Thursday, 10 December 2009

Exhibition - A bit of a Mixture


My friend Helen and myself have a new exhibition which we put up today. Helen's pieces are of birds and animals and mine are floral, fish/sea and abstract. The space was supposed to be for another friend and daughter, but due to illness they didn't finish the work, and had to cancel. Well we couldn't see an empty gallery space going to waste could we, so we volunteered to fill it.
Below - One of the pieces on show - Dahlia & Fly

Wednesday, 9 December 2009

Tuesday, 8 December 2009

Robins


Sketch Book - trying to draw european robins, a symbol of wintertime and Christmas - in the UK anyway, are they in other countries?  I have seen pictures of the American and Australian Robins and they look totally different to the European type, bigger but they do have a red breast too.

Sunday, 6 December 2009

Stumpwork samples




These are the first experiments with stumpwork when I was doing my City & Guilds Embroidery. I like the lady with the green scarf the most.

Friday, 4 December 2009

Thursday, 3 December 2009

New York yellow taxis - Bag & ATC


The ATC above is part of the bag design below.
Applique on a velevet background with a plastic top layer.

Wednesday, 2 December 2009

Bird & Leaves


Another sketch using the parallel pens & felt tips for colour. These are the Pilot calligraphy pens - the nib has two parallel plates and they are available in different sizes.

Tuesday, 1 December 2009

Danger - Woman at Work





This is an oldish 3D experimental picture - stumpwork, embroidery, applique in a painted sponge frame

Friday, 27 November 2009

Postage Stamp Art


I thought I would have a go at designing my own postage stamps and these are 4 of the results from over 20 that I did - they are quite addictive. But if you are like me and save odd bits of painted paper, then here is a use for it.

Thursday, 26 November 2009

Domino Bird

Two versions of Domino Bird
one is a collage on a fantasy game board - paper bird & feather with dangly cord legs
the other is made from fabric which has been printed on an inkjet, then stitched and stuffed, cord legs and a real feather





Wednesday, 25 November 2009

Alhambra, Spain - Pattern




You can find patterns in all sorts of places, this one was on a wall at the Alhambra, Spain.

Tuesday, 24 November 2009

Magical & Mystical




This was for a 'Madeira' competition in 2006 [was awarded 'highly-commended']
Mixed Media - painted background, digital printing, applique, machine and hand embroidery, beading, found objects.

Monday, 23 November 2009

Screen prints with dog


Screen printed fabrics, dyes, cut & pieced, applique, machine embroidery. The same screen printed dog is on both samples.

Thursday, 19 November 2009

Patterns Doodle


Another one from a sketch book. I quite often do a doodle or sketch with just a black pen, then colour it in at a later date usually when I can't think of what to draw. 

Tuesday, 17 November 2009

Consumption Poster


Vintage poster at Beamish Museum about consumption, known nowadays as tuberculosis.

Monday, 16 November 2009

New York - buildings and taxis


Another applique from my New York collection - they were actually bag designs [but not made into bags].
This one has screen printed fabrics, dyed fabrics, applique, machine embroidery and has a plastic top layer, hence the strange look on the photo.

Saturday, 14 November 2009

New York - Statue of Liberty Applique


In my picture the statue of liberty has finished her shopping and is hailing a taxi in the rain.
The buildings are screen printed fabrics [mainly furnishing fabrics], the statue is painted fabric, the bag & umbrella are painted pvc, the taxi is a digital print on fabric, the background is black velvet.

Friday, 13 November 2009

1st experiment with Coarse Molding Paste





I was eager to start my first experiment with Golden coarse molding paste but couldn't find the evolon or lutradur that I wanted to try it on [found it later] so I used a [new] Sarah Smith microfibre cleaning cloth [which I thought felt like a similar fabric & it was just waiting to be used!]. I painted the paste on with a brush together with golden fluid acrylics, when it was dry it felt a bit like sandpaper. The fabric looked a bit dark on it's own so I decided on the white flowers. As I wanted a crackle glazed effect for the flowers I decided to paint them in emulsion and then add a coat of crackle glaze, however this didn't work [maybe because it was fabric & not a hard surface, maybe because I should have put a base layer of medium or gesso under the emulsion, maybe because my crackle glaze isn't very good...]
The flowers looked a bit shiny because of the glaze so I painted over them with watercolour paints. I then stitched the veining and the french knots in the centre. I was surprised that it was really easy to stitch through even with the molding paste. After I finished the sewing I put some wadding on the back & wrapped it around a canvas frame.
A tip  - on the 3rd picture you will see a rectangular mark around the design [where it would bend round on the canvas] - this was made with a coloured watercolour crayon & can be rubbed out with a damp brush afterwards. It is useful for drawing on a design too, but check how it works before doing it on anything important.

Thursday, 12 November 2009

Tuesday, 10 November 2009

Monday, 9 November 2009

Plump Bird


I had to put this one in just because I love the word 'plump'

Sunday, 8 November 2009