What a difference …

a good night’s sleep makes! [Plus having a day at home and not too many chores.]

I did a little collaging – Quality Control and friends [she is, of course, the one who’s out of step],

 

 

 

 

 

and a little kirigami. These aren’t from my calendar, which is a bit neglected at the moment, they are all my own work. This is actually a pocket in the collage sketchbook, hence the diagonal line.

 

Then, inspired by this post, I took this, which had been hanging around for years – possibly decades – and tried to make it a bit more interesting.

[Mmm – just Googled CPC and out of dozens of possible sources, my money’s on the electronics firm, which would mean it used to belong to Cheese Major. Unless it was one of the many government initiatives which came, went and sank without trace during the years Wensleydale and I worked in education.]

But I digress. Unlike Hanna’s original, I started with the cover. A bit of fossicking turned up an experimental piece from the summer - painted iron-on interfacing ironed-on to some rather bright hand-dye. The ends are different because the interfacing was smaller than the hand-dye.

So I free machined it, going round the shapes in the paint in whatever colour took my fancy. [I’ve decided the only way I’m going to gain confidence in FME is by just doing it, in situations where I don't much care what it ends up like!]

 

 

 

Hanna added end papers to her planner, and I was going to do the same till I found this – a bit of paper bag printing on poly satin, bonded to more hand-dye and embroidered. I never knew quite what to do with it, so it went in the front of the binder, with an offcut of the outer cover at the back – end textiles. I stuck them down with double sided tape, but the cover is sewn, with pockets to slip over the covers.

I wasn’t sure about the painted interfacing when I first did it, but today, every time I pressed it, it got softer and more like a rather bizarrely coloured suede. Nice.

Then I tackled the inside. The binder is an odd size, just too small to take A4 paper, so everything had to be cut down to fit.

 

 

These are the dividers, made from an old calendar. I’m not usually a flowery calendar person, but this one was free…

I added some lined paper, cutting down some with two punched holes which won’t go into the four ring binder I take to college.

Now I need to decide what to do with it. Hanna made hers as a planner, and heaven knows I could do with one of those, but I can’t find any printable planner pages on the net that make any sense to me at all.  Maybe I’ll have to wake up my dormant form-constructing skills, and see what I can make for myself.

Cutting and sticking.

Having spent the best part of an insomniac night making a basket which ended up in the bin this morning, I decided to play around with collage this afternoon.

I was inspired by a statement in one of BBC4’s art programmes, that contemporary art seeks to convey the artist’s feelings [I paraphrase]. That led to a discussion of how you convey ‘confused and uncertain’.

So after reading up automatic drawing [which led to some very odd websites], and wanting to play with my graphics pad – I tried to draw ‘confused and uncertain’.

It certainly wasn’t automatic, because after the first few tentative wobbles, I was thinking about it.

Looks like archipelagos to me.

 

Today I collaged some archipelagos – and some negative archipelagos. This was a piece of paper with a rather odd pattern on it, that had been hanging around waiting for its time to come. I think they need a bit of computer manipulation to make them more interesting.

That led to another experiment, with a piece of painted disposable tablecloth [can’t remember why I painted a disposable tablecloth – it may have had something to do with Creative Sketchbooks], some Bondaweb and some hand-dyed fabric. 

These two I really like – although I think I may have been under the influence of the hyperbolic coral reef at the time.The tablecloth bonded to the fabric really well [or it did when I remembered to take the release paper off], and the texture shows up well. These may get some stitch – when I can decide what sort.

 

Following on the theme of collaging my computer ‘drawings’ – this 

 

 

 

 

 

 

morphed into these two  -sort of.

 

 

The base of these was a scrumpled, painted, paper bag, [I think – it’s a long time since I did it]. Not sure about the dimensional paint on the one above, but - ‘they're only samples’. I wish I’d scanned the bag before I cut it up.

 

 

 

I did also fulfil my promise to try making kirigami in Sumopaint – but I think that may be another post. 

All’s Well that Ends Well…

as someone once wrote.

