A belated report...

on a Wednesday wander. Despite the fog, we set off on what, on the basis of two trips, we are now calling our annual Christmas visit to Stourhead. The fog didn't clear quite as quickly as we hoped, but there were clearer patches, one of which was at Stonehenge. Emerging out of the mist, and lit by a low, red sun, it was almost impressive. (I always find the view disappointing, even if, unlike us this time, you get out of the car and pay it a proper visit. I think it's because it is dwarfed by the landscape, you can't get close enough to see how big the stones really are, and I find the circling tourists a little incongruous.)

But I digress. We go to Stourhead at Christmas to see the house, and once again it was filled with festive food, flowers and fir trees.

Unfortunately we didn't have any little guys with us to help look for the hidden robins, but granny found a few, not to mention some misguided primroses in the gardens. One of the rooms had a comfortable chair, a foot stool, a lovely work box and some embroidery, set out by the fire - very appealing!

Then our equally traditional Christmas trip to the farm shop - local venison and local cheese - and back home, meeting the mist again. Coming down the Test valley, the tops trees were silhouetted against thesetting  sun, while their trunks were wreathed in pink mist - beautiful. It's the sort of effect I would love to capture in fabric but it would be so difficult to keep that ethereal look.

Four more pages finished.

Though not without some anxious moments. The top left page has drawing pin stitched circles - OK apart from the appliqued fabric not lying flat - and the smaller flower stitcher circles. First I had to remember how to use the flower stitcher, the instructions not being completely clear. And then I realised that the machine wasn't stitching out the patterns I had selected. They were interesting variations on zig zags, but bore even less resemblance to the diagram on the machine than they usually do.

Quiet panic set in - was I going to need a new motherboard? I have just had a welcome tax refund, but nowhere near enough to pay for a new Bernina motherboard!

Then it dawned on me that you drop the feeddogs to use the flower stitcher, so - I think - the machine was stitching out the sideways movement, the flower stitcher was doing the forwards movement, but any backwards stitches were not happening.

At least I think that's what it was - it stitched OK as soon as I tried it without the flower stitcher.

On the positive side, I had an idea what to do with the very boring bit of hand quilting below the flower stitched piece. It was coloured with Markals but it seems to get paler every time I look at it, so it definitely needed a lift.

The answer was elephants. 

I bought them ages ago and never found a use for them. I had to glue them down - no stitching holes - but they definitely improve the page.

The other two pages are pretty ordinary but, to tell the truth, I'm getting circled out.

Just two more to go. Some more boring quilting, machine this time, which is going to get some couching over the top. It was coloured with spray paints which are also doing a vanishing trick.

The other one is the sunprinting, which I didn't expect to work, but which was very successful. More couching for the larger circles - I'm pondering on what to with the smaller ones. Buttonhole rings come to mind...

Then a quick Japanese style binding and no more circles! Probably.

And finally - an apped-about photo from our Wednesday wander. We went to Salisbury to see the Rex Whistler exhibition at the Salisbury Museum, which is recommended, and I took a few photos of the cathedral, to play around with. I'm rather pleased with this one. Apps were XNSketch, Popsicle and iColorama, to blend the other two together.

A Wednesday Wander.

I've been meaning to get to one of the exhibitions at the Crafts Study Centre in Farnham for at least three years, and their current exhibition by Ismini Samanidou ever since it started in September.

Today, just a couple of days before  the exhibition ended, we made it. It's a small space, so a small exhibition, but well worth the visit, both for a weaver-wannabe like me, and for someone with a general interest in art, like Wensleydale. The work, delicate both in structure and colour, is inspired by the environment - skies, crumbling paint, etc. - and by traditional Greek embroidery. 

