Heading to Festival of Quilts

'Thames Lock 101'  (Art quilt entry 458)

Today I catch the 6.43 am train(!) from London  to Birmingham  for my annual Festival of Quilts adventure!  I'm  spending Wednesday 'Free Motion Stitching from Life'  and  am on  a workshop  on miniature books on Thursday morning.

I'm  stewarding  the SAQA exhibition 4 - 5.30  on Thursday and Friday, do drop by and say hello.

 I'll be staying at Birmingham New Street Premier Inn for the first time this year, the Hilton , while convenient has just got too expensive.  

Back to Birchington-On-Sea

 On Friday, I  returned to Birchington-On -Sea with Ian , he loved it as much as I did.  The tide was in, the sun was out, there were lots of happy, colourful holiday makers. We explored a little further than  I had last time  and discovered a different type of disintegrating  sea defence as well as some  nice examples of peeling paint. Lots of inspiration and a nice meal at Minnis Bay Bar and Brasserie thanks to a £25 premium bond win that came in the post in the morning. A lovely day out at the seaside.

Journal Quilt Update

 I  like my Journal Quilts to reference  what I've been up to : classes I've taken or places I've been.
So June's  JQ  above is  based around techniques  learnt  on CQ Summer School with a combination of photos printed on silk ( lighter colour)  and on black t shirt transfer paper ( more intense colour)

July's JQ  is based on 'Reading a Paint Surface' course at City lit , with  photos of final piece printed on cotton.  I've got several of these fabric studies  on the design wall , mulling over ideas.

A journal quilt of sorts ( it's 12  x 12 inches), this is my contribution to the SAQA Benefit Auction. All are now listed on the site, such a variety, and I'm currently thinking about choosing 6  for my ' dream collection' . It's very gratifying to see my piece  included in a couple already!

 Ian is on the mend and I've set up my sewing machines and  fabric is strewn around my studio composing  a quilt on the theme 'green ' for International Threads. About time too! Looking forward to FoQ next week!!!

Drawing Tuesday: Museum of London Docklands

 I haven't been able to  join the 'Drawing Tuesday'  group  for a long time( not since the end of May in M's 'Domestic Museum') so it was lovely to catch up with some members at Docklands Museum.
And I haven't been there  since  2003 when I met  Ian's dad for the first time! Photos from that time below.

  There's been a few changes in that time  but the cranes outside are still there!

I spent a fascinating hour looking round, there's so much of interest.  For drawing purposes  however, a lot of the galleries are  too dark even if the lighting gives strong shadows. I loved the shadows cast by the tools in the forge and the  telescopic  paper model of the Thames  Tunnel.  

  I settled for tools which were in brightly lit cases - initially looking at those for ship building ( my grandfather worked as a pattern maker on the Glasgow shipyards and I still have some of his tools)  but then was attracted by the interesting  shapes of the dock hooks  etc in the 'warehouse of the world' gallery.

 Afterwards in the  café, how could I resist a pirates brownie to go with my coffee!

  Went on an adventure afterwards with Janet and Margaret  with amazing views  of the Thames .

Summer Exhibition at RA: Textiles and 3D

715 Eileen Hogan

 Working  with cloth and stitch myself, I'm always interested to see  what textile pieces are chosen  for the RA  Summer Exhibition. There's  always a lot of chattering on yahoo groups about how few there are  but in the end, regardless of what media , it has to work as art - if that means framing  or mounting on canvas  so be it.  I had to include  Eileen Hogan's wonderful oil painting 'self-portrait through wardrobe '  as it sparked all kind of ideas  related  to 'travellers blanket' I've just started. I think I'd have to do a painting of my earring collection ( which is not small....)

126 El Anatsiu

Another wonderful  varied piece by El Anatsui, it was great to get up really close  to examine the different materials used

466 Bridget Bernadette  Karn

Although not really  my taste, this felted picture fitted in well with the 'landscape' theme of the gallery and the texture of the wool  made it far more interesting and atmospheric than  if it had been a painting. Fascinating video here of how she does it. She also posted several pictures on Facebook asking which she should submit  and had a very good response ( I voted myself , but not for this piece)

855 Jacques Lawrence Calver

I really liked this piece by Jacques Lawrence Calver, you can really see the influence of 'Boro' in his work.

668 Miranda Argyle

It's good to see work by Miranda Argyle included again. Always thought -provoking , this piece 'inside out' is based on MRI scan of the brain with the underside showing ( read more about  it here)
I 'm a big fan of the 'unconscious side' of stitched  work

846 Susie Koren

 I wasn't a big fan of Susie Koren's prize winning quilt ' Gravitational Force' last year  at FoQ -  the stitching and mark-making was rather lost on such a  huge piece.  But the two framed  pieces  here worked  much better, stitching as a form of drawing, they looked like fragments of old maps or manuscripts.

1014 Susie Koren

1216 Joe Tilson

In Gallery X  devoted to photography , the large tapestry 'Look'   certainly drew your attention.