Yesterday started badly but got better – and today was good all the time.

We usually look after Babybel on Thursday mornings, before taking her to nursery in the afternoon. But she was ill on Wednesday morning [probably norovirus] and although she was over the worst by yesterday, it was clear when she woke up that she wasn’t perfectly recovered. Let’s just say quiet and passive – two words not usually associated with Babybel.

So she spent the morning on the sofa, watching CBeebies, and drawing. However she ate a good lunch and was sufficiently  recovered in the afternoon to consent to a little duck feeding at Whitchurch Silk Mill. And a bit of fresh air made her well enough to go round the mill, inspect the machinery, which fascinates her, and sample crisps and orange juice in the cafe.

In the cafe we were privileged to share the moment when she discovered that rainbows don’t just stay in the sky – sometimes they come down to earth.

The sunlight was refracted through the edge of a glass display cabinet [the one with the art bras in it] and if you stood in just the right place it shone on your hands, your clothes, or – if you pulled your T-shirt up to experiment - your tummy. Then if you persuaded gran to stand in just the right place, she got a green nose and a rainbow in her hair. We had ten minutes of delight and magic, which the grown-ups will never forget.

After all this, we decided she was better – especially as she talked non-stop all the way home …

Today we decided to revisit a couple of exhibitions before they closed – the Pat Hodson show at Walford Mill [and the craft materials sale there as well] and, in the dusk, Bruce Munro’s work at Salisbury Cathedral.

Both were as good as before, but it was surprising how different the Munro exhibition was – not just because the lights show so much more in the dark, but because it was very busy, and that changed the feel of it. The music, which was so important for us when we went before, was almost lost at times in the sound of voices and feet – which meant that we couldn’t sit and watch the way the lights responded to the music. I'm not sorry we went tonight – but I am very glad we went in the daytime too, because I think I got a great deal more from the exhibition by seeing it in daytime and dusk.

I remembered my camera this time. but it struggled with the conditions. However, unlike many of the visitors, I did remember to turn the flash off – which meant ht majority of my images are like this -

 

 

 

and this   - not quite as magical.

I’m feeling a little more positive…

after a bit of playing around, starting with the thing top right in the photo. It is the plasticky cover from a used up WH Smith’s sketchbook – too good to throw away. I knew I'd think of something to do with it eventually.

I cut out the corners – and they looked useful so I rounded their corners, punched a hole in the corner and added a clip. But that wasn’t the main plan.

I sliced the sides up and punched holes in the ends of the slices – those piano-key-like things bottom right.

Can you tell what it is yet?

Then I found some goodies – sari silk goodies. I bought some more recently from Simply Sequins – so much temptation!

 

And in a departure from my usual round basket – I made a rectangular one.

OK – it’s not flat – but nobody’s perfect!

 

And I’ve got another two sketchbook covers and a whole heap of sari silk.

I also had fun with these. 

At Hobbycraft yesterday I bought a tiramisu kirigami calendar in the sale – as you finish with each page, you fold it, cut along the dotted lines and end up with a paper snowflake – or something. I thought it was a bit expensive even at sale price, but I like paper cuts, so I decided 5.99 wasn’t a lot to pay for 365 days of fun. [Turns out there are only 6 designs per week so it’s not quite such a good bargain…]

Of course it started on January 1st and today is February 23rd, so I’ve got a bit of catching up to do.

I had to decide what to do with the paper cuts after I’d cut them– so I stuck them on some paper – along with the negative spaces – which, as you may be able to tell, was a rather more challenging task. But I do like negative spaces.

And all that despite a bad night – which I turned to some purpose by playing with GIMP, and the graphics pad. I even braved the lasso tool, although I can’t work out why sometimes it did what I wanted it to do – i.e. lasso the internal shapes of my squiggle – and sometimes it just drew triangles.

 

 

Thanks to Karen for pointing me towards this article on Melody Johnson’s blog – I do dip into it regularly because I love her work, and her use of colour – but I hadn’t read that piece. I have printed it off and will refer to it often. I particularly liked this bit ‘Play with your fabric and make what the fabric motivates you to make.’ 

