Exhibitions

I must be on a roll, doing yet another post this month.

I have visited two exhibitions recently.
Once is the Escher x Nendo at the National Gallery Victoria.
I loved it! The woodcuts were amazing - so detailed, apart from the wonderful images.
I just felt myself smiling as I walked around. I think it was the setup, the Nendo part, I assume, and the buzz of people having a lovely time. And taking the time to just be there, not doing anything in particular, not being there because I had to, etc.

I kept thinking how the tessellating images would make a quilter sooo happy!

I also got the the Shaun Tan exhibition, Untold Tales. I also loved that. It was really well named, each piece told a story. I told myself stories quite different from the ones my friends were telling themselves.

I loved this one, I had my own story, which did not quite match the title (fortunately, I read it after I had made up my own story). The title was quite amusing too.

This one was used for the publicity. Seeing it in situ, with the wonderful lighting, was amazing, it just glowed!

I don't think it is on for very long, so I was lucky to get there.
I love Shaun Tan's work. His picture story books are great, even though I did think about reading them to some younger grades as they are 'picture story books' but when I actually read them I decided that they were much more suitable for older children. Some of the themes are quite challenging.

And the art is amazing.

Still March

Another slightly interesting date: 19/3/19, hence the post. Two in a few days!

I have been doing a little bit of sewing as well as my tapestry weaving.
Our machine embroidery group, at the Embroiderers Guild, Victoria, has a theme for this year: Farmyard.
I have done a rooster. I used a picture from 123RF, an online site that lets you download images and use them. I have adapted it, of course.

I have continued to use the fabric collage technique that I have been playing around with lately.

Once again, I have not used any product that sticks the fabric. But ... I have discovered a lovely free motion foot for my sewing machine.
I have been using the darning foot, a generic free motion foot and a specialised free motion foot (that I later discovered, after three broken ones (at great expense, let me tell you!!) was not for my iteration of the machine) that you can buy one that sits on the fabric, doesn't go up and down with the needle. It has a round part that means the fabric doesn't get caught on the little metal circle.

I proudly announced this to my group and was met with: I have always used that sort of foot, what else is there?; to great excitement about my discovery.

Anyway ... it has been wonderful for the free motion work, it doesn't catch on the little pieces of fabric and it is much easier to do the work without using any glues or Vliesofix, etc. And the little pieces of fabric don't bounce up and down, so don't move around so much.

As I have been working on 12' square pieces for my online group, I continued with that for the rooster too.
Not sure what I will do with these pieces but the challenge is good because it keeps me thinking and doing.

Another month gone by!

I had hoped to post yesterday - having this strange thing about dates. It was 16/3/19. But I was too overwhelmed by events.
So here I am, trying to gather some enthusiasm.

My tapestry weaving group has decided to do an Exquisite Corpse thing. We are a bit vague about who is going to participate and how it is going to work. I was the first to give it a go. I think this is a huge advantage as I don't have to respond to anyone else's work.

We are having to adapt the idea a bit as it is rather tricky to hide the previous image. We are asking people to respond to the previous bit but not to be dominated by it.

The idea is to do a 25cm x 15cm bit of weaving, on the theme Witch.

We are going to do a part of the image each - not that I can remember how many people have said they might be interested in participating.

Anyway ... a relative of mine was not offended when I said I would like to use a photo of her foot. It was taken when she had some fungal infection and was very inspiring.

I used the photo, flipped it in Photoshop and then drew (in Photoshop) a very basic design to be the rest of the image.

I didn't do much actual planning of the dress/pants, so the shading has been done on the fly.
It was rather challenging to do the feet - and I was not feeling like being challenged, so there may only be 4 toes on each foot, depending on how you look at it. Not to worry, it is all a bit of fun.

I did decide that I should practise some sort of weaving, hence the hatching in the grass areas.
It is a rolling warp, something I have not used before. Something I had not warped before. Something I still have not warped - a friend did it for me!

The idea is that we do our section, take out the floor when the weaving gets too high on the loom and then roll the warp around the frame. I hope it works!
There were some challenges with this method, it is hard to get your hand behind the warp as all the weaving is done from the front.

I have finished my section and all the problems are passed on!!
My loom will have to travel around, a good excuse to have a rest for a while.