Still June - 24/6/24

 Well, I have been trying to get motivated and have something on the go - it may be a total failure but at least I am doing something.

I have gone away for a few days in the hopes of actually sewing rather than fiddling around the place thinking of things I 'should' be doing. 

The EGV is having its annual members exhibition later this year - later than usual, October. The theme is Making Waves, There are so many ideas I have had. I decided not to do waves breaking on the beach - now I am doing exactly that!! But they are not big waves, my idea is based on the moon causing tides, so I have a seascape based on that. 

So far it is rather rough and ready. And ... I am doing it all by hand!! Not my usual thing at all. 

I have used scraps of fabric I had saved from other projects - never throw anything away - which is all fine and good until you realise you have collected a lot of stuff and, one day, someone may have to deal with it. Hopefully, that someone will be me doing a clean-out but it is getting to the stage where some serious destashing 'should' happen, 

Here is the WIP. I may decide I hate it but that is for a later day's decision.

In other news, I have been accepted for the Kate Derrum Award exhibition at the Australian Tapestry Workshop. It opens in July. Here is a list of the entrants who were accepted. I know a lot of the names, some online ones and some personally. Looking forward to the opening night!!

My piece is Labyrinth. It is a finger labyrinth but I doubt that anyone will be allowed to handle it at the exhibition! 

This piece was done a few months ago so my focus in now on the embroidery. 

Had to post today - due to the date.

 It is 4/6/24. (4x6=24, in case you wondered.)

Must do a post today, even though there is nothing much to say.

I was at the Embroiderers Guild today. The ATAA exhibition is down and gone! 

There is now a display of works done by the front room, library and gallery volunteers. I am one of them so have put in a piece. There are not a lot of piece, I suspect some volunteers did not bring in their work. But the ones that are there are lovely. (Surely we have more volunteers than that!!)

I am trying to come up with an embroidery for the upcoming EGV members' exhibition. The theme is Making Waves, which gives me so many ideas - not just waves in the ocean, or water, but sound waves, light waves, gravity from the moon causing tides, people causing trouble (a matter of opinion if it is really trouble), etc. Then, if I do come up with an image, I have to decide what technique to try!! It is making me think but not DO!!

May is nearly over!!

I was just having a look at my blog - haven't visited it for almost a month!! 

I haven't been feeling very creative so haven't had a lot to post - but ...

I attended the  opening of the Alcove Shop's winter exhibition last night - it is on for a few weeks. I have been the artist of the month and still have several pieces in the shop. I also found a couple of parasols I had fun with a few years ago (I just looked up how long ago - quite a while!). The theme for the current exhibition was Bizzarre, so I thought they might fit. 

I have also been helping out with the ATAA textile award exhibition at the EGV building. It is on till next Sunday. So I have been with some creative people and am hoping that some of their creativity will rub off on me!

The EGV annual exhibition is on in October, the theme is Making Waves. I have had lots of thoughts about how that could be interpreted but then I have to work out which idea appeals most and then what technique would work best for me. So still thinking, not doing. 

Almost done!!

 I have 'sort of' finished my tapestry!! It is sitting on the loom, the tension released, I will cut it off tomorrow. Then the finishing off to do - cutting off the loose ends, etc. I might actually block it - not something that I usually do - as it might not be quite straight down the sides. I'll look at it more carefully tomorrow. 

It is done for the theme Fire and Ice - not an easy topic!! I was influenced by the volcanic explosion in Iceland. I didn't find any images that I could copy so I have 'interpreted' my ideas. 

I have found recently that I have an idea, draw up a cartoon and then tend to use it in a rather loose way - making it up as I go - but not quite that loose, I do use the images I have made and then interpret them - just don't follow my cartoon closely. It is part of the contemplative, meditative thing that I am finding tapestry weaving is offering me. 

I am hoping to enter it into the Bendigo Wool Show later in the year, It has been hugely important to me lately just as something creative to be doing - almost meditative. Life has been 'interesting' lately and my weaving gives me a time away from all the stressors. 

It's interesting to see the difference daylight and artificial light make to the piece, 

Now to find a new project!! I really need the creative challenges to take me into that meditative state, deciding whether the colours are right, the proportions, the texture, etc. No other thoughts intrude - usually. So the creative process is really important - not for the product, more for the process and the way it takes me into a different state. 

