Paper vessels

 

A couple of paper pots made from my eco-dyed watercolour paper.  Both are 5" tall, one decorated with an eco-dyed paper leaf, the other a real leaf encapsulated in teabag tissue.

Belated Christmas Greetings

 

A bit late in the day, but here is a glimpse of my Christmas card factory!  It's a good job I started on the project in October - I thought I had managed to trim my usual address list down, but each time I thought I had finished I kept finding other names that couldn't be missed out.

I designed and printed my cracker image in colour, adding plenty of extra colour with metallic and glitter gel pens before folding.  The covers were painted and stamped using wallpaper lining as a base.

Block prints on fabric

When I went on a textile workshop in October, I used a couple of my floral printing blocks on fabric as well as the beetle image suggested by the tutor.  My floral images didn't really lend themselves to all the colourful embellishment techniques taught on the day.  I had thought to abandon them, but I have since added some simple embroidery stitches which makes them suitable for other projects.

Block print on curtain lining, some additional
paint added, hand embroidery, sewn onto
a backing of painted paper

Block print on calico, hand embroidery,
with gold thread embellishment
(This is similar to work posted here)

Urban sketching

 

A few scribbly people sketches -
water soluble Pilot G-TEC-C4 pen

There was lack of enthusiasm for our sketch meeting this month due to the cold and wind.  However, just a handful of us opted to find out if the pop-up craft market in the central library in town would provide both shelter and inspiration.  It proved to be a good choice - plenty of interesting and varied handmade items on display, plus a hot drinks and cake stall and a warm and lively atmosphere.  Possibly more chat than sketching, but an entertaining couple of hours.

The December edition of Drawing Attention is also available to read online.

Hand printed fabric

I am not sure where these embroidered pieces are going to end up, but I am enjoying experimenting with painted and hand printed fabric.  It's also good to curl up in an armchair on a dark winter's evening and "draw" over my block printed images with needle and thread.

Lino print on calico with hand embroidery
(approx. 3.5" x 5")

Cotton  sheeting, pigment dyes, printed with handmade stamps 
 using Inktense colours, hand embroidery
(approx. 21" x 3.5")

 

More textile explorations

I was recently gifted "The Quilting Arts Book" (author Patricia Bolton) - a friend's charity shop find.

One of the chapters suggested using Caran D'Ache Neocolour II water-soluble crayons for painting on fabric* - definitely a prompt for experimentation.

I had no particular project in mind, so tried printing with these crayons on a scrap of old sheeting.  Add to this some wadding, another attempt at free-motion sewing on my machine, followed by hand embroidery and I had a small piece of fabric which I felt was worth taking further.  Lined with another off-cut, stiffened with some canvas and I ended up with this tiny container.

* Although ironed to help set the colours, I doubt they would withstand washing.

Fabric container approx 3.5" tall

A textile workshop

 Earlier this week I attended a very enjoyable workshop with Jan Tillett.  A lot of kit to take with us - sewing machine, various fabrics, threads, hand-sewing kit, cutting board, quilting ruler, etc. - it seemed to take ages to gather it all together. However, Jan was well organised with wooden printing blocks, fabric scraps and paints, net and plenty of glittery bits to add to our creations - plus, of course, some inspiring samples of her own work.

We printed onto colourful fabric backgrounds, then collaged our postcard size pieces with tiny scraps of bright, sparkling fabric and net, before using free motion stitching to secure these to a backing piece.  Areas could then be enhanced with more paint and hand-stitching.

I had prepared my own foam print block, as well as bringing along some of my small lino prints, but realised the latter were too detailed for my very limited skills with free motion embroidery.

My effort at outlining the beetle with free motion embroidery was so dire, I made an attempt to improve  matters by using hand stitch.  Not brilliant, but a process definitely worth refining.

 

Foam block and intermediate stage of fabric piece

Lino prints on calico

As you can see from Jan's work below, I need a bit more practice!

More tales from the lockdown quilt project

In October last year I posted some photos of six large panels made up of collagraph and stitched squares made by members of the public and brought together by printmaker Sue Brown.

The panels have been exhibited around the country, including galleries in Cheltenham, Stroud, Salisbury and Worksop.

