NEUTRALS.........What is neutral?

'In colour theory ,a colour which is neither warm nor cool.Such colours result from the combination of two complementary colours ( such as red and green,blue and orange,and yellow and purple) The term neutral colour is also sometimes applied to colours not included in the colour wheel and not associated with a hue,such as browns.blacks greys and whites'.

 taken from 

www.visual-arts-cork.com Art colours:Glossary of Terms

You might be wondering why are we concerning ourselves with this definition.We  have set ourselves a challenge for a joint piece for our next exhibition.ch has been given a piece of linen and we are to stitch it using a neutral palette.This has generated quite a bit of discussion about what is neutral.Do you have a view or definition ?

Sally and Liz have begun their pieces ,below.Sally has machine stitched hers,based on snowy mountain peaks

Liz has stitched into increasing circles.,we said it was unconsciously thinking about tree rings!

At the South West Quilt show,held at UWE, Liz had a stand .She demonstrated Alice Fox's eco-dyeing on fabric and Khadi paper .During the three days she produced a lot of pieces .This is what she has used them to produce.

Piecing together 

adding Kantha like stitchery.

And these are the papers,probably destined for books and cards.

A little woven magic.

Marilyn had been weaving her magic again.She wasn't satisfied with this ,above ,but we couldn't see anything but good with it .The colours were very subtle and the weave amazing.

These were based on the photo we saw last time,beautifully soft shades of peach and lavender.

Lots of lovely samples of different weaves.We thought they could be framed as individual little squares of loveliness.I think Marilyn's work will be featured in a calendar,more next time.

Update on progress.

Carol ,Sally and Debby brought their workshop pieces from Wendy Dolan's workshop.They had been adding to them.All three have produced a lovely piece,it was voted a very good workshop by a very professional and experienced tutor.Looks like there is mileage in this idea.Her book was in evidence for us tp peruse too.

Jane had worked on her pieces from last time and decided to mount them on the backing but not flat.Not really easy to see in this photos but the yellow stitched piece stands away from the background.It's much better "in the flesh"

More from Jane,I think.She likes to keep throws for her sofa and this is a new one she has been working on.A lovely colour palette and fiendishly difficult triangular patches expertly put together.

Quilts galore.

Carol and Debby had entered the Quilters Guild challenge to produce a quilt relating to some aspect of Bristol.You can see the back and front of Carol's appliquéd quilt,above and below.Hers cleverly spells out BRISTOL with her landmarks .

 A little aside to show you her necklace created from Kaffe Fassett ribbons,as inspired by Janet Haigh's book.

And Debby's quilt using the famous cranes outside M shed as her inspiration.She painted hers before stitching to add details.

Can you guess who did this? Kirsten ...... lucky recipients were being given them instead of Christmas cards.

She too ,had been making quilts.

This was destined for a gift

and these just because she could!Aren't they fun?

Finally ,a little look at 

some teeny quilts.These are made for the premature baby unit at Southmead and each is given to the family to take home.This is just a taster as there were a lot.Debby had had a making session!

Jewels.

Patricia brought along a selection of her jewellery pieces.She makes the focus beads by combining threads,ribbons and beads,wrapping and embellishing.These are then matched with commercial beads,often semi precious,before she strings the necklaces or attaches earwires for earrings.

Each piece is truly individual and make lovely gifts for self or others.

More jewel- like surfaces from Ira,using acrylic paint and printed with her own blocks.

By the time she has added her trademark French knots,stitching and beads these will be totally transformed.

These have been cut apart to create some small pieces.We thought they would look very precious mounted in deep frames and all hung together.

And this "jewel" presented by Deryll is destined to be part of a larger piece.She came across it while sorting .It has been stitched and small pieces of fabric applied before being covered with a plastic film and heated ,this caused it to shrink and pucker.Can you guess what she intends for it?

SEASONAL GREETINGS.

Our traditional giving of a home made card continued when we met up at the beginning of the month.

We had a quick show and tell,of which more later,a round up of business before getting on with the main event.........our lunch.

Viv's lovely centrepiece,all from her garden.

Our table with some of the mouthwatering dishes.

W hope you have enjoyed our year and that you will continue to visit in 2016.

HERE'S WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PRODUCTIVE NEW YEAR!

Flora.

Liz had been working hard to get her exhibits ready for the South West Quilt and Textile Show so she brought along some of them to show us.They are eco -dyed with fallen leaves then stitched and quilted.Sorry if you missed the show but it was worth a look.

She also brought some of her work begun in our workshop.She has printed on the Gelli plate,used a home made stamp  and collaged paper.They make a lovely set of work especially as they are colour related.

Liz is very involved with World Textiles and had purchased this vintage Kantha piece to add ti her collection.

A more detailed view below.

Jenn has been doing a printmaking course at THE YARD ARTSPACE in Cheltenham with Sue Brown.This has used safe methods of aquatinting.The plates are made using card,glue,silk.Oil based inks are used to print and are cleaned with nothing more than vegetable oil!

She has used seed pods as inspiration .Above the collograph plate is flanked by an ordinary print on the left and a viscosity print on the right.A viscosity print is when the plate is inked and wiped as normal ,then a roller with thin ink is passed over the surface ,followed by a roller with thick ink .The inks resist areas creating the print when passed through the press.

These plates above and below are  flanked by Chine Colle prints.

This is where tissue paper is introduced to the plate after it is inked but before passing through the press. Jenn is experimenting with using them to print on fabric and adding stitch to create works for our 2016 exhibition.