I am hoping to get my sewing machine back soon, then I will be able to try some ideas from the workshop I did with Dionne Swift. Hopefully!! 

April already - and well into it!

 How time flies, whether you are having a good time or not. 

I have recently been to a 5 day workshop at Ballarat Grammar, doing a machine free motion embroidery course with Dionne Swift. 

It was very interesting. The pressure was taken off by my machine deciding it didn't like the changes in tension and it stopped working on the first day!! Fortunately there was a machine available for me to borrow. It was not my usual type of machine (mine is a Husqvarna and it was a Bernina). However, I managed to make it do some of the things we were learning. 

We played with different thicknesses of thread and tension. Some of it looked like we didn't know what we were doing but others worked very well - we got some interesting results.

Our first exercise was to make a colour wheel using different techniques for texture. We played with varying weights of thread, different tension settings, etc. Using different tones created different colour wheels - not really a surprise. 

We also had some drawing sessions - not my thing really. I rarely draw. It's not that I can't but that I usually don't. But we had some fun doing the drawing - time limits changed my perspective quite a bit!

We did very abstract impressions of what we were seeing - then sewed them even more abstractly! 

I decided that, once home I would try to draw 5 days a week, for 10 minutes a day - that hasn't happened yet!! I've been home for about a week now but I am not going to beat up on myself, I'll see if I can do two days a week - soon. 

I am still doing my daily doodles but drawing scenes, using perspective and the vanishing point (an interesting  lesson we had) hasn't come into my daily practice yet!

Our final exhibition did not have all that much to show - we were lucky, there were only three of us in the class. There were some last minute withdrawals with meant that we had a lot of time from the tutor!!

But we were very happy with our results. 

Thanks Dionne!

24/3/24

 Well, I just had to post today! 24/3/24.

Not much to say, but I have been working, sporadically, on my tapestry. It is slowly getting there. I am using the so-called cartoon rather loosely, the drawing I did is an inspiration but I am definitely not following it. But ... it is turning out to be a bit of a life-saver (not literally) for me as it provides a place to blot out the real world and immerse myself in something that takes me away to a world where the small decisions are all I have to deal with. 

The advantage of having a piece of art that uses your thought and creativity and lets you escape from the immediate world for a while. 

Hot weather and trying to develop ideas

 We haven't had a very hot summer, unlike most of Australia. But last weekend was very hot - and spoilt many festivals. 

I went away for the weekend, probably shouldn't have, given the extreme fire danger rating - but the rating was for the whole state, so why not??

I took my current tapestry with me. It is a work in progress. As I didn't want to venture out into the heat, I had the chance to actually get in a few hours of weaving. There was nothing else to do, even the television was not working. 

The theme is Fire and Ice - I had a lot of thought go into this theme and have ended up being inspired by the volcano eruption in Iceland. Not that you will know that from the finished piece (not that it is finished yet). 

I found some interesting images but most of them had only land and volcanic eruption. I had been thinking of a volcano over an ice field but there weren't any great images that I loved.

So ... I got out my Inktense pencils and drew up a rough image. Initially, I had thought to do it 30cm x 35 but that didn't really sit well with the loom I have. So I have resorted to an A4 size, sort of. It is going to be A4 wide (about 29 cm) but I have no idea how high it is going to be. 

I have drawn a rough image using the watercolour pencils but then, as I mentioned, changed my mind about the dimensions. So ... (again) I am making it up as I go. I have used the initial drawing as my inspiration but it isn't in the correct dimension. I am also making up the colours as I go!

I was gifted some money for a significant birthday a year ago (more, actually) and finally got to the ATW to buy some wools. I don't usually use cool colours so had fun buying some.  Now I am trying to use them as the cool ice colours (and water). I also found some white silk that I have no idea where I got it from! It is now being used in the piece. It was extremely difficult to unwind and so I have ended up cutting it into smaller pieces - they determine the length of the colours I am using. The thread is controlling me, rather than the other way around.

As you can guess, my tapestry has an overall idea but I am not being too bothered by the cartoon (not sure I actually have one, having changed the dimensions that I feel that I can actually weave). It is a work in progress. But I am enjoying the process! Process is as important, if not more so, than the actual product for me. But I will enter it into the exhibition that had the theme, if I get it done in time. (Australian Sheep and Wool Show, in Bendigo.)