Category Archives: Misc

I used to have this idea that artists should be able to create with ease, remember Mr Squiggle who could draw with his pencil nose a few seconds, a few lines and ‘upside down Miss Jane’ and wow a picture was revealed.

Pro Hart, smearing spagetti and mustard all over the carpet, sloshing, smattering food and in the space of a TV advertisement he had created ‘art’.

And the quilt artists, all that fusing and splattering dye around, slashing at quilts… Tyvek, angelina fibre, beads, embellishers, fancy machine stitches, dyed silk cocoons… it should be easy.

So I tried improvisation, I’d just start sewing, cutting, painting… no plan of couse the ideas are meant to just ‘come out’ spontaneously, right?

I rarely finished anything though, never sure where I was headed, never in love with my work.

But one day I was playing around with some of my photos and I happened upon a fragment of an image that took my breath away.  I printed it out and took it to a workshop I was doing, I showed all the printouts to another participant and she said ‘this one is great!’ and out of my mouth popped… "I’m going to make this into a quilt"

And I did.  And it was worthwhile.

Melody Johnson wrote a post the other day titled Design and Improvisation.  It got my brain churning.

I am now thinking that whilst improvisation and experimentation is very valuable for skill development, for developing new ‘effects’, for developing ideas…. I should not see the product of this experimentation as art, unless I really develop a piece fully past that stage.

My experience with The Dredger has exposed a wonderful, fulfilling way of working.  Get the idea first, think on it, develop it out then start working on the piece.  Six months ago this would have been unthinkable for me, but now, it is the only way forward.

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My pencils live in this Raku fired pot (which I made!)

I received the pencils as a Christmas present from my mother, I think I was 15.

My mother moved away when I was three and my sister was one and she choose not to keep in touch with us. She didn’t reemerge ’til I was about 15. My sister and I let her fade out of our lives again fairly soon after.

People seem to expect that I should have some deep seated issues about this but I don’t. I had a rich, interesting childhood with extended family and community, I just don’t have that hole to fill I guess.

The pencils look quite good in that raku vase, I had them out last night, trying to add a bit of colour to some rather crap monoprints I did on the weekend, watercolour would be better but this relief ink I have is watersoluble:

An experimental monoprint coloured with pencil.

This cold is winning the war tonight, So I’m just about to take some medication and vamoose off to bed.
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The Everyday Matters drawing challenge this week is – Self Portrait.

EDM – Self Portrait on my birthday

I drew this from a photograph because I wanted to turn the photo upside down to draw. I also found reasonable success by drawing guides for the important angles (side of face, chin, eyes etc) and you can see where I marked the angle for my eyes. Next time I’ll just draw dots because a big fat line through the drawing tends to ruin it.

For reference, this is the first self portrait I did when initially borrowed ‘Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain’ from the library.

I drew this self portrait about 3 months ago. I am posting it here to demonstrate my progress.

Riscy and I are headed away for the weekend. So I’ll be away from my blog for a few days. Continue reading →

I’m done with the dyeing, now the quilt can start. You would not believe how happy this makes me. I was starting to feel the project slipping away and I really want to see this one to completion.

A cool combination. The pale fabric is a lovely white/pale brown.

The photo has gone a bit ‘zingy’ on my screen. If you are having the same problem, just click on the image and a larger (non zingy) version will open.

I think the reason for my problem getting darks is that I am having trouble adjusting to dyeing these much larger pieces of fabric. I’m not very scientific about it and I pay the price with unpredictable results.

I’ve been talking about it for at least 6 months and have now finally decided to apply to join ARC Yinnar. I suppose my hesitation has been related to my reluctance to gain the identity of artist (try-hard artist)in this community. I’m a bit embarrased about it, when asked, I sort of mumble about playing with textiles and creating stuff with my hands.

But since my kitchen will soon be renovated and I will no longer be able to dye at home, I need access to a wet workshop and ARC seems like a good option.

I wanted to share a few links I came across today.

Woolgathering – website of Elizabeth Perry, she is working on the most wonderful jounals.

Alspix – how to make a pinhole camera. Now I really want to make one… but this quilt first…

And a great story about a civil engineer who resurrected creativity in her life… I like this because it reflects my experience in a lot of ways. It is worth browsing around that site for other interesting storys and essays. Continue reading →

It feels sort of boring posting a pencil only drawing, no colour. But I don’t want to paint in this journal.

EDM #54 – Someone I Love Chris watching Alpine Skiing on telly.

This actually LOOKS like Chris (AKA Riscy). The drawing practice must be working (lets not mention the hair and ear).

We were meant to have friends over for sushi tonight, but we moved it to tommorow night. So I spent most of the evening tidying my workroom. I’m sure I spend more time tidying than working there and it always looks like a pigsty (except at the moment).