1078 Eva Rothschild

This year I found the mix of  sculptural work in the lecture Room overcrowded, overwhelming, I didn't spend very long  in there. 2 pieces close to each other were this  wool  embossed blanket set in resin ( the quilt police definitely wouldn't like that but I liked the enhancement of the texture and intensity of the blue/black colour)

1072 Brian Griffiths

I was intrigued by these dyed kitbags and  investigating further online, found they were part of  what seems a fascinating, poignant , site specific installation recording the history and stories of an old boxing club.

308 Lindsey Archer

I normally only give a cursory look at the gallery devoted to architecture  ( something about all those straight lines ....) but 2 pieces caught my eye. I loved the quirkiness of these little structures made of paper, card , aluminium by Lindsey Archer. It's interesting  to contrast the arrangement in  what I assume was the submission photo ( top) with the more organic layout in the gallery itself.

333 Julie Massie

This is the piece I would have wanted to take home with me -  I've never seen porcelain used in this way, the  qualities of  of the edges spoke to me, especially when I found Julie Massies website with  further work inspired by the fragility of coastlines.

Running away to sea : Minnis Bay

Yesterday I ran away to sea! I haven't been to the  seaside since we moved in  December  despite  being almost on the Kent coast ( we're only 5 miles from Whitstable). I did a bit of research on  where  the train station was nearest the coast   and decided on Birchington -on Sea which turned out to be an excellent choice. The train journey was just over 20 minutes and cost  only £4.30  buying online, bargain!  I'd packed  sketching gear but I spent  most of my time walking. I was lured by 'Beach avenue' which did indeed lead down to the coast in 5 minutes but  taking the long way round on the esplanade beneath  splendid grass-topped cliffs    meant it was   about half an hour before I ended up at  Minnis Bay  , the main sandy beach. There were  families outside their beach huts, small children   building sandcastles and exploring  the rock pools , a lovely feel to the place. I continued walking along the esplanade as I'd spotted the disintegrating sea defences from a distance (  great inspiration for  quilts) .  Having reached the end I had to climb up onto the cliff top path with lovely banks of coastal plants . The sky looked threatening and I was hungry ( I'd been walking nearly 2 hours by this point)  so headed to the Minnis Bay brasserie for a  beer and spot of lunch.  A bit of bad  but enjoyable sketching from a bench and then I headed back to the station by the most direct  route , about 20 minutes . A lovely day out - planning to go back with Ian next week as part of his recuperation.

While walking along the cliff top path there were loads of cyclists and   families who'd hired ' Surrey' bikes which looked like a lot of fun if hard work.   Reculver was visible on the horizon and is a place I've long wanted to visit , for both it's history and wildlife but it was a further 3 miles walk.  I thought about bringing my bike on the train but it's large and unwieldy. So today I visited the bike shop in Faversham looking at folding bikes  and  they're putting comfortable saddles on a  couple of them so I can test ride them on Monday! It opens up all kinds of possibilities for  explorations.  

Summer Exhibition at RA: Prints and Drawings

I rather hanker after the days when  most of the prints at the RA Summer Exhibition were  hung in the  Large Weston Room . They used to be crammed in but I liked to be able to compare techniques and find tiny gems of exquisite mark-making. I thinks there's probably more of them shown  now in the mixed themed galleries ( which is a good thing )  although sometimes their quiet charms  can be overlooked  among the bolder  offerings

205   Hughie O'Donaghue RA

586   Hughie O'Donaghue RA

 I loved the  deceptively simple bold  shapes, colours  and compositions  of these by Hughie O'Donaghue . I'm a big fan of Barbara Rae  and I spent ages  comparing the differing moods of 3 similar compositions  So much to learn from her.

584 Barbara Rae RA

585 Barbara Rae RA

865 Emma Stibbons RA

It was the work of Emma Stibbons that once again blew me away. Having done some intaglio myself I can only admire the technical proficiency working on such a large scale. The piece below has everything : interesting dramatic  composition;  varied  marks;   tonal contrasts.

 607 Emma Stibbons RA

 608 Emma Stibbons RA

611 Emma Stibbons RA

606 Emma Stibbons RA

Hung next to these were a series of quirky bird prints by Cathie Pilkington. They could look a bit twee but the combination of marks and the slight menace in their eyes ( I wouldn't mess with these birds!) lifts them above just design.

613 Cathie Pilkington RA

615 Cathie Pilkington RA

 769 James Fisher

742 Kiki Smith

More birds - James Fisher has done  a series of woodcuts of notable women : Margaret Morse (1883-1974) was one of the world’s leading ornithologists, and author of Studies in the Life of the Song Sparrow (1937).

599 Nadi Attura

744 Jo Gorner

I'm drawn to the repetitive marks within the work by Jo Gorner, thinking how that could be interpreted in stitch

992 Felicity Warbrick

Liking the stark contrasts and sense of space in this work by Felicity Warbrick, I was astounded to read how she achieves it .  A sense of space also characterises this work by Amanda Danicic, the contrast between the figures and the intricate depiction of foliage in the background . It looks a bit like a patchwork quilt!  Which leads me neatly to my next post on textiles and 3D work

594 Amanda Danicic