I’ve been feeling that I ought to be ‘doing designing’ before I start making – but I much prefer to play with my fabrics and threads and see what emerges. In theory I know my way is legitimate – but as I used to tell people when I was working, there is a big difference between knowing something with your head and knowing it with your heart. I don’t yet know it with my heart.

I shall continue to draw on the computer every day, even if what I’m drawing [especially if what I’m drawing?] has nothing to do with embroidery! Sumopaint has a fun feature which draws symmetrical patterns – so maybe tonight I'll find time to draw some kirigami …

Mind the gap …

between two semesters, that is. Although it is hard to believe, the first semester of my degree course has finished. This means that for the first time for nearly 18 months, I’ve got nothing to do, until after the university exam board meets next week. Then, assuming I haven’t been thrown out for insubordination or [perhaps more likely] being useless, we start a new theme – ‘past, present and future’.

I can’t settle on anything to do in the mean time. I start one thing – dryads, books, bit of purple embroidery – drop it, and start another – knitting, playing with computer programs. Today I was all set to make a basket, until Wensleydale declared it was a day for going to Hobbycraft. [A man who likes to go to Hobbycraft!!! Or maybe it’s the coffee and cake at Haskins afterwards…]

Of course, it is half term, and the place was full of half term offers – so in addition to some boring things for me [PVA, black dye to restore some faded T shirts] – I ended up with several rather more interesting arty things for Babybel.

Part of my not settling to anything was due to a crisis of confidence – I’m half way through but I’m not convinced I’m any further on than I was when I started this degree. Yes, I’ve learnt stuff – but am I actually doing anything constructive with it?

Why can’t I decide on an approach or a style changing my mind all the time? [Did you see the programme about the sculptor David Nash last week? I want to attack wood with a chain saw! I want to set fire to things!]

I know I need to draw more, so why can’t I make myself do it?

But after a conversation with the ever-supportive Wensleydale, I came to the conclusion that all this fiddling around with computer programs is sort-of-drawing, and that, as I feel more willing to do that than pick up a pencil – I should stick with it. And do more with the graphics pad which Cheese Major and his partner so kindly gave me for Christmas.

So here are my first efforts – with a little help from Sumopaint. Don’t laugh.

Snowy trees

 

 

 

- circles [OK, I didn’t draw the circles free hand, just the lines and dots!]

 

 

 

 

- and the ravening bugblatter beast of Traal.

I’ve been reading about automatic drawing, so that’s what this is – although the sources I’ve read are a bit vague about how you actually do it.

 

I liked the circles best, so I played around with them in PostworkShop.

As you can see, some of the filters change the original image beyond all recognition.

Cheating? Maybe, but I do like some of the results.

Now i need to decide what to do with all these ‘drawings’.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

When I finished the not-angel, I thought that the head and neck needed work – and in the chilly fastness of an insomniac night – I thought ‘Why bother having a separate head at all?’

Which led to the idea of a tall cone. 

So I made an armature from six junk CDs and some rolled up magazine pages, measured it, drew a pattern. tried the pattern on the armature, cursed – and made a bit of liberated patchwork for the fabric.

I wasn’t sure I really liked the patchwork [which means of course that really, I didn’t like it] but I machine quilted it to a piece of wool felt and stuck it in the washing machine to shrink.

Which it did – in fact it shrank so much it was too narrow fro the intended purpose - which solved the problem.

I think it will make a book cover, one day – or I might try cutting it up and  - er, no, make that a book cover.

 

 

 

Plan B started with making another, better pattern – but while I was fossicking in the cupboard for the Vilene to make it, I came across one of those bits of fabric you keep because you just know it will be useful one day. Well, I do – a sane person probably wouldn’t keep something like this - a bit of calico I’d used as a drop cloth when I was painting something with blue Quink [judging by the colour] – although there are several varieties of paint on there as well.

