Poppy obsession taking over from sweet peas

Inversion

Not yoga, but inverting black and white in drawing, such that the dark shadows become the brightest whites and the brightest highlight becomes the darkest dark.  This was last week’s mind-boggling exercise at the drawing course.

Still life - different tones and textures

Charcoal drawing in progress, starting with a mid-grey, charcoal-rubbed ground, and then using the rubber to add the light and adding back more charcoal to draw the darks. The eyes were playing tricks with the mind and that light bit on the right hand side of the cylinder should be very dark.

Development

This was a fascinating exercise, but I doubt I will have the quietness of mind in the next few weeks to try it at home.  Researching the use of tone only after the class, I came across a  wonderful etching by Tony Cragg, “Laboratory Still Life No 4”.

As recently as two years ago, I would have skimmed past a work like this, now I can start at it in wonder, and seek it out the next time I visit the Tate.  Education is a wonderful thing, particularly when you are old enough to enjoy and appreciate the gift that it is,

Partial new life

Due to changes to the flightpaths into and out of Heathrow, and the increased noise disturbance caused, my family and I are in partial retreat to Oxfordshire. Our new house is a compensation for leaving behind friends of many years.  New life beckons for us, and also in the overgrown wilderness, dominated by a yew tree, that is our new garden.

Obsessed, me?

Perhaps, as the weekend has produced this 14inch square.  Cotton, two layers of 80:20 wadding, 60 weight thread.  All white stitching on one side, and mixed white and blue stitching on the other.  I marked the circles, the grids and the main radiating lines with washable blue pen and quilted them with the walking foot.  I then just quilted the rest freeform.  It has still to be trimmed to its final size.  Looking at it with a critical eye, it would be more balanced by lining up the middle row of diamonds with the very base of the circles, but live and learn.
White thread

White and blue thread

Detail

White on white

Two striking clothing contrasts at the V and A this week, both with white as the prominent colour.

Burqa from 1850

The tear-down of the wedding dress exhibition.