Bones

Working on this piece with printed images of bones, a bit frustrating at the moment as I don’t really feel I like it. Some moments I think this will be OK but not when I see it from a distance. I think deep down one usually knows when something is working. I decided today to just play around with it and try and have fun, and that approach has helped. Let’s face facts, it doesn't really matter to anyone but me.

Sketchbook page:-

I am working on black commercial felt, with painted fabric and, of course, a touch of bandage.

I hope some of you had a look at Art Click TV as I thoroughly enjoyed two of their free videos and hope they will continue with the experiment in the future.

I am really enjoying looking at the work on this site, and finding it both inspiring and daunting in its wonderful simplicity and authenticity. It is the work of Alice Fox who is currently artist in residence at Spurn Point.

Change again.

I have been busy over the last few weeks with a new project, one of those you have to keep under wraps for a while, and with, more importantly, a son’s wedding. Now I have chance to return to the Change, Transform, Disintegrate project. I remember showing some of this, i.e. the buttons whilst in progress and it is still in progress, but now I think not much more to do.

 This is worked on a piece of felt made with merino wool tops and some quite shaggy fleece which I was given and washed and prepared myself.

 I think it has the look of rabbit skin. So some felting, some embellishing and hand stitch. More stitching needed to complete it.

Way back in May this year Margaret Applin of' Scrap, Wisdom, Collage 'surprised me with a post about my little self-published blub book which she had been kind enough to buy. Here, belatedly, is a link to her blog and the post about it. You can learn a lot about using thermo fax screens from her blog.

I like the new light-box feature on Blogger which means that you can click on a photo to see it enlarged;especially as my template means that it is often difficult to show a nice large close-up.

'Found'

A couple of interesting links today and a few photos of beach finds from Swanage.

Art click TV http://artclick.tv/   is currently offering quite a number of free videos due to the fact that they are linked to advertising. The more interest they get will encourage them to keep this feature which is currently only for July. I have really enjoyed a couple of free showings this weekend when I was not in the mood for much else. The advertising is not at all intrusive. Take a look so we can keep them posting more shows.

If you are anywhere near Stafford, Unit Twelve gallery seems as if it would be worth a look. The link was sent to me by Kirsty Whitlock whose work will be featured in a new exhibition which runs from August 2nd to 27th October.

Found: vb. to bring into being; to discover by chance; to come upon by searching; to perceive. 

Work from Jennifer Collier, Judith Brown, Lucy Elsie Harvey, Alys Power, Kirsty Whitlock, 

Print garage (a.k.a Iain Perry), Naomi Greaves, Lucy Harding and Tracie Murchison (pictured). 

  Unfortunately I am at the other end of the country but it is good to see what is going on. There are also a number of interesting workshops linked in with the exhibition.

Minute

It’s that time of year again and We Love Your Books have made their selection for this year’s online exhibition of Artists’ Books. This year the theme was MINUTE, so it was open to a number of interpretations, along the lines of very small and ideas linked to the passage of time. There was also a size limit to the book to fit in with the theme.

A small selection, in fact a minute few, of books will also be on show at the University of Northampton in November 2012.

I am very pleased to say that my book has been chosen and will be in both exhibitions. Circumstances pushed me to choose the idea of living life minute by minute and the idea of making the most both of time and the ragged edges of life.

I used photographs of my art work to make a small fold book.

Please take a look at the on-line exhibition; I think you will find the various interpretations fascinating. Later in the year a catalogue of the work will be produced and will be available from the website.

Kirsty Whitlock, this year’s Embroiderers Guild Scholar in the UK actually comes from Basingstoke and went to the same comprehensive school as my sons. Yesterday she was kind enough to come to the day services where I work and talk about her work to the service users. Not only did she talk but also allowed people to touch the flowing threads and smell the coffee used to colour the paper which is her main medium. She is full of enthusiasm for her work and her career; this was infectious and the audience were all caught up with this and really enjoyed the afternoon, sharing their own creativity, whether in crochet, cross stitch or working with old coke cans.

If you have not seen her work please take a look at her website. She will have her own stand at the Knitting and Stitch show at Alexander Palace this year so you too may get the chance to stroke the threads.

A winner

Well there can only be one winner and she is:


'primdollie'.


I hope you get my email and then contact Sue Bleiweiss with your address so that she can forward your prize.

Thank you to all the rest of you for your interest, and even if you don't win on the blog hop I'm sure
you will get plenty of inspiration and fun from the book. Impressed that some of you are reading it on
the ipad!