The exhibition includes both photos of the objects which inspired the work, and details of design development, which I found especially fascinating. Unfortunately there were few labels and the promised information sheets were not in evidence, so although the design ideas were clear, this non-expert would have liked a lot more information about technique. I don't aspire to a 'digital jacquard loom' but some of the small, sampler-like pieces looked to me as if they had been made on something much simpler  - it would have been nice to know.  It would also have been nice to know which was warp and which weft in some pieces  - perhaps obvious to experts, but not to me! But a minor quibble, and I have bought the exhibition booklet, so maybe that will answer some of my questions.

No cafe at the gallery, but we found a Starbuck's, which we never go in normally, so that was quite exciting <g>. I wonder if the guy who disappeared into the loo 10 minutes before we left, and never re-emerged, has come out to reclaim his laptop yet?

A [long] Wednesday wander.

What with hydrotherapy appointments [his], gym sessions [me] and Babybel mornings [both of us] there isn’t much time left in the week for longer trips out, so we took advantage of college holidays to head north to Compton Verney, to see the Wallis and Nicholson exhibition.

I fell in love with Ben Nicholson’s work when I saw one of his reliefs at Southampton Art Gallery, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen an Alfred Wallis piece for real before – only postcard reproductions, which don’t, I now realise, do him justice.

I also knew that they knew each other, from a rather good BBC art programme earlier in the year – but I hadn’t realised just how much Nicholson was influenced by Wallis – and how good a painter Wallis was.  There is a lovely quote from Nicholson about Wallis being ‘unfettered by accuracy of description’ [my new motto!] and the exhibition shows how Nicholson strove to achieve what Wallis did naturally.

We were particularly struck by Wallis’s ability to paint the sea, especially the sea in a bad mood – and his use of a restricted palette. So many of today's amateur artists, seduced by acrylics, seem to use any colour as long as it’s bright – Wallis’s colours are muted, subtle, and often influenced by the colour of the recycled materials he was painting on. There is one image of two boats in a wintry sea, the name of which I neglected  to note. It is painted on a piece of polished board, which still shows at the top, and which seems to glow in the lighting of the gallery. In another one he used some orange coloured cardboard, which becomes the sky, and works so well with the heavy green/black of the land.

Perhaps my favourite was this one, where you can just see the edge of the card on which it is painted. I found his use of recycled cardboard, cut roughly from packaging, quite exciting in the way it broke away from the conventions of a rectangular canvas – something Nicholson explored in this piece. [Also influenced by Braque/Picasso, methinks.]

There is a supporting exhibition of sailors’ wool work pictures, – obviously linked to Wallis's work, obviously of interest to an embroiderer. The works on show, mostly 19th century, are technically skilled, in beautiful, mostly unfaded colours -  large, detailed and very impressive. I was amused that in several cases, someone [I suspect at the Naval Museum in Portsmouth] had been able to track down early 19th C service records and tell us a little bit about the men who made the pieces.

But for me, the stars of the show were 4 early 20th century pieces by John Craske, a Norfolk fisherman. Never heard of him? Me neither, but take a look at this. That is stitch – thickly packed, using the sheen of the silk and variations in direction for superb shading.

The scones in the cafe are pretty good too.

Great gallery – just wish it was about 90 minutes closer to home…

Hip, hip, hooray

All can now be revealed – the thing I've been so secretive about. I have been offered [and accepted and paid for within 30 minutes of the letter arriving] a place on this. Yes – I’ve enrolled on another degree course – but on a much more interesting subject than I did before.  [Well, to be honest, I did find Psychology interesting all those years ago, but somehow these days – less so.]

Needless to say, I am a happy bunny this morning. And a bit scared. Drawing studies? But I know I need it and I knew what I was letting myself in for …

So, to calm myself down, here is a flower from our Wednesday wander yesterday. Not sure what the flower is but I know a bee when I see one.

 

We went, with Mr and Mrs C and Ronaldog to Rockbourne Roman Villa. After the torrential rain on Tuesday we were a bit worried that the weather might let us down, but as you can see from the photo the sun shone and we had an enjoyable outing. Especially as ‘Ancient Britons’ [their words, not mine – I claim Norse descent] are admitted free on Wednesdays. 

