Online visual diary

I have finished the tapestry and have even sewn in the ends and put a backing on. Yay!

Actually, this has been done for a week or more, I just haven't done anything with it since then.

I have been working on several ideas lately, mostly in my head. One is for the upcoming exhibition at the Embroiderers Guild, Victoria, with the theme Art Deco Now!

One is to lead a Play Day group at the guild, making folded fabric books. I have not done that for ages and am trying to work out how to make them so they can have some texture but still fold.

I wanted to see how I had done something (the folded books) and the best place to find it was ... here, in this blog. I know I started it to be a visual diary (and to learn how to blog - so long ago!). I have dropped off lately. I used to try to post at least once a week. Now I am being productive if it is once a month.

Facebook and closed groups there have sidetracked me a bit. There is a lot of sharing of ideas, prompting new ideas, techniques, challenges, etc. So I have been distracted by that. And then you get even more distracted looking at stuff you had no intention of knowing about. Or wanting to know about.

So I think I will try to be a bit more self-focussed (in a good way) and start blogging a bit more often - really just as a visual diary.

I have this tendency to try various things and then forget how I did it, once I have moved on to something new. I also try to meld ideas from various workshops, books, discussions, etc and need to keep a record that is easy to find. I do have folders with examples, but it is cumbersome to find them, locate the exact bits you want and then see what use it might be. Here, you can put in a search and, if you have put in useful labels, it comes up rather quickly.

On the other hand, going through the old folders can be great - you come across things you had totally forgotten you had played with and get re-inspired.

So ...

Onto the current project. Actually, it is one of several things that are occupying my mind at present but I will try to just do this one.

One of my Facebook groups has set a challenge to come up with 4 more textile art pieces in the coming 12 months. The first one was due this month. Not sure of the date and it really doesn't matter as it is not for any deadline other than an arbitrary one.

The 4 pieces are to be 12"x12".
The overall theme is Micro/Macro.
Not sure how I will interpret this and expect things to change over 12 months.
The first one is to be rather monochromatic - approximately 80% the colour and shades of, the other 20% to be another colour.
I have photos that I have played with and played with and then not used, of the hollyhocks in the back yard.
One of the photos is of a close-up of the flower. That is my macro (or is it micro? It may depend on whether you are talking cameras or not).

I am going to stick with my current technique derived from Kathryn Harmer Fox's workshop in 2017.

So I have lightly outlined the image and then covered it with little bits of fabric. Due to my recent work with being Inspired By Van Gogh, I am tending to use that technique that replicates the brush strokes. This has caused some of the pieces to be very small indeed. But I have managed to roughly sew them all so that they are attached, even if some of them are barely attached.

I have put a frame with a 12" hole over it, to give me an idea of where the edges might be.
I liked the raw edge effect of my other Van Gogh pieces, so will try to do that. I think.

The next step will be to decide how to sew the fabric in, how to make it look more like I envisaged, more a part of the overall fabric.

Park bench inspiration

Going on with the Inspired By ... theme, I have another small piece done.
It is still inspired by Van Gogh and Kathryn Harmer Fox.
I used the seat in the garden at the asylum, by Van Gogh.  On my frequent walks with the dog, I came across many bench seats in parks.

The image I used as my model is nothing like the Van Gogh painting, but the painting was still my inspiration.

I have continued with the technique we learnt early last year, from Kathryn Harmer Fox. I used lots of small pieces of fabric, loosely attached them and then did some heavier stitching to give shading, etc.

Once again, it is roughly 12" by 16", or A3 size.

I actually quite like the back too, except that a piece of fabric got caught up in it, not that it matters as it is on the back.

It has taken me a while to get it finished, not for any good reason, just that life got in the way. But finally it is finished. Now to get the four framed. One day.

Inspired by ...

This time, I am working towards the online group's Inspired By ... theme. We have set ourselves the challenge to make 4 pieces in a year. It isn't a calendar or financial year, just an arbitrary year. We are up to number 3. (Here are 1 and 2.)

I am sticking with Van Gogh and Kathryn Harmer Fox.
The Van Gogh influence is the choice of subject, a sunflower. It is seen from the side, which I don't think he did. But I am still influenced by him.

Part of the reason for the sunflowers is that we have been growing them in the backyard and we put thm in a spot that was off the ground and just outside the back door. They were perfectly situated for me to take close up photos, albeit not front on.

I chose one when it was opening up and pointing east.

The Kathryn Harmer Fox influence if from the workshop I did last April. I have also done my other two for this challenge in the same technique. One more to go.

