Continuing to be inspired by ...

This month, it is Matisse.
I have not had a lot of time to work on this piece. Our meeting is tomorrow morning and I thought I would like to be up to date. I did some minimal research and came across some floral-inspired paper cutouts by Matisse.

I had a photo of a grevillea, that I took years ago, for my Photography subject for my Studio Textiles and Design course. The photo is about 9 or 10 years old. Not that that matters, it is still a lovely image.

I played around in Photoshop. First, I made it black and white, to see the shapes more clearly.

Then I looked around, knowing there must be an 'inverse' command - I visit a blog (My Camera and Me) where I know I had seen it and wanted to try it myself. I came across it almost randomly (don't ask me what menu it was in, I don't actually remember).
I found that image to be very helpful.

I freehand drew my image - I rarely draw, so that was a plus. Seeing I am emulating paper cutting, there is little detail, something that actually made it easier.

I traced the design onto Vliesofix and ironed that onto my fabric. Once again, I resisted going out and buying fabric, I am determined to use what I have, as much as possible.

I have a wonderful, tiny, pair of very sharp scissors that do the cutting out wonderfully (with my help, of course).

I then drew the other parts of the flower and traced them onto Vliesofix also.  More cutting out.

After ironing them onto my background fabric, I had to sew them on. I rather liked the fabrics, so have tried to keep the sewing unobtrusive.

My quilterly soul wanted to put some detail in, some suggested leaves, for instance. But when I looked at the inspirational images, there was not much detail, if any. So I have just sewn it to some felt and left it as is.

You may have noticed that my images are not all in the same orientation. That is because I was having difficulty deciding how to orient the final piece. I have made it upright, for no particularly good reason. There were several orientations that would have worked.

All these exercises in being inspired by various artists has led me to experiment with different techniques, try different design techniques and play. I have learnt quite a bit, even though they are quite small pieces (A5). In fact, the small designs have been a bit of a challenge sometimes.

Buda Contemporary Textile Award and Exhibition 2014

Today was the opening of the Buda Contemporary Textile Award and Exhibition. A friend and I ventured up to Castlemaine for a lovely afternoon.
The exhibition was opened by Lesley Uren, who spoke passionately about embroidery and textile art.

It was well worth the visit. The works were quite diverse and all were interesting.

There were several works by students and we were encouraged to venture into town to see further school student work on display in participating shops. Unfortunately, we didn't have time today but I will be back there to sit in the gallery, so I hope to get to see them then.

Lucy Carroll, winner of the student award. 

It was great to see work by people I have met or whom I have come across through the internet. I felt like I knew some of the artists, even though I have never met them. The wonders of the modern age.

I was very pleased to see my two parasols beautifully displayed. Congratulations to the curator and her team.

The piece on the far left is by a person whose blog I follow.

The two little tapestries in the corner are by Joy Smith, my first tapestry teacher.