Winning ways.

Deryll ,as usual, entered the crafts section of the Long Ashton show .This lovely card displaying her exquisitely made courronnes.

A collage depicting waves crashing to shore 

and this stitched piece celebrating the apple.

Not only did she receive some excellent comments and feedback but she won 'Best Exhibit' in the crafts section and was presented with the Rose Bowl  ,which she gets to keep for the year!

 

Collage ,print and mark making

Sue had had some fun looking around the garden to find interesting stalks, seed heads ,dried buddleia heads and poppies.

She used inks and painted and made marks on paper to create some interesting textures for use in collage,

She had continued on from the workshop led by Debby

adding in colour

and creating some dramatic results.

We think she has more to explore and can see this leading into work with her embellisher.

 

September 2021

With fewer of us meeting because of holidays and other commitments you would think we might not have much to see and talk about but you'd be wrong.Debby started off with lots of interesting items beside her lovely work.

First , the book pictured which has been produced by Mandy Pattullo's daughter Alice .She has used her own drawings and illustrations'' in collaboration"with Eric Ravilious who did works about the White Horse ,some previously unpublished .It had the blessing of the family and makes for a delightful book.

Next she had found this ingenious gadget for hanging pieces such as scarves etc.it consists of a wood  batten which has a long magnet attached .The cloth is laid against this then a flexible magnet attached over the top holds it all in place.There is a bottom batten that does the same enabling the fabric to hang straight .

First piece she showed was this little embroidery in preparation for her workshop at Court House Farm  near Portishead on 25th and 26th September .The lavender blue really zings against the lime green ground.

Over this last year she has been doing much more painting and drawing and these two pieces are a collaboration with her husband.He really enjoys applying paint and creating textures, then Debby steps in and adds the imagery.

She hopes to take these into textile and with this in mind had sent the images to PRINFAB to be printed onto fabric ,in  this case velvet.

She had also spent a lovely weekend up in Cheltenham at theYard artspace.

The course run  by the lovely Sue Brown was "Botanical contact print with collagraph"

The first day was spent preparing the botanical printed papers 

Then they created collagraphs using non toxic methods such as glue and card which would be printed onto their papers once dry .

They were shown how to use chine colle to add extra layers to their print using printed tissue and dressmaking pattern paper as well as utilising more than one colour in their prints.

Looks like Debby really took to this ,will we see more developments ?

 

August

We met on what turned into a lovely day in Sue's sun trap of a garden.Instead of our usual' Show and Tell' followed by lunch, then any business Debby led a very interesting ,well resourced and enjoyable workshop on using collage. 

She had come prepared with  sticky labels already painted for our quick intro activity ,along with some postcards.We were invited to choose from a selection of sticky labels ,then using any inspiration we had brought to create a little landscape by cutting or tearing them and adding to the postcard background. Once this was achieved we could add to it with other papers or use coloured pens, pencils to add any details.

As you can see there were some really different but effective responses.Such a simple way to work out an idea that could translate to textiles so easily.

The next activity was to work on two collages side by side .We were asked to use one light and one dark background and our choice of inspiration.

Some choose to work on different images

while others replicated the image to see the difference the background might lend.

Some stuck to the landscape theme 

while a pattern play was enjoyed by one .As before details could be added with additional imagery collected or by working into with drawing.There was much chatter and exchange of ideas.

We were very taken with the results and very grateful to  Debby for introducing us to the different ways of exploring collage .She provided lots of books look at  and artists  to look up who use collage . Although the time went so quickly  it has opened possibilities and will no doubt filter into our textile work.

 

Collage ,colour and stitch.

As usual Debby brought along a variety of interesting pieces .First this previously painted on silk picture .She had been adding in extra touches with Inktense pencils ,they are such a useful and versatile medium.When she is satisfied this will be backed with some wadding and cotton and will have the addition of stitch.

She had recently acquired some Stabilo 3- in -1 pencils and had been putting them to test in this little still life.

A really useful and ingenious idea from @rebeccachapmanart came next 

adding colour and mark-making to adhesive labels that can be used in collage.What delightful marks.

And finally some experiments in collage and paint.

 

Garden inspiration.

Sally brought along her Garden concertina sketchbook, it looked lovely laid out along the table .Being able to leaf through was good as it had previously only been seen on Zoom.

She had gone on to take inspiration from it to create a cloth book.

Each page is created from small garden vignettes painted on printable canvas.

These are each mounted on painted and printed calico pages.

Each page has been stitched together and bound with a beaded spine.

A memory of a very strange time when gardens and outdoor spaces gave solace and distraction.

 

Delicate.

Sue had been trying out different media ideas ,first some super abstract collages with a specially made viewfinder to isolate areas she liked.

She had also taken some plant material and used fabric paint to print on a semi-sheer fabric.They turned out very pretty and delicate.

Meanwhile Viv had turned her attention to seeking out some frames for some Lockdown pieces .These grey shadow box ones seem perfect.

The pieces they are intended for are the lace creations she made by repurposing some lace pieces ,

and laying them over some small chopped up Liberty lawns.