Fabric Collage

 I am trying to get back into some creative work. 

I did a paper collage a while ago and have used that as my inspiration. 

A group I belong to on FaceBook came up with a challenge, based on Place. (Have you noticed how many challenges have had that theme recently??)

This one is based on the very many walks I did along the Yarra River during the several lockdowns we have had. 

I went away for the weekend, taking my sewing machine and a selection of scraps. I had decided that I would just have to make do with what I had, no worrying about something I may have left at home. 

I managed to make a base using what was there, now I am trying to sew over it to make it look more like a drawing or painting. It is a bit of a struggle still, finding the energy to get into the sewing. But I am making some progress.

I have some seriously wrinkled background fabric, due to the uneven thickness of the sewing. I've decided not to worry too much about that at the moment, I'll try to deal with it when I come to mounting it. It will need to be mounted, I think, so I can stretch the background and try to make it less wobbly. 

New Month

 Where does the time go?? Now it is June, approaching the winter solstice. 

However, I have been ignoring this, due to the lovely weather. Yes, the days are shorter but winter is not upon us yet. I have posted previously, I think, that we have 6 seasons in Melbourne, at least. And currently the weather is enticing us out. 

I went for a walk along the Yarra (again) today. I am sure I can find almost identical pictures from this time last year, when we were in lockdown and only allowed to go out for an hour of exercise. It is the case again today - but will change from tomorrow, I think we will be allowed our for 2 hours. Sounds exhausting. 

Todays' image: not that different from last year, and the many months since then. But still a lovely view. There may be a kayaker in the photo, I am not sure if I caught him in this one. 

Anyway, I am working on a new project. It is based on one I did years ago (2012 to be exact) and I am trying to be as free in my design as I seemed to be then. It is turning out to be a challenge, I am finding myself doing rather restricted designs. I will leave it for tonight and have another go tomorrow. Hopefully the leaves and stems will free me up a bit. 

It has only been a week since lockdown but I am having to deal with using what I have - again - rather than going to the shop to get the right fabric. I think this background will be ok, it will have to be, really. I will work on it again tomorrow and see what I come up with. Hopefully something that will be ok. 

I did a workshop with Jane Sassaman in 2012 and am using the piece I made then as my inspiration. The links I have looked up are rather old, so I don't know what she is up to at the moment.

 I don't really know what I intend to do with the piece so the size is a bit amorphous. But I am working on it, something that hasn't happened all that much recently. 

I have laid our some of the pieces but will wait until I have done some branches and leaves, then see what I think. 

I found images that I took in 2012, thank goodness for digital photography! I will see if I can understand what I took images of and why. I think there is something about cutting out extra layers where possible. 

Finding inspiration in unexpected places

As I mentioned earlier, I have been working on a small woven tapestry for the upcoming AusNZ online tapestry group's 2021 challenge.

The theme this year is Weaving Water. I have a LOT of pictures with water in them! Because of lockdown and only being able to walk for an hour a day (for a couple of months) I have been along various paths along the Yarra River. It is always brown water. Apparently it is due to the clay soil. 

I just noticed that I started it about a month ago, not a bad timeline for me. Maybe because of the lockdown I have given it more time than I would have normally. 

It is quite abstract, based on a piece of paper with paint smeared on it, ready to be cut up for collage. It is also in a landscape format and the tapestry is square. I also managed to turn the image upside down at one stage and it took me a while to work out why my, not very carefully done, cartoon didn't seem to be working. So then I ditched the cartoon and just looked at the image and tried to put in what I thought it was looking like, not what it actually looked like. 

It was a very relaxing way to be weaving - no good image to follow, no right or wrong bits (apart from some bits that just didn't feel right and got pulled out). 

I went for a walk along Darebin Creek this week - without a mask!! Hooray! The water was running fast because of recent rain and was also brown. It reminded me greatly of the tapestry which is almost finished.

                                         

Out walking after the rain

Although it is not officially Spring, we are having some definitely spring-like weather.  We had a looong day of rain recently, followed by a beautiful sunny day.

I visited a local park and noted the yellow gum blossoms on the ground. My friend and I speculated about whether the rainy weather might have caused it but we both agreed that it is more likely to be the outcome of cockatoo activity.

After that walk, I took our dog to Willsmere Park where the river was very muddy-looking.

I know that people have often referred to the Yarra River as the 'upside down' river and it was clear why they might say that. It looked like a path rather than water. Penny doesn't usually care, she will happily swim in it. I didn't let her swim this time though, the current was a bit too strong. 

I found this quote about the quality of the water at Wikipedia.

Water colour 

The distinctive colour of the river is easily recognisable.
The Yarra River has been derogatively called "the river that runs upside down", a jibe at its high turbidity.^[22] The muddy brown colour is caused by the easily eroded clay soils of its catchment area. The water was clear at the time of the first European settlements, but intensive land clearing and development since the mid-19th century has resulted in the presence of microscopic clay particles. The particles are kept suspended by the turbulence in some parts of the middle and lower sections of the river. When the river water combines with marine salts as it enters Port Phillip, the suspended particles clump together and sink. The presence of clay particles is not a major factor in the pollution of the river.

Missing My Teachers

Well, it's time to try something new.  I got out my book from Image to Stitch, by Maggie Grey and she had this simple-sounding thing to try.
It is using a photo-imaging program to produce an interesting layered textile work.  The description sounded ok, so I found a couple of images to play around with and set out to give it a go.

Path along the Yarra at Warburton

Lights reflecting on the Yarra in the city.

Well ...
It isn't as easy as she says!  You have to actually know something about what you are doing.  This is when I realised that I am going to have to read the books, the online tutorials, etc and not be able to take it to class and ask the teacher for help.
Out came the book I bought years ago (Photoshop for Right-Brainers by Al Ward), thinking I would be able to use it.  It is for people with some knowledge of Photoshop.  I had some knowledge, I thought when I bought it.  Not enough though.  It got put on the shelf and browsed through rather wistfully on occasion. But today I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could actually do one of the examples in Chapter 1 (well, I think I have done it properly).  I didn't use the provided disk, I wanted to use my own photos.  This complicated things.  I wasn't sure what I was doing but I persevered.

So now I have several images.

Tomorrow seems soon enough to think about how to get one onto fabric and then what to do with it. I am feeling good about having made some progress and the images are interesting, I think.
There are several ideas in from Image to Stitch that I can try.  That's for another day.