To be honest there isn’t a lot to see, but there are some mosaics, and an interesting little museum – even if some of the illustrations are a tad sexist. The site is pleasant, isolated and quiet, and dogs were admitted so Ronaldog could come too. No tea shop, although there was a coffee machine – we came home for tea and cake instead.

Sorry

there was no post yesterday but I was knackered after a very enjoyable outing [and lovely tea] with Mr and Mrs Cheddar.

We went here – Ashdown House near Lambourn.  Most of the house is let, so what you get is a guided tour of  the staircase and the pictures on it.

But it is quite a staircase – and the pictures are interesting, especially if, like Mrs Cheddar, you are an English Civil War buff. 

 

The staircase takes you right up to that little pimple on the roof – from where you get views like this. Pity the weather wasn’t better, but the sky was quite dramatic.

 

The house reminded me of those you see on some stumpwork or samplers – this is the best example I can find but I'm sure I’ve seen one even more like Ashdown than this.

Ashdown looks even more like a doll’s house from a distance. You can take dogs in part of the grounds, although not near the house – not even well behaved football playing dogs.

I cropped the ball out of the photo but I bet you can guess where it is.

 

After that we went to Eastbury Church, where there is an exquisite engraved glass window by Laurence Whistler, dedicated to the memory of the poet Edward Thomas and his wife. [Mrs Cheddar is a WW1 buff as well – I think it’s all those romantic, doomed young men.]

The window is beautiful – quite magical with the trees behind it.

 

 

From the sublime to the ridiculous. This is son of plank again, ‘Circle Splashed’ in Picnik. I see this as canvas work, perhaps with some couching – if only I had enough shades of purple …

A Wednesday wander

to the Hillier Gardens again, this time with Mr and Mrs Cheddar, although Ronaldo the wonder dog had to stay in the car. [She had a walk and a game of football later.]

We managed to get round most of the Art in the Garden we hadn’t seen last time. Lots of animals this year, although we didn’t spot any dogs. The pink pig apparently has a hornets’ nest in his nose, which is perhaps why he’s got it in the air …

 

 

There were also several flower-like forms. I love the rusty ball full of nails.

 

 

 

 

 

And lots of real flowers.

 

 

 

 

Today’s texture photo is also a plant – the stem of one of the enormous Gunnera plants near the pond. Amazing to think that last autumn they were cut down to stumps and now they are back to 6 foot +.

I’m not sure how you could work those little projections in stitch – perhaps picots?

Our Wednesday Wander

was a guided tour by Mr and Mrs Cheddar [and Ronaldo the wonder dog, of course] to a selection of Berkshire churches.

We started at Sandham Memorial Chapel, which is probably the best known. Mrs Cheddar is a WW1 buff, we are interested art – so a chapel commemorating WW1 decorated by Stanley Spencer suited all of us. The paintings are amazing and very moving – it was a thought-provoking start to the tour.

Of course I managed to find a textile! At first glance I thought the altar frontal was woven but closer examination showed that it was heavily but subtly embroidered. It is an early 20th century piece by Madeline Clifton – I hadn’t heard of her but there is quite a lot of information about her in the Chapel and ‘Embroidery’ magazine apparently featured her in 2005. Unfortunately I don’t have a copy.

Then we went on St Mary’s Church in Aldworth. This is the home of the Aldworth Giants – 14th century carved effigies of a family who seem to have been even taller than Babybel’s daddy!

It also has a rather nice altar cloth

  and, in the churchyard, a ‘thousand year old’ yew – not sure how they know how old it is, but it has certainly seen better days!

 

 

 

 

Our final visit was to St Clement’s Church in Ashampstead. This was my favourite of the three. It is a small church which contains a number of beautiful medieval wall paintings.