Myself and a couple of friends saw the exhibit for a second time last week and spent a long time discovering images that we had missed or forgotten from our first viewing.  It really is a fascinating and inspiring display of work with nearly 600 stitched contributions.

A seventh panel has been started and I am hoping my second contribution will be in time to take its place on that.

4" square embroidered on
commercially printed fabric

My first contribution was
embroidered on a collagraph printed fabric

Windsor Castle

I happened to be visiting a friend in Henley on Thames for a couple of days and we took the opportunity to travel to nearby Windsor today and join those laying flowers outside the Castle.  So many tributes to our amazing Queen Elizabeth II.

Sketching in the Park

 

A beautiful day for our weekly sketch outing, this time to a local country park.  Unfortunately, the on-site cafe wasn't open midweek, but after a stroll through the woods and round the lake we were able to access the gardens of this rather grand Cotswold stone hotel.  After mid-morning hot drinks on the terrace, we met up with another couple and returned to the lakeside to capture a distant view of the hotel.

Mini collages

Last month I took advantage of a free Collage Kickstart course given by Cat Rains (Instagram @catrains.artist).  I made 8 tiny collages (under 3" square), using a sheet of previously painted wallpaper lining to fashion a display folder for them.

Just 6 of the 8 mini collages

Cotswold sketching

Despite the predicted high temperatures, our weekly sketching trio found a shady spot by All Saints Church,  in the tiny Cotswold village of Shorncote.

The original church was built in the reign of Henry II (1154-1187) and there have been some later modifications and repairs, but it has only ever served a very small population (about a couple of dozen).  It is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.

Hahnemuehle A6 cream watercolour book
- water-soluble pen and w/c pencils

The traces of wall painting are believed
to be from the 15th century

Urban sketch meeting

After a very slow start to the year following on from Covid restrictions, we had a good meeting on Saturday with 13 sketchers turning up, some of them joining for the first time.  The weather was good, sunny and warm, but with a pleasant breeze.  Our venue was a small, man-made lake to the west of Swindon with a couple of interesting buildings nearby, including a rather ornate Chinese restaurant.

Pen, ink, gel pen, Inktense and watercolour pencils
on kraft paper

Water soluble G-tec pen

The lake was constructed in 1987, maybe to alleviate any flooding as the town was expanding rapidly. I believe the restaurant was built at least a couple of years later, before being joined by housing, a small shopping parade and a pub.

Some early photos of the lagoon and restaurant

Unfortunately, the little pagoda on the island is now completely hidden by trees - in any case time and nature have taken their toll and, during last winter, it looked as if it was about to collapse.

A couple of collages

These are two collages which I put in our local art group's summer exhibition.

Both are 6" x 4", handprinted collage papers, figure drawing, acrylic and mixed media, plus machine stitch.  They were float mounted on darker backgrounds before framing.

Apologies for the poor quality of the images below - in my haste to get the pictures assembled, I forgot to photograph them before adding the glass.

Float mounted on a deep red background
with an off-white frame

Float mounted on a black background
and with a black frame

Pottery shards

 

Found china fragment - length just over 1"

On YouTube I saw this stitch being used to attach flat stones and tiny mirrors to fabric so just had to have a go.  My first attempt on my snippet roll was a disaster and I had to unpick it.  I tried again on a scrap piece of fabric - much better.

More sewing explorations

A while ago, I was gifted some upholstery samples, but was not quite sure at the time how I would utilise them.  Having seen on Pinterest that "snippet rolls" are quite popular, this seemed to be something I could pick up and work on in small pockets of time.  The only pre-planning was to measure and cut my base fabric (some curtain lining) which, after hemming, was 4" wide by 44" long.  I started by collaging small sections of the sample fabrics, machine stitching in place and adding hand embroidery and other embellishments before deciding how to lay out the next section.

I have yet to decide whether I will keep it as a roll or finish it off as a wall-hanging.

Local Exhibition

 My local art group is holding an exhibition at the end of this month.  If you are in the area, do come along - it's always well-presented with excellent work on show.

Miserden Gardens

Another perfect day out with sketching friends, this time to Miserden Gardens, deep in the Cotswold countryside.  The garden was host to another sculpture exhibition, so plenty to see in addition to the beautiful flower borders and woodland walk.

Pen and mostly water soluble pencil in Paperchase kraft sketchbook

 

A perfect sketching spot

The wild flower border