Rhythm

I hope you have been following the Sketchbook Challenge blog hop for a chance to win one of the generous prizes being offered by the sponsors. I am delighted to be a contributor to the book which is packed with information and resources; a small thing but important, is that it feels so nice in the hand, with its clever rounded corners, like a little sketchbook itself.

My theme was rhythm which I did not at first find easy; you will have to read the book to see how I coped with it. I found it interesting to reads everyone’s first impressions of the given theme: their honest accounts of how they dealt with the theme,how they worked their way into a sketchbook and eventually to a finished piece of work.

My give away will be:

From The Thread Studio a package of machine embroidery threads:

 http://www.thethreadstudio.com/catalogue/machine/vcoloursets/coloursets.htm  total retail value $18

On the 5th July  I will choose a winner from comments left on this post .

The generous  sponsors include :

Mistyfuse http://www.mistyfuse.com

ArtPlantae Today http://artplantaetoday.com/

Gelli Arts http://www.gelliarts.com/

Joggles http://www.joggles.com

Sue Pelland Designs http://suepellanddesigns.com/

ProChemical and Dye http://prochemicalanddye.com/home.php 

The Thread Studio http://www.thethreadstudio.com/

Blue Twig Studio http://www.bluetwigstudio.com/

The Artist Cellar http://artistcellar.com/

‘Sketchbook Challenge’ the book can be found at:

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Sketchbook-Challenge-Techniques-Inspiration-Achieving/dp/0307796558

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-sketchbook-challenge-sue-bleiweiss/1106242576

ArtPlantae: http://www.artplantaebooks.com/book/9780307796554

Comments are now closed 5th July 5.20pm UK

'Sketchbook Challenge' the Book.

To mark the publication of Sketchbook Challenge this week Sue Bleiweiss has lined up a blog hop over the next few weeks with $1100 of prizes.

It starts tomorrow so don't miss out. I will be writing more about the book over the next weeks.

June 26:  

Jill Berry  http://jillberrydesign.com/blog/

Sue Bleiweiss http://www.suebleiweiss.com/blog

June 27:

Violette   http://www.violette.ca/

Kathyanne White http://kathyanneart.blogspot.com/

June 28:

Kathy Sperino http://finishinglinesbyksperino.blogspot.com/

Leslie Tucker Jenison  http://leslietuckerjenison.blogspot.com/

June 29:

Jamie Fingal http://jamiefingaldesigns.blogspot.com/

Lynn Krawczyk  http://fibraartysta.blogspot.com/

July 2:

Jackie Bowcutt http://stitchworks-jackie.blogspot.com/

Lyric Kinard http://lyrickinard.blogspot.com/

July 3:

Jane Davies http://janedavies-collagejourneys.blogspot.com/

Kim Rae Nugent http://kimraenugent.blogspot.com/

July 5:

Carla Sonheim  www.carlasonheim.wordpress.com/

Carol Sloan  www.carolbsloan.blogspot.com/

July 6:

Susan Brubaker Knapp  http://wwwbluemoonriver.blogspot.com/

Diana Trout dianatrout.typepad.com

July 9:

Tracie Lyn Huskamp  www.thereddoor-studio.blogspot.com/

Judi Hurwitt  www.approachable-art.blogspot.com

July 10:

Jane LaFazio http://janeville.blogspot.com/

Kelli Nina Perkins: http://ephemeralalchemy.blogspot.com/

Give Away Draw

Back from my week’s holiday last night: A lovely relaxed week in Swanage, Dorset. Despite rain and flooding throughout the UK over the last weeks we were lucky and had mostly fine sunny days.

Lots of fishing off the pier with the  beautiful view of Old Harry Rocks was done by my husband; fortunately I had ' Wolf Hall ' by Hilary Mantel on my Kindle. Can’t wait to get the sequel but will have to get myself to spend the money, I’m sure it will be more than worth it.

As promised now is the time to announce the winners of the two Give Away draws.

Firstly, a big thank you to all who read my blog, take the trouble to comment and even to join the Followers list. I notice when reading other people’s blogs that there are often moments of doubt and difficulty in keeping up or fuelling the creative urge; that creativity  which helps to keep many of us ‘together’ and  helps us through life’s dark moments. I’m a bit sentimental today as you can tell but suffice to say that blogging has given me a good deal.

Chosen at random the winner is:

PENNY

The winner from the ‘Stitched’ workshops is:

 Nicole Maki

Please email with your address and I will send the work to you.

More 'Change'

I’ve taken some photos now of the pieces that had gone to City Lit for the exhibition before I got round to photographing them.