Can you imagine what it must have looked like when the walls were covered with images like this

 

 

 

and this? And I love the [modern] dove over the pulpit, on the left – and the light fitting.

 

 

However, this is my favourite image – and today’s photo.

Thanks, Mr and Mrs C, for being chauffeur and guide.

A Wednesday wander

We went to Lydiard Park in Swindon with Mr and Mrs Cheese and Ronaldo the wonder dog.

Ronaldo was taking a press call when we arrived chez Cheddar, but I can report that the fame has not gone to her head – although she had to take a refreshing  dip in the lake at Lydiard to recover. [Swimming is her second favourite sport after football.]

We looked round the house and the church – well worth a visit. The Church seems to have avoided the attentions of both the Parliamentarians during the Civil War, and the Victorians, so it looks pretty much as it must have done for at least 200 years – box pews and lots of fascinating monuments.

Of course I managed to find some textiles [apart from those represented in stone or wood].

 

The Lord’s Prayer in crochet [?] -

 

 

 

 

 

 

a beautiful altar cloth -

 

 

 

 

and a stunning cover for the Book of Commemoration for those killed in WW1.

 

 

 

Today’s C&G sample is  another sun print on predyed cotton, with corded quilting. I was lazy and used twin needle machine stitching to make the channels.

A Wednesday wander and some works in progress …

Our outing this week was to the Furzey Gardens, on the edge of the New Forest. There is a small gallery there, the wonderfully named Will and Em Gallery. The textile group ‘Fray Edges’ have a display there this month, which is well worth a visit, as there is some unusual work. I was particularly taken with the work of Judith Bell – appliqué and re-embroidery of what looked like soft furnishing fabric -and Caroline Bell – retro 50s/60s designs,[ not shown on the website]. Both featured impressive use of satin stitch. [Satin stitch and I don’t get on …]

After the gallery we had a cream tea and walked it off [maybe] in the gardens proper.

Lots of spring flowers 

 

 

 

 

 

and other items of interest, 

 

 

 

 

 

 

including these two. I love alpaca. In my dreams I own some, I have learned to spin, and I knit nothing else but alpaca.

 

 

I have rather less tolerance for fairies – but was rather taken with this.

 

 

 

The gardens have a children's play area with towers and huts and galleries and swings – which was proving very popular, as it is the school holidays – which we forgot until we arrived and found the car park almost full. Ah – the bliss of not knowing when the school holidays are …

I did get round to adding some stitch to the salt pans last night, while not watching a programme on the BBC about Siberian  horse herders. And if you watched it you will know why I was glad to have something else to look at.

The plan is to add lots of free cross stitch in a variety of threads – and then some beads. This is the first layer. [That isn’t dandruff, it’s the foiling reflecting the flash.]

 

And I am glad to say that some of the rusty washers look a bit rustier today – some very interesting colours seem to be developing.

 

 

 

Today’s blue image is a wonderful door in the centre of Winchester near the Cathedral. In my dreams I live behind a door like this [with the alpaca in the back garden …]

Our Wednesday wander

was to Eastleigh Museum for this exhibition of modern Ghanaian printed textiles. It was fascinating to learn how the culture of Ghana has affected the design of textiles which until quite recently were actually made in Europe.

I loved the examples with logos or messages included in the design. Where someone here might wear a garment with a fairly discrete logo - there it will be plate sized, repeated and usually brightly coloured.

I can just imagine Wensleydale's mum's reaction to the suggestion that she wore a dress covered in logos for the Methodist church choir she belonged to ...

If you are interested the exhibition is on until the 25th April and then moves to Fareham in May. At Eastleigh husbands can inspect a small display about steam engines, which may interest them more than the textiles ...

Today's green image is only partly green, but as I am very proud of the photo I am going to include it anyway. The model was very professional and posed for me beautifully over quite a long period of time - I think s/he was probably too young to know any better.

All together now - aahhh!