It starts off looking relatively easy, then the making adjustments, shading, corrections, etc, comes in and there is a lot of sewing. But it is a very enjoyable technique that is also a bit forgiving.

Today I have spent a few hours mounting it onto foamcore.

I decided to leave off the ladybird because I had a bit of trouble with the background and it is now very thick and I thought I might just mess it up.

Now I have three of them, all the same size. Once I have made the next one, I will have to think about how I am going to frame and hang them. But that must be 3 months away, which may not be that far away, actually.

Sunflowers

I was invited to join a group of people who planted sunflower seeds last November. They were supposed to be planted on Melbourne Cup day, the first Tuesday in November. I think we anticipated the date by a few days.
We planted 6 seeds but only 4 seem to be growing.
They are definitely growing! They are quite tall - and they are starting to flower.

I am also in a group that does small art quilts and our current challenge is to be inspired by an artist. I have done two inspired by Van Gogh, as well as Kathryn Harmer Fox, using the technique she taught early in 2017 (last year now!). Both of these artists have done gorgeous sunflower pieces.

Now the challenge is to use my photos to come up with something. I am not bothering to try to emulate both artists, I can just be inspired by the fact that they have used sunflowers as their inspiration.

I am loving seeing the flowers slowly open. The patterns are gorgeous. Not sure how I will develop this work but am looking forward to it.

It is strange that the Unfinished Business piece I have been working on also has a sunflower theme. I am currently trying to finish another vessel that is inspired by a pansy needlework pattern. I have come to a temporary (I hope it is temporary!) standstill with it. I am hoping to get going again soon - but the forecast for rather hot weather is not auspicious for doing much work.

Still, there is lots happening in my mind. Here's hoping it translates to actual work soon.

Demonstrating a technique

Our Ebb and Flow exhibition is still on and I was rostered to be a demonstrator tonight.
I made three pieces for the exhibition and didn't have anything on the go for tonight.

However, I am also in an online group that has a challenge going - to be inspired by an artist and to produce something from that inspiration. That is due next Sunday - panic stations!

I think I have already mentioned that I am currently being inspired by Van Gogh but am also wanting to continue trying the Kathryn Harmer Fox technique that I learnt earlier in the year.

So ... Van Gogh did an almond blossom piece. We have a very small almond tree in the back yard, it is spring and it was flowering recently. I took photos. I manipulated one photo to have a clearer idea of where the tones are. I had those two photos printed out A3 size, as well as a black and white version.

The background is a water tank and some balcony fencing, I might have to change that as I go. 

I traced the outlines onto a piece of linen, backed with interfacing.
I wanted to have, at least, started to put some fabric on before I took it for demonstration.

Then, after a lot of procrastination, I got to put a bit more on while I was demonstrating. There wasn't a lot of actual sewing done, it was more me trying to work out where to put the little bits of fabric (and some were most definitely little). I sewed the pieces on as I was going, didn't even use pins. Some of the cheeky pieces moved when I was taking it to the machine (how dare they??) but I just ploughed on and decided that any mistakes can be adapted or sewn over later.

Actually, seeing in this smaller, photographic form, I can almost see it starting to take shape. I couldn't really see it while I was working on it. 

I hope to do a bit more in the next couple of days so that I will be able to have a clearer image to work on when I demonstrate on Saturday. I am rostered on all day, so I had better have a clearer idea of what I am doing.

Demonstration table at the Guild rooms. 

Inspired by ... Andy Warhol

Well, I dragged myself out of my sickbed today (not that ill, a cough and not feeling great) and finished off the small piece I cut out ages ago, inspired by Andy Warhol.

I decided to just sew the pieces down, not try to do any thread painting. The main reason for this was that the images I was inspired by are screen printed and don't have much depth or shading in them, they appear quite flat to me.

Having recently worked with Kathryn Harmer Fox and learning to embed the fabric with random stitching, I decided to just try that. There wasn't much embedding to do, the fabric really has the image, the stitching is holding it down and that is about all.

The pieces were traced onto Vliesofix and then ironed onto the fabric and cut out. It is all rather fiddly as the finished size is only A5 - that has been one of the main challenges of this series, the small size! It makes it achievable as it is small but it also makes the design choices different, to manage to get the effect in such a small piece.

I decided to cut out the hair under my chin, especially as it didn't seem right when I cropped the picture. Then the chin looked rather strange. I added some shadow but I think it is a bit straight.

Not to worry, I have done another of my machine embroidery group's challenges, despite not making the relevant meeting.

Now I just have to try to be inspired by Piet Mondrian. Not getting any great inspiration at this stage. Still, if I start looking, I may come up with some new idea to try.