Honesty Resolved

Thank you so much for all your comments, it really helped me to work out where I was going with this piece. I took on board the thoughts on simplicity but as I consider it a sampler of techniques, decided to attach the organza layer to see what would happen. To get round the problems of integration, I sewed round the shapes with the metallic thread and then cut back the excess organza with a pair of fine applique scissors I'd forgotten I had. The tension of my machine stitching needs some attention but I actually quite like the bubbly effect of the bobbin thread showing through ( not sure the quilt police would be convinced! )
I rather like the overall effect, I think it conveys the luminosity and transparency of honesty seeds. I've got another couple of samples on the go , testing out ideas and paint techniques . And yes Hilary, I do intend to do a far larger piece.What inspired me in the first place were the Vigil and Temple Paintings of Ian McKeever . These paintings have been my favourites from last couple of RA Summer Exhibitions.

Honesty: with or without?

A few weeks ago I went to the Quilters Guild Region 1 Area Day to hear Alysn Midgelow Marsden. Her work with metals is intriguing and some of her sculptural ,metallic gauze ,pieces cast wonderful shadows with the projector light cast through them. I related to her descriptions of her creative approach, particularly as she too was a scientist - something about the thought processes? The trader was Art Van Go and although I managed to resist the metals brought along to tie in with Alysn's talk, I succumbed to a bottle of Liquitex Iridescent Medium and have been putting it through its paces!
I've been using old quilting samples that already have layers of acrylic paint built up on them - the medium is translucent and works best with transparent or translucent paints (I used Golden Fluid Acrylics) so the underlying colours are important.I was particularly taken with a narrow strip of old durham quilt that I'd painted to an inch of its life with ovals and circles then saw the jar of Honesty (Lunaria spp.) on the shelf above me with just that quality of iridescence. I stitched into it with Madeira FS metallic no 20 thread ( what a find that was - a well behaved subtle metallic) and then made it up into a 12 inch journal quilt with a photo printed on fabric and some rather appropriate oval dot batik.

I love the layered transparent effect that you get with Honesty and had printed some photos on organza. One fell accidently on the 'finished' journal quilt and now I'm not sure that it doesn't improve it ! Something to do with the differing scale of image, quality of fabric and linking of the 2 sides? So what's your honest opinion? ( sorry - I've been trying to resist the pun but it got the better of me) With or without organza layer?

Savaged or Salvaged?

One of items I came across in my recent sorting sessions was this very tatty Durham Quilt. The pink and yellow 'strippy' side is very worn and patched, with the wadding showing through, although the plain back is in reasonable condition , if a rather unattractive dirty white. For many years in my previous property it served , doubled up, as a door curtain ( and very effective it was at excluding draughts). We have no use for it in our current house so after a wash ( and a lot of umming and aahing) I decided to experiment with it as a painting surface, cutting off a couple of 'strips' and priming it with gesso.

My first trial was a sketch of Gordale Scar - the quilting lines enhancing the cracks in the rocks.

Not my finest effort but an interesting start - the real challenge will be finding appropriate subject material to make the most of the inherent textures and to add stitching of my own.

Why did I initially find it so difficult to cut into and paint an old quilt when I don't think twice about spending the equivalent of weeks stitching a piece and then covering it in acrylic paint? It felt a bit like vandalism - I have several Durham Quilts in much better condition (which take their turn on our bed) that I wouldn't dream of altering. I like to think I'm giving a third life to something that's seen better days but goodness knows what the quilt police will say!!!

October TIF - 12 Treasures

This month the challenge is to think about your textile work space. How do you feel about this space? What role does it play in your life? I wrote a post about this here but the real challenge was how to interpret this in textiles. I've had very little creativity this month but I have been doing a lot of sorting out - not only in my work room but also some of the miscellaneous boxes still lurking in the cellar ( so that's where my 'Paintstik' oilbars were!) Among the items I found was an old (Victorian?) silk velvet patchwork item , pieced quite coarsely over silk net , purchased at a Region 1 Area day. The dark blue/black fitted in with the colour palette for this month -I decided to use part of it to frame photos printed on fabric of some of the things I like about my studio space , some of my treasures. This was then mounted on a piece of silk ikat. Treasures 1-6 : quilt and textile reference books; Bernina Virtuosa 160 sewing machine(only 1 new circuit board and major de-fluff in 10+ years devoted service ) ; hand sewing threads ( mixture of old silks and ethically sourced hand dyed cotton perle ); Valdini and Oliver Twists variegated machine threads; Malaysian woven basket acquired at breakdown of World Orchid Show 1993 (used for storing rolls of paper etc); acrylic inks.

Treasures 7-12: Liquitex acrylic paints; a small glimpse of my extensive fabric stash; 'humbug' triangular pincushion stuffed with sheeps wool circa 1980 - made by my mum, great design as it doesn't roll around and the natural oil in the wool prevents rusting; needlepoint sewing case , also made by my mum, the closest I got to a Turkish carpet until I went travelling several years later; watercolour sketchbooks from my travels; my computer!!!

Treading Water

" Source of the Thames" Michael Andrews

Before my art class last week I was looking through catalogues from past art exhibitions I'd been to including Michael Andrews at the Tate in 2001 (I'd been particularly struck at the time by his huge Australian canvases). By coincidence(or serendipity) ,when I was discussing potential local painting locations with Joy, she mentioned Michael Andrews paintings of the Thames (above). I love the quality of abstraction, design and colour but grounded in traditional landscape painting - what I'm aiming for in my own artwork. A wonderful re-discovery.