We live such exciting lives ...

we have had both a Tuesday trip and a Wednesday wander this week.

Last night we went to the Watermill Theatre again, with Mr and Mrs Cheddar, to see 'The Merchant of Venice'. I 'did' the MoV at school and a few decades have elapsed since then, so although I remembered the gist of the plot, the finer points had vanished from my memory. And some of the points made in this production were not those emphasised at a girls grammar school in the 60s ...

It is a very dramatic, gorious [no, that isn't a typo] production with some excellent performances, and as always with this company, excellent music and a set that made brilliant use of a very small space. Well worth seeing.

As we had to be in Winchester this morning we took the opportunity to visit a ceramics exhibition by Ashley Howard in the Cathedral.

It was described as an exhibition of ceramic 'fonts', inspired by architectural features including medieval tiles. So of course I had to go!

I was expecting something tall, highly glazed and quite elaborate.

Not something like this.

You may recognise some of these patterns!

There are about a dozen of these pieces, roughly a metre across, sitting on the tiles which inspired them. As the catalogue points out, we don't expect to find ceramics on the floor!

Howard discusses the interplay of oriental influences on his work and the Western architectural tradition, and that certainly came over to us in his work. Some, like the one above, had marks that could almost be oriental script - others, like that below, looked almost as if they could have been unearthed by archaeologists.

I liked Howard's quote from EH Gombrich: 'Usually we walk through life without paying much attention to the infinite variety of patterns and decorative motifs which we encounter all around us ...'. Howard continues 'For me, the form is fundamental, and the embellishment of form and surface is an exciting and intriguing area of contemporary craft practice.' Couldn't agree more!

My yellow today picture is something much more transient and fragile - a primula, as close up as the camera would let me get.

Why are so many spring flowers yellow? Are spring flowers in other geographical areas also often yellow? Does any one know?

Wednesday wander

We went to Andover this afternoon - a lovely drive along back roads, and through Wherwell, which has far more than its fair share of thatched cottages. Hampshire was looking at its most Rowland Hilderish. It was mild and sunny and although there is still little sign of green on the trees [apart from lichen and ivy], the hawthorn and cherry blossom is out - not to mention a few daffodils [my favourite flower.]

We were on our way to the Fairground Craft Centre, alerted by a reference on Jackie's blog to this exhibition. Nearly 180 pieces of art no bigger than a CD case. It was fascinating to see what an amazing variety of things artists could do with such a tiny canvas - or piece of paper, or fabric, or metal, or ...

Although I didn't know it was hers at the time, Jacki's piece caught my eye almost immediately we went in - well, it is a book - but a beautifully made and very original one. You can see it on her blog.

Most of the other pieces were actually displayed in CD cases - which make very good frames.

[Another bonus of this pleasant little gallery is that it opens right off the cafe. We recommend the treacle tart - very lemony ...]

Although I made a wall hanging for C&G which included work mounted on CDs



and although Cheese Minor's Best Man produces a calendar in a CD case every year - I had never thought of putting work in a CD case. I find it a very inspirational idea - so when I have worked though all the other inspirational ideas ...

One I have completed is this - except for mounting. Unfortunately it is a bit too big for a CD case. I considered a number of ideas for the border but in the end I went for more wheatear stitch, which I have become quite fond of.

I think it is going to become a panel, perhaps suspended by one corner. Unfortunately I can't work out how to show it like that on the blog - apart from photographing it on the slant, which will show all the less tidy bits as well.

Today's orange image is another piece of Chinese ethnic embroidery, in cross stitch, which I am not fond of - but it works here.

Just don't ask me to do any.

Our Wednesday wander

was to this. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I can't show you any photos. I can show you what I bought - this wreath, which is our only concession so far to Christmas ['Bah! Humbug!']

and this Czech duck. When you pull him along he moves his head and quacks. I know he's Czech because he has something written on his tummy which Google tells me means 'Unsuitable for Children under 3 years' in Czech. Pity I didn't spot that before I bought him - now he will have to go into hibernation for 2 years or only be played with under supervision.

