Dyeing, drawing, drama

A beautiful, sunny day but no desire to go outdoors due to incessant noise from gigantic planes overhead.  Instead,I got the dyes out and set up a tray dye with some silk off-cuts that had been sent to me by the very generous Lorraine Pugh.

Fabric dampened, and folded in the tray

and with the dye poured over, a mix of royal blue, bright turquoise and black in a ration of 4:4:1.  I am going to leave this until the weekend as turquoise takes so long to penetrate the fibres when it is in competition with the royal blue and the black.

We have a [project at the art class for the last 3 weeks of term - Matchbox Museum.  The brief was to stuff a matchbox with as many items as posslble, perhaps taken at random from that drawer in everyone’s home that is where all the small items collect.  Then to place these items in different arrangements, by structure, by function, by material and the like, and to draw them in different ways.  I was struck by how the needle-threader, resembled a ray,

and this resurrected memories of a painting by Arthur Boyd that I first saw over 25 years ago, that has stayed in my mind ever since.

The next stage is to make a book using some of the drawn images - at the moment this feels like a project for a year rather than for 3 weeks.

Exhibitions visited for inspiration

• Mall Galleries, Lynn Stainer-Painter prize, now finished, first prize won by Henry Kondracki from Edinburgh
• Mall Galleries, British Life Photography exhibition, laugh out loud at some of these, and I resisted temptation to buy the book
• October Gallery, just around the corner from the Mary Ward Centre, to see the dramatic sculptures / hangings / by El Anatsui made from pressed, recycled aluminium packaging, on until 02 April.  There is a lovely little courtyard at the back of the gallery, a really special place to sit with a coffee and ponder life.

Then seen on the walk back to the station, Square The Block, emerging from the walls of the LSE.  

 

 

How can I have walked up and down Kingsway so many times and not noticed that before?  More eye peeling needed.