Catching up 2017 to 2019

Too busy working on joint group blogs - so about time I got back to updating this blog.

Samples from Rydal week

 

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Time to catch up on some stitching!

After two months in the states I am back home catching up now with my textiles. Just returned from a week at Rydal Water in the Lake District where every year a group of twelve contemporary textile artists meet up and stitch, walk and chat all week. Whilst we all get on with our own work we gain so much from each other in the working environment.

Whilst the weather was cold with snow on the highest peaks we had some lovely sunny spells for exploring around Rydal water and hills. The Rydal beck was in full spate and will I am sure, be a source for a future piece of work




I am currently working on a couple of pieces based on coral atolls and reefs. I am using dyed cloth which I discharge through stencils and screens to create the images of the coral reefs. I then over dye and screen again to try to introduce depth into the piece. The larger piece for a challenge called 'On the Edge' is on its way, having free machined around the 'coral' I now have to machine stitch the 'ocean. I used some dilute Golden  irridescent pearl paint to highlight the coral. This will be a work in progress for some time as there is a lot of machine quilting to do



A smaller 12 inch square piece got finished during the week. This piece used similar techniques to those planned for the larger piece but I added some free machine embroidery, french knots and a little bling in the form of rhinestones to add some sparkle.

  It is  for a SAQA Benefit Auction which takes place later this year which raises money to help support the cost of travelling exhibitions. So the piece is winging its way to the USA for the Auction..

Jean

A bit of hand stitching

Over in California without  machine at the moment - so I am catching up with some hand stitching I am doing with a local stitch group for an exhibition. I am using some small pieces of rust dye fabrics that I produced years ago when 'rusting' was all the rage - never used them for anything so I am now using small pieces as backgrounds. 

Different activators were used to produce the rust from lemon juice to green tea! The unpredictable effects make the pieces ideal for hand stitching

Just started stitching on a couple of the pieces below - ideal little project to have with me whilst we are travelling around, tacked them loosely to a muslin backing first before deciding how to stitch.

A little behind.....

Not posted for  quite a few months as  always seem to be racing towards another deadline so just posting here some work I have been doing for  an exhibiting group I belong to with the intention of taking time to find  a few minutes to record what I get up to rather than always be doing it!

The pieces below were based on the theme of 'Abstracted Nature' which all members of the Voyage Art textiles Group were working to, earlier in the year I had started work on some pieces based on Foxgloves from a Norfolk Garden- but having done a couple - I lost the will to develop any more designs from the Foxglove - hence   I eventually settled on abstracts of Norfolk Landscapes - this is an area that until recently I did not know well but the huge open skies and diversity of landscapes were the trigger and starting point for this years series. The designs developed from the colors abstracted from photographs of each  landscape.

The pieces all start as white cloth and were then dyed and screen printed in block shapes using thickened transparent dyes.

Heather and Gorse at Grimstone Warren.

Opaque screen printing inks were used to create the strong colour of heather on top of the screen printed backgrounds.

Oilseed Rape fields outside Burnham Market

The vibrant yellows and lime green colour ranges of the rape seed fields were the the backdrop for the piece. Overprinting with opaque fabric paint was used to add some depth to the piece before quilting the final piece.

The Salt Marshes at Blakeney

This has become a favourite place - the desolate salt marshes which surround the small fishing village of Blakeney, so often emerging from the mists.

After creating the backgrounds as before, I used discharge paste to  lighten some areas to create wave forms. The marsh reeds and darker waves were done by overlaying dyed silk organza, stitching and then cutting back to the shape.

Lavender at Caley's Mill

The fields surrounding the Mill are planted for miles with different varieties of lavender, and in June the sight and smells are a joy. 

The lavender flowers were again produced using dyed organza, stitched and cut back.

Jean

December 2015

Looking at the dye samples

One of the joys of natural dyeing is the unpredictability of the results. It's about

the only ironing job I like - ironing the dyed pieces after they have been rinsed and dried.

You can see the shibori indigo piece  in more detail below, a few lines of stitches were done on the machine with a long stitch setting before I drew up the threads tightly and put the piece in the indigo vat..