I've been experimenting again,

trying techniques from Maggie Grey's 'From Image to Stitch'. I have decided that one of the reasons I have felt unsettled is that I want to play but also feel I need to work in my compost heap - er 'studio journal' - for the class on Friday. Solution? Experiment - but use themes from the journal. Obvious really, isn't it?


I bought some Inkaid at the Knitting and Stitching Show, so, at last, I got round to using it. [We won't mention the bottle of Bubble Jet Set I bought - er - several years ago and have only opened once. That is 'opened'. Not 'used'.]

Now you may have noticed that occasionally I use black in my work. [I wear it too, although I shouldn't, without a tastefully arranged pink or apricot scarf. Unfortunately I don't do tastefully arranged scarves. Chic I ain't.]



So I was keen to try out printing on black paper, as suggested by Ms Grey. The Inkaid bottle suggests two coats but my Yorkshire genes [I tend to keep quiet about those, but I do have some] suggested I try just one. So does Maggie, but as you will see I am very good at skim reading and then working on the basis of what I thought I read ...


I learned that:

• Inkaid is white. It shows on black paper if not covered with print. Of course Maggie points this out but that only registered with me after I had printed.


• The brush marks show.

A bit of judicious tearing removed the white bits from this one, which was one of these. I backed it with black felt and practiced FME on. Not the greatest piece of work in the world, but as Wensleydale pointed out, you can't get samples wrong.


It has just occurred to me to wonder whether it would have looked any different if I had printed on white paper. Maybe I'd better experiment some more!


I also tried printing on brown paper [no Inkaid]. I learned from this:

• Print first, scrumple second. Trust me, the other way round is not a good idea. This piece is this size because that is how far it got before the printer threw its hands up in horror and refused to go any further.













• Brown paper is dark. So if you print a dark picture on it it will get darker. Which is what happened to this guy. So I made it worse by ironing shreds of black FuseFX over him.

A scan in inverted colours looks quite spooky.


I have also returned to Dunnwewold at al's 'Finding your Own Visual Language' which I enthused about last year, worked partly through and then lost interest in. I think it was being asked - again - to draw lines expressing emotions. [I know I could skip that bit but I am a linear thinker and I have difficulty giving myself permission to do things like that.]


Looking at the book again prompted me to try some of the ideas with pots, starting with chopping them up. I do like the starkness of black and white.

I have been unusually silent

because we have been away on holiday. I am resisting the temptation to show you all the 200+ photos I took.

Sensible Brits head for warmer climes when they go on holiday – so have we been somewhere where we could expect to get a tan? Of course not. Just rust.

We went to Liverpool, Glasgow, and County Durham. For those not familiar with British geography, these are all much further north than Hampshire, two are on the [wetter] west side of the country, and all have proud industrial histories. Not, perhaps, your usual holiday destinations. And of course we had typical UK summer weather – cold and wet.

So why did we go? As Susan correctly worked out when I mentioned our trip to Liverpool – primarily for this.

http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/exhibitions/gustavklimt/

How could I not go?

There were relatively few of the famous pictures, but several of his earlier pieces and his less well known landscapes. There was a lot about the context of his work, particularly the design and architecture of the period, which included work by the reasons we were going on to Glasgow later. If you like Klimt it is well worth a visit – but don’t go into the last room unless you are very broadminded …
It was also good to visit Liverpool again – we think the last time we were there was in 1973. The first time I went there was on 2nd June 1953. Are you impressed by my ability to remember the date? [Actually, I had to Google it.]

I was taken to Liverpool in 1953 by my parents, to visit the only person we knew who had a TV, because there was a [so far] unique broadcast on the BBC. And if you know what it was you must be at least as old as I am, and you are probably British …

Unfortunately I cannot remember anything about the broadcast. I do remember eating a sausage roll for the first time. This accurately reflects my attitudes to the monarchy - and to
food …

Speaking of Liverpool and food - these appeared on the breakfast buffet. If you have read my blog before you will undoubtedly have realised that I am mad, and this confirms it. Who else but a mad woman would liberate a small processed cheese from a hotel buffet in order to photograph it?

It struck me that non-Europeans may not realise why I call Charlotte 'Babybel' - so here is one. They don't usually have what I thought were ladybird spots on them. However I have just realised it is probably meant to look like a football. Having a red football in Liverpool seems potentially dangerously partisan to me. [Obscure and feeble footballing joke by someone with no interest in football - you only need to know that Liverpool has two football teams, one of them known as 'The Reds'.]

Susan had told me to look out for the Superlambananas in Liverpool. So here’s the one outside the hotel.

And here’s one at Albert Dock – with this important message on it. Tate Liverpool didn’t appear to have one which I thought was remiss of them.




Between the hotel and the Albert Dock we also spotted some wonderful 1930s architectural details on and around the Mersey Tunnel office building.

On the way up to Glasgow we diverted off the main route to visit these enigmatic gentlemen.

I am a big fan of Antony Gormley and felt we couldn’t be in the vicinity without going to see ‘Another Place’. I wasn’t disappointed. Even the graffiti on a log on the beach was interesting.


This is getting rather long – so more tomorrow. Maybe.