High Fiber Diet

In search of inspiration I recently visited the High Fiber Diet exhibition at Bellevue Craft Museum.  This is a great space & it was a delight to see such a variety of textile work on display, from traditional quilting and basketry to free-form crochet - this was a wonderful large crochet piece by artist Jo Hamilton.

 

Interestingly and somewhat unusually, the curator had decided to put the artist's explanation of the work alongside it.  I'm not sure if this added or subtracted from the experience; I like to make my own interpretations of work & I felt that I was constantly evaluating the art work to see if it lived up to the concept.  As a consequence, the most powerful pieces in the exhibition for me were those in which the strong initial concept was effectively conveyed to the viewer through  artistry and skill.  This piece by Patricia Resseguie stood out as being both incredibly beautiful, displaying such a mastery of stitch & really conveying the fragility of human nature as described in her concept.

 

 

New Beginnings?

New Year, New Beginnings! 

I was tempted to start a completely new blog for 2013 since it has been so long since I've written anything but I don't really believe in 'new starts', there is always a history, an accumulation of events, memories.  I'm hoping that 2013 is the year I start to find my way a little, especially when it comes to my work.  It has started well, I have been nominated as 'Featured Artist' for 2013 by a local gallery, VALA, and even better, I sold both pieces of work which were in their recent exhibition.

This was a quirky piece made to celebrate the Centennial of our local town, a little more frivolous than I normally work but America seems to enjoy a bit of British humour! 

 

 

 

The Way Home

I've been quite disorientated during the last couple of weeks.  After a wonderful trip back to the UK during which I had an enjoyable time exhibiting at the NEC, I was thrust back into American life with quite a jolt.  One minute I was sipping a cup of Earl Grey in the sunshine, the next it was a tall soya latte in Starbucks looking out at the misty rain of Seattle.  I don't normally create pictorial work but this little piece came from the heart, a mixture of nostalgia and memories of home....

And so I find myself packing again, this time a trip back to the UK for an exhibition at the RBSA Birmingham and then onward to visit my beautiful daughter in Turkey.  With family now scattered across the world, I find I'm contemplating more and more the notion of 'home'.  Is it a fixed location?  Where do I consider 'home' to be right now?  Can I make a new 'home'?  Is 'the way home' a physical path to be followed or a spiritual one? 

So many difficult questions!  And I thought I was just making art!  For now I'll concentrate on packing my bags & leave the philosophical thinking for the 9 hour flight home! 

Take a breath!

This piece is finally finished...

...I am so happy to finally be able to put down my needle!  I'm only giving a sneak viewing of the hanging as it is destined for a special exhibition back in the UK in May so I'd like to keep it under wraps until then.  The piece has taken so much of my time & energy, it is heavily hand stitched and every time I thought I had finished, my needle would say 'just a few more little stitches here!'  Some pieces just have a life of their own though & more and more I feel like I'm just the conduit for some creative force which is using my poor tired hands to do its work!  I'm sure I've actually worn down my middle finger since a thimble which fitted quite snuggly when I started this work now annoyingly drops off all the time!

So, it had its final light rubbing with a Markal this morning & has now joined the 'done' pile in my workroom - very satisfying.  I've optimistically called it 'Sunset over the Lake I' which of course hints at at least a second companion piece.  We'll have to see if that creative force strikes again! 

Detail

This week's love.....

This week's love is the exquisite work of artist Huguette Caland. 

Silent Memories by Huguette Caland

Influenced by textiles, Caland produces intricate drawings using paint and marker pens building up layers of colour and pattern. This little video of her preparing for a large exhibition in 2009 is a gem & I love that even well established, successful artists  still have doubts about their work; Caland declares 'I feel like demolishing everything!'  I think we all feel that at times!

Isn't is wonderful that her house is filled with not only her own art but that of all her friends?  You just know that her life has been filled with love and joy.  I'm going to make a point in 2012 to buy a few pieces made by my lovely art friends.  You can see more of Caland's work on her website http://huguettecaland.tumblr.com/ 

I for one will be rushing out to buy some marker pens!!

Tools of my Trade....

....vintage linens, foraged flowers & plants, a good stick for stirring, vintage threads.  These are the tools of my trade.

I've been doing so much hand stitch today that I've aggravated an old tendon injury so I'm taking a break to snap some pretty pictures for my website which is way overdue an update.  I also need to get some new business cards printed for an upcoming show back in the UK at the end of March.  I really don't enjoy all this marketing stuff so I have to force myself to keep on task, hopefully there will be at least one decent image I can use.

The eucalyptus is from a bunch of flowers given to me by my husband - very unexpected!  I couldn't help popping them into a dye pot today with a scrap of silk so the kitchen has been filled all afternoon with its heavy, heady scent - very healing. 

Sunset over the lake

Sunsets over Lake Washington are ablaze with colour,  the sky is on fire whilst the water turns into an inky, indigo dye bath with flecks of violet and gold dust.  We live across the Lake from Seattle so as the night deepens we watch the city magically transform into a  twinkling outline as if every building has been draped with fairy lights.  

Trying to create art which even approaches this natural beauty is impossible but the view has inspired me to work in a deeper, more vibrant colour palette than my usual.  I think indigo dye would be perfect for the lake colours but I'm more than a little scared by the indigo process and with exhibition deadlines looming I don't have time for experimentation, so I've used logwood combined with iron and tannin modifiers to give deeper hues.

 The piece is still on the work table, it still has alot of handstitching to add but I like the vivid contrast of the onion dyed silk against the logwood.

This is probably going to be the first of a series of  'Sunset over the Lake' pieces, a good excuse to sit by the Lake with my camera and sketchbook!