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

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

Sunday 8 November 2009

Saturday 7 November 2009

Thursday 5 November 2009

Friendly Plastic and Embroidery


This is a City & Guilds sample using friendly plastic [it comes in strips & you melt it to make shapes - strange stuff] with embroidered french knots and running stitches.

Wednesday 4 November 2009

Tiger Sketch


My attempt at a tiger [one of my favorite animals] sketch using pilot parallel pens  [they are a kind of calligraphy pen with a parallel nib structure and come in different widths]

Tuesday 3 November 2009

Simple Running Stitch Sample



Just running stitches across a square of metallic organza [? can't remember what the fabric is called]