Tonight I realised that I cannot put off dyeing any longer… well it will have to wait ’til Sunday. But you get the drift. I pulled out all my ‘stash’, which is very tiny, and I realised that the magenta idea sucked really badly and I’m glad I didn’t jump into it like I normally do. Continue reading →

Everyday Matters – Draw a mouth:

No one said the colours had to be realistic… where’s the fun in that? LOL

I had lots of dodgy attempts at this topic. I won’t be showing my duds as suggested by some brave people in the group. Mouths are HARD to get right.

I got some books out of the library yesterday, one is devoted soley to rating different brands/colours for watercolour.

I currently use a VERY dodgy $12 for 15 colours set of watercolour tubes, and I have three Cotmans (second string) Windsor and Newton colours (I’ve checked out the yellow and now know it will fade very badly).

I like being free and easy with my colour, I mix and muddy with abandon, use colour straight from the tube into a ice cube tray with a bit of water, and most of it goes down the drain at the end of the night.

But I’ve now done at least one piece that I would like to keep. This is no longer a ‘paint and chuck’ exercise.

Is it time to invest in some expensive colours?

Does anyone know of an Australian mail order art supply place with a website?

The to do list was working last week, so I’m doing one again for tonight, I’m not going to restrict myselft to art stuff though:

To Do Tonight
Tidy the front part of the house (guests for dinner tommorow)
Touch Footy (like I’d forget LOL)
Start sorting out possible colours for the BIG QUILT.

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This is TINY applique, tiny tiny crazy cutting. A miniature prototype, a practice piece for BIG ONE

Last night I got a crazy urge to try out the design for the dredger quilt in fabric, using the image I printed out on an A4 piece of paper as a template. I nearly abandoned the whole idea after an hour or so of cutting, but I persevered with it again tonight and then got hooked in and had to finish it. Did you hear that?? FINISHED!!

I used some of the techniques Melody has been talking about on her blog, namely fusing everything and finishing using her escape hatch technique.

A few comments:

Fusing.

I’ve fused before and I love that I can achieve very crisp images and everything stays put whilst stitching. The negative part is that my work ends up very stiff and very FLAT.

I like texture and I love texture caused when lines of stitching interact together. When I’m dealing with at least two layers of fusible web things stay pretty flat. I will say that the quilting on this piece is very straight line/linear and that is adding to to stiff feel and appearance.

Escape Hatch Finish

I LOVE IT!!! Just got to practice making sure the backing fabric doesn’t show at the front. Thanks Melody.

Regarding the detailed design for the BIG DREDGER QUILT. I’ve changed my mind about introducing detail to the trusses. No need to over complicate my first big art quilt, I’ve decided to let the rather complex shapes stand as they are. I like the introduction of shapes in the quilting on the prototype and I think I’ll explore that idea a bit more.

You may be able to tell I’ve added some accent/orange stitching along the two main diagonal trusses, I’m thinking of taking this further in the BIG DREDGER QUILT… perhaps more on that later.

In other news: You may be wondering what is going on with my plans to improve my drawing skills. In an effort to keep myself inspired to draw, I’ve joined the Every Day Matters Yahoo Group.

Below is my attempt to draw my dog Reuben (he is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel). I was very wary attempting this challenge considering just how hairy Reubs is.

The Challenge: Draw a Dog.

I have discovered that my sweet doggie does not like me staring at him, he started deliberately facing away from me to avoid my sketching ‘eagle eye’, so I had to draw fast!

To Do Tommorow
Dye Fabric for BIG DREDGER QUILT
Do two Drawings on my pre-prepared drawing paper.
Get to bed by 10:30pm (like I was going to tonight, but I just realised it’s midnight)
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photo screen print of the dredger: veiw of the underside

I screen printed this image of the Dredger mainly to see just how much detail I could get using the photo screen print method, I was very impressed!

You are SO going to be sick of the damned dredger by the time I’m finished with this LOL. If you want to see the thing in real life check out this link
This particular dredger is retired and sits beside the freeway as a reminder of the three large open cut coal mines and brown coal fired power stations located in the Latrobe Valley.

The To Do list has worked:

I have also washed a heap of fabric ready for dyeing. I’m going to invest a bit more time planning before dyeing though because I wont be able to resist starting if I have the fabric ready. I’m thinking perhaps I’ll have one background fabric (pale green?) and the dark areas will be full of detail. I want to enhance the strong lines, but I don’t want everything running longitudinally up each ‘truss’.

To Do Tuesday
Spend at least 1 hour on detailed design
Find a mail order source of Vleisofix (WunderUnder)
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