We went with Mr and Mrs Cheddar and at their suggestion went down to the market just as dusk was falling and the lights were coming on. We have only been in day time in previous years and it was definitely better to go in the late afternoon. It seemed quite quiet too - but it was very very very cold!

Incidentally, the reason I forgot my camera was because I took it out of my bag to take this photo of some sofa testing and forgot to put it back. She's not dead - just asleep. It was very difficult to take a photo which didn't make her look as though she had no head.



Today has been much more industrious - I have quilted and bound the caterpillar quilt, apart from hand stitching down the binding which will be a pleasant task for TV listening. [Photo of that when I have finished.] I also made this with the left overs from the quilt. Babies need bags for all their stuff!

Babies, birthdays and books

Babybel is one today!

Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear Babybel!
Happy birthday to you!

Now I've sung that you can all take your fingers out of your ears. We are looking forward to seeing her on Saturday for her party.

While she was celebrating with her mum and dad, we had a Wednesday wander. A while ago I came across a mention of this on some booky website, so I persuaded Wensleydale to go into Portsmouth to see it. [He feels about Portsmouth like I feel about Southampton - been there, worked there, go back as little as possible.]

It was well worth the arm twisting. [Lots of pictures - not mine - here.]

Despite my love of making books I have not seen many real artist's books in the flesh - and here were dozens laid out for inspection. We were impressed by how imaginative and creative they were, and how beautifully made. I was particularly interested in those made from junk mail, envelopes etc. - and the altered books.

I have a very ambivalent attitude to altered books - I was brought up not to damage books so I find it difficult to alter them myself [although I write all over recipe books so I am not entirely consistent]. My other problem with them is that many of the altered books in magazines or on the web all look the same - and that look is not to my taste.

But the altered books in this exhibition weren't like that - [even I can accept an altered phone book!] and I found them quite inspirational. I even bought the [rather expensive] catalogue so I can browse and drool in comfort.

On a more mundane level - here is my own latest effort. I don't like it as much as the previous monoprint book but considering the cover was in the bin at one stage - it turned out better than expected. The colour is wrong because of the reflection of the flash.

There are some monoprints under all the crud. [I should perhaps point out that in the context of embroidery 'crud' to me is a positive concept - if the first layer doesn't work add at least three more].

I have come to the conclusion that producing monoprints I didn't like led to a lot more creativity. If I had liked them I would probably just have added some more or less sympathetic stitch and called it done.

The braids on the book are machine embroidery in metallic thread on felt which was then zapped with a heat gun so they ended up crumbly and lacy. The tapes/ties are machine cords.

[Technical discussion - ignore if you are not interested in making books!]
As promised, this book is sewn over tapes - I wanted to experiment with using the tapes as ties and it sort of worked, although I think the spacing is wrong. It would be interesting to try sewing over a single wide tape - with kettle stitches top and bottom, as in this one, it should be reasonably stable and the tie might work better.

With this one I was concerned that the covers would not be firmly enough fixed to the spine by sewing alone - I didn't want to add endpapers as the cover is fabric and I wasn't sure it would work. It is fairly firm, but with a single tape undoubtedly wouldn't be. Perhaps another experiment is coming on?
Discussion over!

On a level that is so mundane it is positively earthy - on the instructions of Maggie Grey I have brought in my catalogues from the wilderness that is our front garden - and here they are. [I did remove the leaves, worms and woodlice.]

I am now spraying them with disinfectant as suggested and awaiting further instructions. The catalogues are - to put it bluntly - yucky - and I am not sure if they will ever dry out ...

I had hoped to show you the Maggie Grey towers book but it doesn't stand up correctly and has been disassembled for surgery. I hate redoing things - I'm too impatient - but this will have to be done.