Exnibitionism!

Liz ,too had found it difficult to get back into working and admitted she had not stitched most days as she does usually. However, she has set herself quite some challenge as she has several exhibitions she will be taking part in besides those with GTA.She has a solo at The Crypt Gallery in St Ives from 17-23May this year.She will exhibit work inspired by her many visits to the area, including these.They are based on the colours seen in the rooftops and include lichen circles.

Later this year she will be exhibiting with Janice Gunner and Maggie Relph at UWE.The theme is "African Odyssey' She has used cloth from Africa sourced through the African Shop for many years.

This time she has been attempting to create her own mud cloth, the one above uses Forest of Dean ochres and below liquid charcoal both with acrylic medium.She is going to experiment with pigments she collects to see what will ensue.

She continues to go to bookbinding and this latest little one is a telescopic book, precise  folding to get it right.

An inveterate collector of books these appeared at Christmas and will be added to her large collection.Something to pick up and give pleasure when other pastimes do not.

Stuck.

Jenn brought along her 'mark-making' She feels that they are going nowhere.In an attempt to kick start some direction she had pieced together some different silk fabrics ,above, then machine stitched but they did not satisfy.It reminded Liz of Bojagi ,perhaps the samples already done could be similarly treated?

She had been given two silk shirts, past their useful life ,so she stitched onto the shoulder of one.It was suggested she might cover the body and sleeves with embroidery, perhaps they need putting to one side as they are not giving joy, a change of direction is needed.

She also brought along this little sample ,begun over the holiday ,with no theme or direction other than having something to do.We all have times when the creative juices seem to dry up ,anyone have any ideas how to bring them to life again?

Weeds and chillin'

Deryll wanted some advice about her little 'weeds' piece and how best to back it within the frame.She brought along some small stitch samples done on cream and white.We thought as the frame was white the background would argue if it was cream, and the idea should be to draw attention to the piece.

She had found a lovely little quotation and made a suggestion that we might use 

'Quotations 'as inspiration for a future exhibition.Food for thought.

Jane had created a mind map to start the thinking about possibilities of Barriers and where it may take her.She also told us that she had had a change of heart about her follow on piece from Messages and had put it aside.

Over the holiday period she had spent some time 

creating the quilt you see above.Jane is a beginner bell ringer and the yellow 'heart ' in the quilt represents the treble bell and when she had to ring it .Fascinating!

Black and white.

This is Kirsten's latest woodland animal in progress, isn't he looking just magnificent?

She had also been getting a head start on her new work based on Barriers.She felt the word and connotations were quite negative and wanted to find something that wasn't .

So she had been drawing from walls, and the patterns within the stones.She decided she wanted to use pretty rather than ugly.As you can see she has been working on different ways of exploring her drawings, photocopying and repeat and considering using lino to create some prints.It's all looking very exciting.

Fabrics and some gentle mindfulness.

Viv wanted some advice as how best she might put together some rather beautiful Japanese fabrics.They had been gifted to her over a number of years and she thought it time they came into the light instead of being hidden away.The quilters among us thought they would make a lovely wallhanging, just simply pieced into squares onto a background and bordered with the lovely piece you see Kirsten admiring above.

Before Christmas several of the group had enrolled on Kassia' s Advent sketchbook.There had been prompts for each day which had ensured a quiet time to work on a page giving pause during a busy month.

This is a page from Viv

and another from Carol.We remarked how it was interesting to compare pages from the same prompt to see how differently they turned out.

Shine ,shimmer and sparkle.

Ira had only the one card left you can see below ,so decided to replicate the piece she had originally cut up to make them.It was a collage of paper and stitch.Then she had another thought why not tear up paper strips and machine into those instead ,leaving her with a large piece to develop.Good plan we think.

She has also been working on her much loved theme of all things Medieval.Having dropped out of doing the Severn Vale Arts trail she was delighted to be invited to take part this year  by mounting an exhibition in Thornbury's Medieval church.

So ,never one to sit idle, she has been beavering way on several new pieces.We debated whether this was figures or fish depending which was up it was oriented.

A closer view of her foiling technique.

She had been inspired by a recent visit to Glastonbury Abbey where her husband had taken a myriad of photos on the guided trail.This piece below, really caught the light and glowed just like a stained glass window.

More work with lots of foiling in silvery tones.

and yet more in progress!

Starting a new decade.

It's amazing the kind of things we find out when we meet.Debby had made some tomato pincushions with her Creative Stitching group.Apparently the Victorians regarded the tomato as bringing good fortune and turning away evil .They put them on their hearths.The little strawberry often attached was filled with emery to sharpen needles and pins.

She was wondering if she could use this UFO to fulfil the Chairman's Challenge for the Quilters'Guild.This has to show an obvious horizontal line.She thought about cutting into the piece to create a long narrow strip as well as a more rectangular piece.

We wondered if this might lose the balance.She had concentrated on painting the Agapanthus and begun to add some stitch.

     

The colours are so delicate.

Over the Christmas period she had been to Hayward's Heath and had made a visit to the Ditchling Arts Centre .

Debby had picked up this book

celebrating the work of  Ethel Mairet which documents her dyeing experiments.Pages and pages  long all carefully and precisely annotated.

Another visit took her to  the Whitchurch Silk mill where she purchased these silks on antique wood spools.The sheen is amazing but the thread is incredibly fine!

Among her Christmas gifts was this lovely origami kit with some beautiful papers.

We guess this will provide hours of good creative fun and make put in an appearance next Christmas.

New Year.

Wishing all our readers a Happy ,Healthy and Creative 2020.

If you are sorting dates for your new calendar/diary don't forget to add Tuesday 7th April - Sunday 19th April.We will be exhibiting at Nature in Art in Gloucestershire.