" Me and Melanie Swimming" Michael Andrews

I haven't posted for a couple of weeks because I've been struggling for a while in both work and creative arenas to keep afloat. I've been seeking advice to help me cope and correct for an overly negative view of life but until I get that support it's proving difficult to focus. The house has never looked so clean - normally household chores get put off for more interesting things like sewing and painting but it's good to do something where I don't need to think too much, I've even caught up with the ironing!

What I've got pinned up on my notice board at the moment, waiting for inspiration to strike, are several studies of waves based on photos and sketches in Greece. This mixed media sketch is in watercolour, acrylic ink ,'inktense' pencils and 'neocolour' crayons, trying to capture the different colours and the movement of the water.

I printed out a photo on fabric and quilted with different machine stitches with this splashy 60's print cotton as the backing.
I painted over this backing with acrylic paint. There are still glimpses of the pink showing through which I like but overall the effect is too realistic and photographic - this textile sample shows some skill but no soul!
What I'm after is the excitement of this detail from the initial mixed media sketch - how to maintain that on a larger scale?

Back to Basics

Following my recent painting course at Malham Tarn FSC I realised that I needed more regular painting classes, to get 'back to basics' in the words of recent article by Robert Genn, looking at drawing, composition, colour control and other technical skills. In particular I want to become more proficient in using acrylic paints.
Most evening classes cater mainly for beginners ( which I'm not) but luckily there was a space on one of the workshop evenings run at Kew Studio, an artists co-operative. I'm getting to grips with still life for the first time since painting masses of them in oils for A Level art ( many years ago). It's proving an enjoyable challenge! Started off with doing several drawings in pencil and in my case watercolour to get a feel for composition
I then moved onto colour studies, using acrylic like oil paint on canvas papers. This was fun! I liked the vigorous nature of the brush strokes and the swoops of colour. I already found some of the limitations in my Liquitex acrylic paints - that some are transparent rather than opaque. This doesn't matter when using them like watercolours but it does when using them like oils! I'll need to construct some colour charts with my paints to get a feel for their properties.

I've been taking photos at different stages to identify what needs more attention and also to capture areas I'm pleased with. The trouble with having to work all over the picture is that you sometimes have to paint over areas that you like and of course they're never as good again. For instance I liked the folds in the fabric in the early stages above but lost the plot afterwards!
The tuition has been just what I want - mainly leaving me to get on but with helpful suggestions ( eg removing the sugar bowl from the painting) and when to leave alone ( I'm a terrible fiddler). We've had some interesting discussions about art and exhibitions eg Peter Doig at the Tate earlier in the year.

For the first attempt at still life in years I'm reasonably pleased ( especially with the fruit in both paintings even if the pear was switched for a lemon this week - can you tell?!) More attention is definately needed in drawing ( teapot handles in particular) and in painting folds in fabric. You'd think as a textile artist I should know better! Next week we're concentrating (at my request) on a restricted palette.

Textile Work Spaces

This months 'Take it Further Challenge' is to think about your textile work space. How do you feel about this space? What role does it play in your life?
This was the subject of my very first post on this blog, written when I was about to move from a much loved space in a partially converted loft ( 2 photos below) and wondering how it would work out in my new home. This loft space had 2 Velux windows and was the full width of the house with built-in storage and work surfaces. Access was by a ladder which had its advantages in detaching myself from the world while I was up there and shutting the hatch on the mess when I'd finished.


Over a year later after we moved in , I've pretty well sorted out my working space - the 'master bedroom', the largest room in the house (except for the kitchen). As compensation, Ian got the bedroom with the best view overlooking the garden as his study ( and we can wave at each other across the landing)
The main difference is the loss of a design wall but this hasn't caused as many problems as I thought it would - I've hung a sheet from the back of the door but mainly use A1 size cork boards which are easy to move around.

The main working space is a huge desk (thanks to Sue), with our old solid butchers block kitchen table at right angles - a reasonable height for cutting out. For storage, I've just put up some bookshelves saved from the living room of our old property - they're just the right width for the alcove ( must be Edwardian Proportions, both old and new houses date from around 1905). For my art equipment I've got Ikea Ivar shelving and boxes that have aged nicely after 15 years.

You wouldn't believe the amount of stuff I got rid off during the process of moving but I've still managed to fill this huge 3 door wardrobe with fabric, smaller pieces in these baskets, yardage in big plastic crates.
In theory this is the guest bedroom ( a single fold-up bed) but they'd have to put up with the pins - Ian has a sofa bed in his study which is probably the safer option. The bed unfolded is quite useful for propping up the design boards.
I used my previous studio space for both stitching and painting, which meant being meticulous in clearing up between different activities and carrying buckets of water up ladders. Now, I've taken over the conservatory (more of a lean -to) for painting and printing. The light is fantastic even on a dull day (although it can get very hot). Money ran out before we could replace the lino - probably just as well - I trod on some monoprints that I'd left to dry on the floor and left a trail of glittery footprints. What is also different from my previous workspace is that it also houses my computer and printer. When I work from home on scientific papers etc, the cutting table is handy for laying documents out. The computer can of course be a terrible time waster but the benefits of being able to print fabric out or work directly in Photoshop means I'm much more productive ( and not having to shin up a ladder everytime I feel creative)

So overall while my working space has always been important to me ( and major factors in buying the last 2 properties), it is now the room I spend most time in , both for work and pleasure and my output has increased accordingly.

Now how to interpret this as a textile piece ? I'm wondering about a collage of photos from various viewpoints (it's a while since I used 'stitch -assist') or concentrating on one or two key items. I'll keep you posted!