Colours of Pembrokeshire

Azure seas

Yarns for weaving at Melin Tregwynt

Have inspired some artistic activities with paint and thread.

Busy table - no paintbrush, so I had to improvise with found feathers and sheep’s wool.

“Thread painting” “ khadi paper, watercolour paint, variegated thread

Eigg 2018

I have been to Eigg again for a yoga holiday and the weather could not have been more of a contrast to my visit in 2017. Blue skies, turquoise water, sparkling sunbeams, sharply delineated skylines, rusty boats.

Lots and lots of rockpools and beachcombing

Inspiring this little work in progress

 

How long does it take to make one?

This question is asked often by non-stitchers. I wonder if painters and sculptors are asked the same question, or is it just understood that those art forms have their own timescale, and it may take years for a piece to be considered as finished.

I am asking myself this question as I will soon return to Eigg a year after my first visit, and realise that I am still piecing the “waves” inspired by the colours of the sea there.

Placed on a re-purposed linen sheet, I hope i will finish enough arcs of the waves to finish this quilt when I come back.

Sculpture by the sea

One year I hope to visit “Sculpture by the Sea” in Australia. Until then, I make do with seeing sculpture in weathered shapes at British beaches

Cramond causeway, weathered U-boat defences, reminiscent of the cardinal sculptures by Giacomo Manzu.

Or with less sinister features

With a stretch of the imagination, beginning to resemble the Venus of Willendorf

Ogmore beach, wooden groynes weathered in to anthropomorphic shapes

These shapes are percolating through my mind as I have forgotten to bring any sketching or stitching materials on holiday.

Off to Eigg - water

Eigg is a community-owned island, celebrating 20 years of community ownership this year. A yoga retreat beckoned, but the weather on the way over on the ferry did not. That great blur on the horizon is the island.

The dampness however does lead to beautiful mosses and lichens.

When the sun shines, the transformation is astonishing - Rhum from the north of Eigg

Singing sands beach with mist over the ridge

Galmisdale harbour

On the way to Kildonnan beach, with mainland in the background

These colours inspired some watery piecing

Journal quilts 2017, January to March, completed

I did not take part in last year’s journal challenge organised by the Contemporary Quilt Group, mostly down to problems with my Yahoo account. These problems’ to be partially resolved, so I signed up for this year’s challenge.  This year, the size is 11” square, with a theme to be decided by each participant.  On the last date of signing up, there were 170 participants for 2017.

My theme is “Microscopic” and I will be attempting to work in 4 series with 3 quilts on each theme.

The first is “Plankton” as I already had some shapes in mind from previous work and from current sketchbook activities. The plan is to start with a shoal of plankton ( is that the correct term?), then focus on an individual plankton (I think plankton is both a singular and a plural noun) and then show a close-up detail of the single plankton. the additional challenge I have set myself is to buy no new materials, and to use my hand-dyed cloth wherever possible.

January

Planning

Deconstruction-printed cloth, then masks and stencils applied and overlaid with oil paint sticks.

Machine-quilting

Back

Overlapping stencil and mask

Finished. I really enjoy random textile processes, and interpreting these when I use them in a final piece. In this one, I like how the circular blobs suggest the plastic waste polluting our oceans, affecting even the smallest life forms.

February

Appliqué cut with scissors and scalpel

Experimenting with foiling ( the foil a generous gift from Helen Howes)

Choosing the orientation of the appliqué - first time using Steam-a-Seam 2- I’m impressed - the temporary surface stickieness, makes this very easy to use.

Quilting before stitching the applique

Machine applique

 

Finished. I like how the foil dots can suggest either the light on the water or the dots of micro plastic pollution - depending on how optimistic one feels!

March

A magnified detail of the single plankton, machine appliqué again

More foiling

Finished, but pondering  whether I should go back and quilt the lower edge.  I’ll live with it for a few days then decide.

On top of all of that, I went to see the exhibition by LondonQuilters on until 15th April. Very generously, there are photos of all of the quilts on their website, here. I was drawn to the works by Jane Steward, Rachel Tyndall, Vivien Kernath and Martha Crouch.  Well worth a visit.