http://rawtocreativeedge.wordpress.com/


I have moved over to wordpress now so please use the above link to follow me there. Thank you.

KNITTING AND STITCH SHOW 2012

…….got back late last night from “Ally Pally” with very achy feet and a considerably lighter purse!!! Another very worthwhile trip to London to see the Knitting and Stitch show at Alexandra Palace – wow I forget each time how amazing that venue is. Last time I went was about 4 years ago and whilst so much is similar it never fails to excite me to go there. I’ll add more about it once I’ve had time to process all that that I saw and empty my bag of goodies but whilst I was there seeing the students work, professional work and shopping ( all essential items !!!) I also attended a workshop on E textiles. Planning ahead with this one as it’s for a module slightly further down the line but thought it was worth doing to get a little knowledge on the subject as I knew nothing. Really only dipped my toe onto such a vast and potentially exciting area of modern technology meets textiles/fashion as the tutor explains she normally runs a 2 days workshop and this was an hour long !! but suffice to say I know a little bit more about conductive thread and electrodes now !! More to follow ………..

It’s been a bit quiet here for me for a while…school holidays !!! Enough said really but I have done one thing, creatively speaking that it because I’ve been frantically busy otherwise!

“I’m an exhibiting artist !!

 “Feel the fear then do it anyway” ….. these words were said to me about 15 years ago by a then a new friend and now one of my closet and most genuine ones. They’ve rattled around my head ever since, like all great phrases, but there has never a time when it rang more true than about a week ago.

After helping a local artist out one day in our local school with some monoprinting an invitation from the local art society arrived on my doorstep asking me to consider exhibiting my work in the art show. “Ooo that’s scary” was my first thought, “ how can I consider my work to be worthwhile exhibiting alongside some very accomplished artists”…….. so I ignored it…..and then a week before, rather 11^th hour, I changed my mind and impulsively but instinctively I got some work together. Perhaps not the best way to submit work for an exhibition but at least I did it. And I’m so glad that I did because I’ve overcome that fear barrier and have now joined the art society. They are open minded to all disciplines within the artist field (how great is that!?) and I have also committed to do next year’s exhibition.

I submitted 3 pieces, all different techniques as I wanted to show a cross-section but what’s struck me looking at this picture is that I can see a similarity between them all. One if my personal aims for this course is to discover my “own handwriting”…wondering now if I’ve had it all along but I was just too close to it to see it……….

 

Left to right

DISTANT VIEW – Printmaking - collograph, chine colle

 

WATER COLOURS – Textiles - Dry needle felt and stitch/embellishment

FROM WHAT REMAINS – Textiles and Printmaking - mixed media collage using all sorts of scrap ends that happened to match in colour – I think that means I’m predictable with my colour palette !!!

Wondering……….

A few months ago I made a pennant as part of the Cultural Olympiad organised through Quilts 4 London. As the Olympic opening ceremony approaches I have been thinking where my pennant is now and to whom my pennant now belongs.

The Quilts4London Project started in June 2009 with an idea to produce something as a gift for all the athletes taking part in the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. It soon became a National project as lots of creative types, children and adults alike made pennants to help reach the target of 14,000 pennants needed to give one to each competing athlete.
The pennants have been displayed and exhibited in a number of locations across the nation and at the games themselves leading up to the opening ceremony. The exhibitions have almost finished, with the final one currently running at The American Museum in in Bath until the end of this month. I’m really trying to find a day when I can go along and take a look but the school holidays are here so proving tricky.
17,000 pennants have been made to date and so the target has been exceeded. It has been a major project for all those involved taking many hours or organisation and preparation and I for have one enjoyed taking part in community project of such scale and only wonder now which athlete will go home with my pennant …….

I made mine from up cycled damask napkins which were hand dyed in reds and oranges and then torn into strips, crossed over and stitched in place with machine satin stitch. The colours were much more intense than in the photos, it’s the flash I think but it shows you what I did. I also printed a personal message on the reverse as a little inspiration.
If you want to read more on this project and see pictures of some athletes receiving their pennants then here’s the website link.

Website- http://www.quilts4london.org.uk

Blog- http://www.quilts4london.org.uk/blog.html



.

Art in Action, Waterperry House and

Gardens, Oxfordshire, July 2012

Wow, what a day ! My first visit to the Arts and Craft Festival and how I wish I had been for all the other 6 years that I have been living close by enough to visit. The show is held in the grounds of Waterperry House in Oxfordshire for 4 days each summer and has been for the past 30 years. Artists and designer-makers demonstrate their work alongside selling their work hence the name “Art in Action”. I was slightly overwhelmed by the volume of huge white marquees each hosting a different art or craft discipline ranging from Textiles, Printmaking, Sculpture and glass and Ceramics plus many many more. Plenty of opportunities to buy goodies to use in my work too so I’ve failed on point number 2 in my AIMS !!! They also run some practical courses which are a great chance to sample something new. I had intended to do a Digital Print on fabric class with Ruth Brown but the tickets could have been sold 10 times over it was that popular so I opted for my second choice, Intaglio Printmaking with Annabel Boltsa for 2 hours and only£8 – can’t beat that for value !

One of my favorite textiles designers was at the show, Dionne Swift and I was lucky enough to attend one of her devore workshops in May. Devore has very much been her signature technique for many years and more recently she has developed new techniques and ways of working – such a talented lady and a true inspiration to me. I indulged in a little something to display proudly on one of my walls too!

Below are some pictures of the print I made – we worked very quickly and had only 30 mins to do our design so I made an abstract pattern just to see how the process and technique worked. Right now these prints aren't relevant to the textile work I am doing and therefore not even this blog but I wanted to include them as everything is a creative learning process and Its my intention to go back and do some hand stitching and machine stitching on these when they are fully dry and see what more I can do with them….. Watch this space for updates!!





Making the plate



The fine lines were made with a “needle” – a fine tipped pointed pen really. The more textured areas were made using a cotton bud and methylated spirits to remove the black ground on the plate. 30 mins isn’t long when you have to think quickly what to do so I was happy with what I managed.



The big reveal of the first print.

It can only get better ! …….

I thought I would share this with you……this is the first screen print I ever did and it dates back to the 80’s – not sure if it was the OND or the HND when I did  it but mum had kept the whole 3m length piece of fabric and I discovered it when sorting out some of her stuff. She kept all sorts as memories but why she kept this I don’t know, it’s truly awful !! What was I thinking with the colours??? I only hope there was a print paste restriction in the studio and I had to use whatever was already made up !!! But, whilst it doesn’t put my artistic talents in the best light I did think that it only goes to show we get better with age as we develop our skills …..please enjoy the laugh!!

So lucky with soy resist compo !!

Wow! How lucky am I? I ordered a copy of Lisa Kerpoe’s resist techniques as a little gift for myself intending to try out some of the intrIguing resist techniques and I was entered into a competition to win a scarf…… and I did !!

Here’s the scarf – so inspiring to get out the treacle and self-raising flour I can tell you. The book looks really interesting so I will review it properly once I have savoured every page.  

Here’s the link to her technique examples on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisakerpoe/sets/72157630377097606/

and to her book

http://www.visualtextureonfabric.com/about%20the%20book.html