sketches .  My excuse, despite knowing it would be snowy, I brought coloured rather than black and white scraps with me! 

On Tuesday afternoon I was persuaded by Pauline and Millie to  go on  a sketching expedition to  Rydal Water ( we had  such a lovely hilarious time last year) . We set off in the sun but as we walked up the track it started to snow heavily ( and we were questioning our sanity!) . But it eased off as we arrived and the sun came out

Not the best paintings I've ever done ( the paint took forever to dry ) but they captured the experience

I found a bench to perch on, legs dangling, Millie found a rock and Pauline  sat on a tussock of turf.
We were definately ready for our coffee and traybakes on  our return

On Wednesday after my frustrating morning, I was ready for a trip to Heaton Cooper in Grasmere( photos above)  in the afternoon .They now have  as super cafe as well as tempting art supplies.  

 In the 'after tea' slot  in a session led by Leah we put together books with reverse accordian piano hinges from sheets of paper we'd had a messy mark making session on the day before.

 On Thursday it was bitter and very slippy underfoot so I only ventured out for soup at lunchtime at the cafe and to  take back some of the  bits of wood etc that I'd collected to draw. Even then  my boots sank as  couldn't tell the difference between the path and the leaf litter. Others were more intrepid as the went up to  see the frozen waterfall.

 I  spent  most of the day collaging' impossible walks' , combining photos from a  copy of Pouchers 'Lakeland Fells' I'd bought from Fleur Bookshop in Faversham ( more in another post) and  excavating layers in a section of old quilt ( a very English 'Boro' )  

There were 13 of us this year and as ever the time went very quickly. I seem to do less and less while I'm there but just enjoy the surroundings and the company. 

Contemporary Collage Week 5 : Decoupage

This week  in Contemporary Collage   we were looking at 'decoupage'  moving from making collage on flat surfaces to decorating an object. Artists we looked at included: Rauschenberg; Matthew Jackson; Peter Blake, Raschid Jackson: Grayson Perry; Kurt Schwitters, Joseph Cornell 

We were asked to bring in something  that didn't mind collaging over, cutting up or adding to. I found this pink card suitcase in the childrens section of a charity shop and  having grand ideas  about  making a Shrine   for Lost Earrings , I also brought in a selection of the small  boxes I'd collected over the years when purchasing earrings. 

Apart from the usual losses/ breakages , I had a purse of  favourite earrings lost/stolen from my rucksack when left in the lobby of a hotel in Athens in 2002 . Some of them I had remade  but others were irreplacable  ( incuding some I'd bought in  Seraphos just days before) .  Since then I only take earrings on holiday that I wouldn't mind losing too much ( I mainly wear dichroic glass ones)

I   even made a  Journal Quilt   containing fabric I printed using scans of  earrings 

and have been meaning to make  an amulet against lost earrings for quite some years ( pictures below are from the excellent book on the subject by Sheila Paine. ) 

I'd gone through magazines cutting out anything to do with jewelry  or red and pink in colour  and had a fine time choosing strange images to stick on

I then found a picture of theatre boxes  from an old V&A members magazine  to  stuck  inside  and  decided to leave it as it was  ( with the addition of a Greek God ). Not so much shrine as suitcase theatre. A bit obvious  but working in 3D is still outside my comfort zone.  

 Unlike Judith  who  with her  architecture/ sculpture  background produced  this amazing structure  ( particularly like the internal space and reflections )

After lunch I turned my attentions to all the little boxes ( reminded by Simon of the boxes of Susan Hiller) 

I used scraps of fabric, sequin waste and foil; bits of braid and ribbon; old stamps :  quirky illustrations from magazines; fold out strips of paper.  As usual time passed too quickly and I'm just staring to explore the possibilities of combining them , stacking them , putting them together.  Some of them  might still end up as miniature pocket shrines.   

 I'll miss the 'bricollage' session next week as I'll  be  in Rydal   but Simon suggested I join in spirit  when I go on walks making  some assemblages  and taking photos of them.

Contemporary Collage week 4: Conceptual Wall Assemblage 'Head and Heart'

 Being a scientist  and generally making art  inspired  by landscape  or abstracted versions of things I've seen  and recorded, I find it difficult to work with concepts  and emotions  as themes.  But that was what we were  working with  last week. 

 The idea was to put up sheets of paper on the wall, pick a word based on 'states of being'  eg anger   and explore ways of expressing that in visual terms   eg what colour would it be , shape, size,  texture, quick/slow marks etc. We had an overview of   24 of these abstract terms and  examples of  how different artists had used them  eg Rachel Whiteread for 'volume'  casting the spaces under desks in resin ' and Luke Gottelier  for 'scale' making a studio for his hamster.

Working on the wall  ( or in my case a door) gave the opportunity to find links between different elements  and to expand to further sheets of paper.

We formed brain storming groups of 4 to discuss   our words and how they could be interpreted which was useful process, especially as I was way out of my comfort zone. 

As it's 3 years since I left Kew, this has been  on my mind a lot this week.  Initially my word was 'reflective'  but changed to 'regret'.  Working there for nearly 25 years, doing work I enjoyed and made a difference  both for conservation and in training people,  it was a large part of my identity. I used to squeeze art and stitching into any spare time. In the end I didn't need to find a job  but now while in theory I have all the time in the world to focus on art,  one of the main issues I've had to deal with  is deciding my own direction and motivation after being part of a team effort working towards long term goals.  I still miss my colleagues.   On the positive side , Faversham is proving a lovely place to live  and I've  already had  unexpected success in winning Fine Art Quilt Masters although now there are expectations of what I'll produce next! 

 So  lots of complex and conflicting  emotion there , how to express it visually?  I started off with a grid structure   of the growth room shelves and the  circles of Petri dishes , ideas about breaking out of the grid and  positive and negative  feelings.  

 I continue to have a bit of a thing about circles  and also the outlines remaining when you cut shapes out. This hasn't been part of my textiles so far but perhaps they should be .

At home , I finally got round to sticking in some more leftover bits in my 'scrap book' . 

Cwilt Cymru Exhibition 'Traces'

Not long now until Cwilt Cymru  exhibition 'Traces'  opens at Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery. I'm honoured to have one of my  quilts feature on the flyer ( above) . 

I'll also be at the preview 'meet the artists' on Saturday 3 March 2-4pm 

Indigo Ripples 

Shorelines

Hidden Fractures

Fleet Mudflats