 I like this piece which was shown rolled like a bone shape at the exhibition. It unusual for me to like my work without lots of ‘ifing’ and ‘butting’ but this little piece of felt is quite delicate and tactile, and I feel pleased with it.

Don’t forget to add your name to the list for the Giveaway at the end of the month. To be in it to win it you need to leave a comment on the previous post.

On Melanie Testa’s blog there is a mouth-watering video of a shop selling a huge range of Trimmings in the garment district in New York. Take a look it will make you truly envious, better than any sweet shop. 

Worth a visit to this Textile Degree Show if you are in the Eastleigh area in Hampshire: 

Give-aways

It’s a time of celebration here in the UK and it is hard not to get caught up in it whether you are a royalist or not, especially when asked to dress in red, white and blue for various outings to mark the Queen’s Jubilee.

There will be some giveaways here over June and July. The first one will be a thank you to those of you who read the blog and keep me enthusiastic about creating. The ‘prize’ will be - not a flight in a vintage plane - just a piece of my work. To be in it to win it you need to leave a comment on this post and join the Followers list if you are not already on it. It will be a random draw.

The second draw is for those who have joined ‘Stitched’ and to mark six months of the workshops. I will be giving away the small decorative bag made from the printed and stitched fabric linked to my workshop ‘Let’s Play Noughts and Crosses’. Access to the workshops for the next six months is now only half the original cost.

I will make both draws when I get back from holiday about the 24^th June.

Bandage

I seen to have inherited quite a lot of old bandage. The previous generation were keen on keeping
First Aid boxes which appear to have never been used.

I'm pleased that my Embellisher gives me a use for most of them.

Alma Stoller is celebrating her 40th birthday with a $40 dollar reduction in the registration fee for the next six months of Stitched. See the link in my side bar for more details of the workshops. In June I will be having a give-away linked to my workshop. Alma is also having a draw in which you can win threads over the next few weeks.

Out of interest, I have not used the 'gotcha' code when people post for at least a year and hardly ever get any spam now that Blogger has sorted it out  - I must say I find it increasingly difficult to get the codes right first time.

For those people who wanted to see how I use the bandage, here it is embellished.

Work in progress.

I am currently working on a piece of hand made felt and found my button collection,including some charming old covered shirt buttons. They seem to have been fixed with wire as each had a small piece of wire which I had to remove. I really like the cuts and traces of use on  the big cream button.


Over the next weeks Alma Stoller is featuring interviews she has done on her blog.
Here is a link to the blog interview I had with Alma  and a few pictures of varied work I have done over recent years.

http://www.almastoller.blogspot.co.uk/

'The Sketchbook Challenge'

Sue Bleiweiss' book linked to The Sketchbook Challenge will be published next month.
The publisher in New York had an event recently to promote  their new craft books and I was asked to send my sketchbook and the piece related to it for the event. I thought it quite funny that my book had winged its way to the USA and then made its way back, only to go Fedexing back to New York. You can see some slides of the event here:
http://crafternews.crownpublishing.com/2012/05/15/crafternoon-2012-recap-and-slideshow/

The Sketchbook Challenge started last year and provides a theme each month with the possibility of winning a prize in the monthly draw.There is a link in my side bar and more about Sue's work here:
http://suebleiweiss.com/blog/

Art in the home.

I was very pleased to be asked by Susan Bowers of 'Trace Marks' if a particular piece of my work was available to purchase. On her blog you can see her spacious studio and be even more envious when you see the works of art she has collected to make a calm background for her own creativity.

 My small textile piece 'Snow Writing' is in 'grand' company far away in Queensland.

I have a textile piece by Dionne Swift, a print by Cathy Cullis, and one by Pat Hodson on the wall in front of me as I type. It is really special to have an original piece of an artists' work, it makes a sort of connection with someone who may be working many miles away or with  someone whom one will never meet but already feel an affinity with and it is definitely a spur to ones' own creativity.  We should all do more of the kind of collecting which Susan does.

Exhibition

I was in London today and enjoyed the variety of work in the textile exhibition at the City Lit College in Holborn.The work is in the display cabinets on floors 3 and 4 and in the cabinets in the entrance. I was really pleased that all the work I sent is displayed in the foyer.

I took photos of other people's work and most of it I have the names of the artists for, where I don't I apologise and can only say that I appreciated the work and that is why it is shown  here.
Emma Parker on the Tuesday Evening Textile Course:-

Work by Katrina Parris:-

Work from the Drawing with Stitch course by  Madeleine Famurewa  which looks to be a lively course:

These are the pieces which I most admired:-

If you want to see the work you will have to hurry as there are only a few days left.