Textile Tuesday: A Challenge

The Brown Paper Bag Challenge.

Thanks to Tracey of Yarn and Pencil, I have joined in the #brownpaperbagchallenge that is running on Instagram at the moment and in the Facebook Group ‘Stitch Meditations’.  It is the fabulous idea of Anne Marie Desaulniers.

Tracey alerted me to this by tagging me on IG, and I am very glad she did.

Another form of Scrap Happiness, another form of fabric collage

The idea is to put fabric scraps into a brown paper bag, without thinking about it  – just any old bit of fabric lying around small enough to fit in the bag. There is a video on Vimeo by Liz Kettle demonstrating the approach.

Then just pick out pieces without looking and make a small collage

Then stitch.

I cut up part of an old sheet into 4 inch squares and the first thing that happened was that I got caught up in the collaging, so instead of just doing one, I went on to do 4 before I felt like stitching.

And now I just pick up any one of the 4 and do a bit of stitching at odd times in the day. It is really very relaxing. I often do it while the kettle boils. The artist Fran White has done a whole series of sketches and paintings based on that very premise. I met Fran at the Seawhite Studio last year. I have been fascinated by the development of her journey with her #whilethekettleboils series.

This square is turning into a mixed media piece

with a piece of ‘colour catcher’ paper in the middle and I am thinking of adding some of the orange plastic mesh onion bag. I might also add some beads and/or buttons, we’ll see – the piece will tell me as I go along.

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Have you seen any interesting textiles, are you on a fabric fun adventure or will you have a go at the Brown Paper Bag Challenge? – put a link in the comments if you would like to share any textiles this Tuesday – links to archive posts welcome.

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Textile Tuesday: Rusty Delights

Hello Everyone and welcome to February’s gathering of Textiles on this, our second Textile Tuesday Photo Challenge of 2020.

Have you got any textiles you are working on, or have you found any when out and about? Archive posts are welcome.

Just leave a link in the comments to join in.

In another life I would be a Lichenologist

I still can’t leave Rust Dyeing alone. The serendipitousness (? !) of it has taken me hostage and will not let me go!

It is so tempting to just keep dyeing, the results are so exciting but at last I have three finished pieces to share with you.

Desert Rendezvous

The rust-dyed Mulberry Paper in the first piece reminded me of tree bark.

The second one, using rust-dyed curtain lining, reminded me of the desert scenes my son sent me when he was running in the Sahara.

The third became a lament for the devastation created by the recent fires in Australia. The turquoise represents hope and water and new life returning.

After the Fire

I am thinking of painting the background canvas for this one an Uluru Red.

Eventually they will all be for sale, I am working towards getting enough together for an exhibition. When I say ‘working towards’ – the main work to be done is getting my mind round the whole idea of exhibiting and all that goes with it, but I would like to see my work all presented together somewhere, sometime. It will happen when the time is right.

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I am really looking forward to seeing the Textiles you would like to share with us on

TEXTILE TUESDAY

 

Wordless Wednesday: Wabi Sabi

On a fabulous art course with Helen Turner this week.

Whimsical Collage: 2

Back in November I went to a fabulous 4 day Mixed Media Collage Workshop led by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and Nathalie Kalbach. See my first blog post about it here.

It was such fun getting messy and creating colourful papers in readiness for our first 6 collages. We used pages from old books we had been supplied with – books that would otherwise have gone to landfill. The print adds a layer of texture and interest.

And the books themselves make perfect little sketchbooks to carry around for those odd doodling moments

Julie and Nathalie have a great way of introducing the theory of colour and composition in fun bite-sized exercises. In this one we were mixing tones of one colour using black and white

no paint was wasted, we cleaned our brushes on more paper

and then experimented with stamps, building up layers of marks, pattern and colour – my memory is a of a frenzy of fun and activity as we all dashed off all these wonderfully inspiring pieces without really thinking

In this way we gradually built up supplies and confidence, moving towards creating pieces we were pleased with.

The background of this one is the newspaper I was using to protect the cloth beneath. I think at this stage it reminds me of textiles …. still more to do in those blue squares, but I’m not sure what yet……

I wondered about adding a little knot of silk remnant

and maybe some stitching …… hmmm …. not there yet.

Julie’s first Blog post about the workshop  explains the format of Day One and Two.

There is a picture of me (the 8th one in) in pink Tshirt, working away, ( and a couple more later on) plus loads of pictures of fellow students and their work. This blog post alone is inspiring enough to keep me busy for weeks as I remember all I learnt and discovered.

And then we were ready to work towards some finished pieces.

