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Monday, July 30, 2012

Art in Action in the studio

The blog entries have been  a bit sparse of late... humble apologies.

Plenty of work happening in the studio however..... the above picture is courtesy of 3 of the Grandchildren. We had a fun day making sketchbooks and these are some of the covers which were painted. As a great sideline any rejected paintings were cut down to size and were transformed into a page of the sketchbook. Great lessons were learnt about cropping paintings and not discarding any work which was not quite up to the desired standard for the outside cover

Spiral binding was supplied by the use of the Bind it All. Eldest granddaughter is becoming very proficient at using it accurately...... in fact much better than I can!!!


Daughter also spent a whole day using my sewing machine in the studio to piece this quilted top. It really is looking good, she has called it lilac dream. This photo does not do it justice.. it is really beautiful. Next comes the quilting of the whole thing.... suspect that will be another day spent in my studio.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Warm enough for you?


We have had wonderful blue skies for a few days now, and the temperatures have soared. Is it summer at last? Hope so.


The flowers in the garden are really enjoying the sun, after all that rain of last month. I do not really like the heat, despite growing up with lots of it.
So I have stayed indoors in the shade and done some drawing, inspired by reports of Tim Vyner recording the  Olympic games by drawing on his digital tablet. A while ago I had downloaded a free software programme onto my tablet called Sketchbook Express and so set about doing some drawings. Number 3 on my list was handbag (purse in the US).... so here is my drawing using my tablet,

I enjoyed the process so much.... the only problem I had was with the exporting of the image............ and as you can see it is quite a small image. So I made the decision to buy the full program, called Sketchbook Pro.. it cost all of £3.18... very reasonable. Drawing number 4 on the list is mug..... so using the full program on the tablet.. I started drawing again.


However I really got carried away with all the features, some great textures and layers are available to use, think the accuracy of the object suffered a bit as I tried out lots of different options. This is painting and drawing without having to wait for the layers to dry. Great fun. think I will be drawing some more! 

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Make a note in your diary


Hope you can make it to the private view on Friday 3rd August at 6.30 pm. I shall be stewarding on other days, but have not sorted the days yet. ...So watch this space. More details of the artists on the blog.... here

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Drawings


I have been trying to discipline myself to a drawing a week.. I would love to do a drawing a day, but time is quite elusive at the moment.. so once a week has to do.
The drawing above is of my sitting room ceiling lamp..... I drew it in Biro... but it was so boring, that I decided to play with it in Paint shop and used the  layer function, the 2nd layer is a photo of the tree in the garden, and then before merging the layers.... the trees were knocked back by adjusting the transparency, and the lamp drawing enhanced with 2 filters, coloured pencil and then find edges. Great fun.
 

This outline drawing of a shoe is very simple.. H pencil on cartridge paper.... and timed. Next is purses or bags...... I have been inspired by the EDM challenge.... see here.

I am hoping to give myself some rules for each drawing... wonder what media I shall use next? Collage or paint..... Mmmm will have to see what I feel like when I start.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Lots of Stitching

It was great to get into the studio for most of the day yesterday. My daughter has a commission to make a quilt. She is really  pleased about it. So we bought the fabrics from cupcake cottons in Burford last week, and she cut the squares out the evening before last. Hence yesterday was spent stitching the top together. The photo does not show it finished..... in fact we took the photo so we would have a record for her notebook. I print it out using my little pogo printer.. they are so useful as they are self adhesive.

However, not all work in the studio has been for my daughter. I have now finished my 2 pieces of work for the exhibition at Artsite Gallery at the start of next month ( August 1st -11th) . The exhibition is called Words and Pictures, and I have really enjoyed working these pieces. I have also finished a Quilt for the Festival of Quilts, which I need to post off tomorrow. My grandaughter will be going with me for the first time, so I thought it would be fun to make a quilt to hang at the Festival.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Thats My boy!

Yes ......that's my baby boy, playing Ice hockey today..... he is No 9, a defenceman. Today he scored a hatrick ( that's 3 goals)  and 2 assists, what a star! So proud.

Road Trip to Cirencester and Big Arts Day


Its Big Arts Day today at Lydiard Park.... but it keeps raining...  the event is going ahead in true British fashion.... come rain or shine!!. Everyone has been advised to wear wellies and old jeans .. love it! They have had to cancel all car parking on site, but lots of extra buses have been laid on to get the public to the event. Wish I could go to the event today, but am going to watch youngest son play ice hockey this afternoon. 


 Dodged the rain yesterday and took a trip to New Brewery Arts in Cirencester. More of a bunny hop from here rather than a road trip.. but hey ho, made a good title. I wanted to see Sarah Beadsmoore after her wonderful talk to the Great Western Embroiderers On Tuesday. When I first arrived a note was on the door to her studio to say she was in a meeting..... so I wondered along to another studio. In fact it was the wonderful Christmas Cactus that was in her window that caught my attention, and as I was lost in thought thinking about my lovely plant that I lost last summer, a voice called out ... come on In!

I did and had a lovely chat with Kate Cotton, a knitter, who has just taken on the workshop along the corridor from Sarah. She heartily recommended I went into the "Pop up Gallery" which is a temporary gallery space attached to Brewery Arts, and look at the bird sculptures of Mike Lythgoe.. if you manage to get to Ciren before the 22nd July.. do go and look, they are wonderful and so graceful, and are thoughtfully integrated on driftwood bases which he sources from Dorset.
 Managed to get back top the car park before the heavens opened up again.... and endured a very wet and flooded journey home. We were quite grateful that we only live a "bunny hop" away. We were soon enjoying a cup of tea and chocolate cake in the comfort of home.

This weather does not bode well for Art in Action next weekend at Waterperry near Oxford. I had threatened to go this year, but a few years ago we all ( and the cars) got stuck in the mud when it rained this heavily. To go or not to go....... .. that is the question. (Hope the Bard forgives me for that!) The organisers are telling everyone to bring their wellies!!!

Sunday, July 08, 2012

Grass is greener on the other side!


Eco friendly lawn mowing ?

These cows normally live in the field over the road on the farm..... however they also live on the flood plain, so with the amount of rain we have had lately, they obviously decided to move house!
Just hope the farmer comes along with a poop scoop. The fines for fouling on this housing estate playground are quite high..... max £1000 as I recall. Thats a lot of money per cow herd ;o)
 Mind you the council will save a lot of money on grass mowing.

Monday, July 02, 2012


Went along to The Marlborough Branch of the Embroiderers Guild today, and Deena Beverley gave a most interesting and inspiring talk. Deena regularly writes for Stitch magazine and has published a number of books ... one of her first publications is visible on the table..... String work. She also has quite an interest in dolls... fascinating.

 Were your first fabric pieces clothes made for yor dolls? I know I indulged my dolls in all sorts of fashion shows when I was a very young age, all wearing the most wonderful garments stitched by me!

Sunday, July 01, 2012

Latest works an update

A snippet of the fabric I have been working on.. space dyed and then hand painted. Its all ready for stitching now. I am really happy with this and looking forward to completing the stitching.

The other piece of work is finished, not easy as it was green, and I do not do green. Find it very difficult to work with. I had hand dyed a piece of fabric green to show the Grandchildren how to mix green for dyeing last summer. Of course when I was auditioning my painting for a background ... the green worked the best. Typical!!!  All finished now thank goodness and framed too.

These works are in preparation for an Exhibition at Artsite Gallery  in Swindon called Words and Pictures  from 1st - 11th August.