I forgot to photograph it before I got to work on it, so just imagine it without the embroidery, OK? The radial blue bits are recycled from the 3D drawers – the stuff I was going to cover them with before I decided not to.

And this is the machine embroidery I don’t do.

I seem to have a thing about leaves – I saw leaves in the blotches, so I outlined them. I will probably add some hand embroidery before I assemble her – I think she’s a dryad – or a naiad – not sure what the difference is [or even how to spell them].

 

 

 

My recent computer games have involved taking an image I made in Sumopaint - and playing with it in PostworkShop [I did splash out and buy the artists edition, – even more filters! - but I managed to find a discount download so it cost me a bit less].

Some are just for fun – but others are definitely embroiderable.

In the helpful help pages I’ve just reached  combining filters – the top image was made in Sumo, the bottom has PostworkShop’s ‘Speed Painting’ and ‘Dark Magic’ filters added – definitely more interesting. [Adding them the other way round was much more boring – flat and drab.] One of the advantages of the paid-for version is that you can save combinations you like, so I’ve saved that one.

 

 

You will escape being bored with my computer excesses tomorrow, though, as tonight is Danish detective drama night and all I can do when that is on is knit, as it needs intense reading.

And now for something completely different…

I’ve discovered a new [to me] program – PostworkShop. The basic program is free, although I’ve been having such fun with it that I'm thinking of upgrading to the ‘Artist Edition’, which gives you access to a lot more ‘styles’ [effects/filters in my terms].

So far, all I’ve done with it is explore the different styles. The helpful ‘Help’ section [not all Help sections are helpful, as I’m sure you know] suggests that you start by uploading a photo and then click on the die at the bottom of the screen which lets you try random effects.

So I started with this image of Bournemouth, and began to play.

 

 

 

 

This is ‘Dark Chalk and Pencil’

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Fauvism’

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Abstract’

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Dreamworld’

 

 

 

 

 

 

and ‘In the Dark’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also played with this picture of Babybel from last summer.

I’m a member of the group blog ‘Ideas of Inspiration’, where the current prompt is the letter ‘N’. Well, I went through all my photos – and the only N word I could come up with was ‘nappy’. [Sorry!]

You can see the version I chose to post over on the other blog, but these are some of the rejects -

 

 

‘Andy’s Pop’

 

 

 

 

‘Expressionist’ – I really like this one -

 

 

 

 

 

 

and one called, appropriately,  ‘Grandparent’s Photo’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can adjust some of the styles but not all of them – for some reason the one called ‘Caravaggio’ just produces an unalterable image in shades of brown [not what I associate with Caravaggio]. You can, apparently, combine styles, but I haven't got that far yet. I could also have done with an ‘Undo all’ button – although there may be one which I haven’t found.

You can’t ‘paint’ over the images as you can in Painter Essentials, but if you just want to play around with photos, it’s worth trying out the Basic program.

When I wasn’t playing with PostworkShop [well, there was nout on telly last night], I carried on tackling the UFOs in the work room. 

This is something I started when we were doing the 3D samples, but for some reason didn’t finish. It is one of my first pieces of Cas Holmes fabric, with added hand and machine embroidery, on an armature made of old CDs and a rolled up magazine page – although you can’t see those.

The pattern wasn’t quite right, despite my careful measuring – too short, too wide at the bottom and too narrow at the top – and the head and neck need work – but I’m quite pleased with her. [She is not an angel, despite what Wensleydale says. I don’t do angels.]

Oh – and I did remember to make the soup – Jamie’s tomato bean and pasta soup, in the electric pressure cooker we gave ourselves for Christmas. [You may think an electric pressure cooker is an unnecessary extravagance, but it wasn’t much more expensive than a non-electric one. It has the great advantage that it brings itself to pressure, turns itself down, and in due course turns itself off – and it is a lot quieter than my old pressure cooker.]

And to Carole who laughed at yesterday’s tale of forgetfulness – good! I try to cultivate my ‘talent to amuse’.

Just Googled that – and it is amazing how many people have recorded it  - it’s from Noel Coward’s ‘If love were all’, in case you are wondering.