Next up –  working in a series: six collages on 6″ x 6″ card

Julie’s second Blog Post: Whimisical Collage in the UK Part Two shows lots of these from the group. You might be able to spot mine in amongst them.

The best part – building the layers with stamps and oil pastel lines and scribbles

The next part is wondering if they are finished or not

The 4 on the left have a story attached to them, but that is for another day ……

Joining in with Kate and her Scrap Happy January band of happy scrappers.

 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday

Mandala Monday

Happy Holiday Monday!

Joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for her wonderfully heartwarming ‘In a Vase on Monday’. Pop over and visit her post and in the comments you can click on links to visit vases from gardens all over the world – and bathe in a flurry of flower petals.

I’m playing with primroses, hebe leaves and hyacinth pips to create a couple of mandalas

I’m caught up in a meditation of mandalas at the moment

This is a paid for pattern:  Illusion Mandala designed by Tatsiana of Lilla BjornCrochet.

It made my brain ache the first time I made it and it took me a week to make – but it is a fantastic pattern with very clear instructions and a photo tutorial.

So I started another

and another

All made with Stylecraft Special DK and a 4.5mm hook

I do hope you are having a bright and happy weekend wherever you are

Also joining Cee’s Flower of the Day.

 

 

Silent Sunday: Star

Pattern.

Monday Mandala

 

Joining Cathy of Rambling in the Garden for her ‘In a Vase on Monday’ international Garden Party. I love this meme so much and enjoy seeing what gardeners from all over the world pop in a vase every Monday.

My garden has slipped way down the list of priorities this year and I don’t have many flowers growing at the moment. Yesterday was the first day for ages that circumstances aligned for me to be able to spend the whole day tackling the jungle it has become. As I cut back, slashed and weeded, I saved the few flowers I found and plonked them in jam jars hoping to be able to make up a vase for today ….

I looked at this sorry collection and realised something was needed for added value.

 

So I lay one of my paintings-in-progress on the floor and then I drifted off into a very happy place playing with petals and leaves

 

 

Click on the photos if you would like to see them larger.

The centre is the beginning of a crochet mandala in cotton called ‘Sol’ by

Zoya Matyushenko

You can see the beginning of this mixed-media-mandala in yesterday’s post.

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The words are a quote I have adapted from the book ‘Conversations With God’ Book 2 by Neale Donald Walsch, the quote is “a woman hears the melody of flowers in the wind”, but I wanted to change it so that everyone could relate to it.

Little Miss M (5) was here a few days ago, she loves to have music playing – her favourite at the moment is ‘500 miles’ by the Proclaimers, she says she wants to walk 500 miles with me – now there’s an ambition! We were both dancing to the song and she looked out at the wind blowing through the plants in the garden and said,

“Look Granny, the garden is dancing with us!”

 

Paint Party Friday

Making some art with my Thames foreshore findings, gathered on 23.Oct.16. If you would like to see more about that fabulous treasure hunt click here and  here

I spent ages playing around with bits and pieces before I arrived at this arrangement. I’d love to know what you think.

The pieces down lefthand side are the broken stems of clay pipes, the rest is pottery found on that day.

I am going to experiment with a new found toy – Sugru. (Introduced to me by Mrs Snail – she teaches us all so much!) I’m hoping to fix the pieces on to the canvas with this substance that turns to rubber, but no time left today as I’m off to pick up Big Bro and Little Bro from school in a minute. A Granny’s work is never done!

Joining in with Paint Party Friday

All pieces of art made on the Beach Clean theme are going towards and exhibition I will be doing with Miss E in Dorset Arts Weeks 2018. However we are beginning to talk about a smaller event next year – I’ll be sure to let you know  all about it.

Help!

Decisions decisions!

Remember this painting which i had just placed together but not yet fixed, when I wrote this Beach Clean Art post ?

Today I set about fixing it all together. I really like the piece of wood on the right too much to let it go yet, so I replaced that element with some of the rust I found on Ringstead beach.

This is how it looks so far with the small canvas screwed on and the rust attached with a bit of netting and red fishing line

1.

Now I’m driving myself crazy trying to work out where to go next – does it look right as it is – less is more – or is this better …..

2.

but is the balance right? does this look better?

3.

or this

4.

Aaargh! My head is aching!

Can you lovely people help me!?! Which one.

The pressure is on a bit as for the first time ever I am entering three paintings into the Dorset County Show and this might be one of them.

Joining in with Paint Party Friday where you can see masses of wonderful artworks.

 

Paint Party

Joining in with Paint Party Friday.

I’m still playing with this one, so nothing is fixed yet.

Acrylic on triangular canvas with pieces picked up on the beach whilst dong a Beach Clean.

See the picture’s development so far here.