I follow several blogs about medical science an technology. It is rare for me to be stopped in my tracks by a posting, but this young man, Easton LaChappelle, deserves all the publicity and funding he can get.
Even with the sugary touches on the video footage, the tenacity, willingness to learn, commitment and generosity shown are humbling.
Painting at the Mary Ward Centre continues, with an opportunity to play with paint, thick and thin. Lots of sampling of colours and techniques on a sheet of A2 paper.
I loved using the palette knife on top of a semi- dry coat of acrylic.
Scraping through the thick paint with a skewer.
Practising at home, ( really understanding the difference between cheap and good quality paint!) and using some of the texturing techniques that I used when making the transfer printing papers at Morley.
I have a very simple, favourite cuff bracelet. As I am trying to draw more often, that cuff was a subject earlier this week. Very difficult, but the attempt at lower left does seem to be getting towards the shape ( drawn on top of an upturned plate to ry to get some sense of scale in to the drawing). Tartan covers out for Burns night this weekend.
I used the "skew correction " function on my camera to try to straighten out this image, and it really distorted the cuff. Interesting.
As my work schedule has changed, I have had to move from Morley to a different art course. If anyone is looking for a business idea, may I suggest day time classes in drawing for beginners in the London area. Every course I have tried to get on to has been full. I have therefore compromised and joined a course in drawing and painting at the Mary Ward Centre, taught by Sophie Charalambous. Like Morley, the Mary Ward Centre has a great feeling when you go in, and the studio where the course is taught is at the top of the building, so is large and light. Sophie concentrated on drawing last term, so is focussed on painting with acrylic paint, for beginners, this term. It isn't quite what I wanted, but I am going with it. Last week's theme was developing colour wheels, and this week the focus was on creating transparency, tints and shades.
Mine is the one with the big orange drip, as I tried using a desk easel - not the right tool for an exercise involving a lot of watery paint!
I've never really understood about using complementary colours to darken a primary colour, but after Sophie's very clear explanations, I really got this yesterday. Interesting to see the black and white copy of the tints and shades side by side.
The morning had been a return visit to Peckham to see the continued presence of my friend's art work, "People of Peckham". This has survived well, and is still relatively free of graffiti.
A walk past a local mosque, where the minaret was in startling contrast to the winter sky.
Then off to the Horniman Museum, to see the exhibition "River", by Kurt Jackson. I cannot get over how much I love these paintings. The way he uses paint to show light on water is inspired. This exhibition finishes on Sunday 25th January, I wish I had gone earlier so that I could see it again. Also fantastic to see his sketchbooks, ceramics and zoological sketches.
I am trying to continue to draw during this term, before Sophie returns to drawing next term. Last night's attempts - better than 6 months ago.
The dyeing from last week went well, although the graduated pieces done in the microwave all seemed to come out very similar. The gradations below all came from leaving the fabric overnight at room temperature. Original white shown at the side for contrast.
Patience may be a virtue here it seems.
My large project is giving m some headaches, so I had a bit of a diversion in to some bag making for The Quilter's Guild bag tombola at this year's Festival of Quilts. The first two are made with the Morsbag method but with longer handles, a square base, and a bit of stitching along the edges of the base to give them more definition. The startling ( or could be " jaunty", depending on your point of view?) pink webbing has been lurking in the "bag of interesting bits" for some time.
The next two were made using this method for the base, which gives a good finish without having to join up fiddly edges. I also added some key fobs to these ones, again using some clips from the other bag of " useful bits that might come in handy".
The sun was out this morning, but disappeared this afternoon, so I stayed in and attempted to expand the selection of blues in my stash - the dyes came out.
I'm trying a combination of methods here - low-water immersion and microwave dyeing to get six different shades and to see what the different results are with each method.
Results later.
A very elderly ( 101) resident in our road died recently, and her family are clearing her house. She had this Frister and Rossman machine, which I think dates from the early sixties. It looks in very good condition, but had no plug , so could not test if it is working. I'll offer this to our quilt group and then on Freecycle if no-one wants it.
…..just busy with family, getting back to work, and having some thinking time about a major project. Little bits of stitching ( mostly by hand) from these past three weeks
Inspired by Art now bound with 1/4 inch binding - not curved, just photographed on a curved bench between showers and gusts of wind. A3 size.
back, with an embroidered label as an entry to one of the competitions that our quilt group is currently running.
Dr Who embroidery to become another label for entry in to said competition. I am learning to be very wary of using hand-dyed threads on anything that is to be washed. The dark blue here ran terribly, but it isn't critical for this. Approximately 8 inches square. Pattern came from one of the artists on the Dr Who quilt along, but I can't remember who.
Globe embroidery, bought as a batch from Urban Threads, in case they also decide to withdraw their designs from sale in the EU due to the pdf pattern download /multi-country VAT debacle. About 6 inches square.
Postcard for stocks made from the trimmings of the "Inspired by Art" piece.
A lovely walk in the countryside yesterday
and then coming across this fine bird in a pub car park.
