Who knew?

That Louise Bourgeois had made a fabric book? - this one, which I find quite inspirational. It has a vintage feel, like fabric samples in old trade catalogues. Thanks to the Peter Blum Gallery for putting images of all the pages on line, so those of us who can only dream of owning a Bourgeois can admire. Thanks too, to Green Chair Press for posting these and other links about the books – and about this book about Bourgeois’ fabric works, which has gone on my wish list. It seems to be due to be released in the UK in October but is much cheaper from Amazon in the US, where it’s not due out till next year. Either way it will have to wait till I've saved up  - or dropped enough hints about Christmas presents …

My fabric books may not be up to Bourgeois’ standard - I’ll be able to spell her name by the time I’ve finished this post – but I’m having fun with them. I’ve been playing around with different folded books, like this one. It’s a shaped concertina with pop-ups, which reminds Wensleydale of cathedral windows. This is almost the last piece of the painted fusible interfacing fused to hand-dye [PFIFTHD] – but I like it so much I've made some more. [I should make clear it’s not the colour I like, but the feel, weight and stiffness, which work well for books. As you can see. However, there is no mark-making and its 3D, so I don’t think I can call it a drawing. :>(

However this one has marks and folds flat – so a drawing it is. It’s inspired by one in Heather Weston’s ‘Handmade Books’ [the one middle right on the cover] but made with Lutradur rather than paper, and cut with a soldering iron. I think I got the angle a bit too steep, but I like the contrast between the different sides of the Lutradur which the folding brings out.

Finally, the one I like least. This is another [and the last, thank goodness] piece of the yucky painted calico, which for some reason reminded me of a map. And as I’d reached the map-fold page in Sue Doggett’s book, I added some map-like lines of black satin stitch and a fake leather cover.  Lines – so it’s a drawing, right? Which, together with the sea book from the other day, brings the total to 81.

One thing I do like about it, is the flatness of the finished book, and the way the image gradually appears as you unfold it. It would be interesting to add holes, so that the rather nice back view was more visible – may get the scissors out tomorrow.

But tonight, as there’s nought on telly, I'm going to play with this. It looks like fun.

Hope you like the new look…

I’d got bored with the black and purple and decided I wanted something lighter and fresher. This is one of Blogger’s themes and I haven’t quite mastered it yet, which is why that heading may look a bit big, and some bits could be more legible.

Of course, this being Blogger, changing the theme has buggered up the arrangement of all my previous posts – but I hope you’ll forgive me for not going through all 568 to sort them out. [Gulp.]

Wensleydale and I had a very pleasant outing on Saturday afternoon, to the Southampton Art Gallery. I may have mentioned before what a good gallery it is, if you like contemporary art. The ‘Sea Fever’ exhibition is excellent – a wide range of sea themed pieces, from their recently restored early Turner to living artists like Julian Opie and Richard Long - the majority are 20th century.

………………………

Well – I wrote that yesterday – and more – but the laptop crashed [which it has been doing rather too often recently] and I lost it all. Teach me to save regularly. [Click.]

So today I have emptied the recycle bin, and defragged, and cleaned discs – and I have my fingers firmly crossed that it will help. If not, I shall have to wait till the techie returns from here to take it in hand. [Somehow all my computers have always known when their master was on holiday.]

But I digress. I was going to write a long description of the exhibition – but I’ve rather lost the motivation. All I can say is that it is well worth visiting, especially if you are interested in contemporary art, and there is a small exhibit of amusing Lowry drawings as a bonus. [And entry is free! – although car parking isn’t.]

But I must end with a quote from Maggi Hambling, posted in the Gallery next to her wonderful image of ‘Erosion’.

‘The older I get I identify with the land which is being eroded. The sea is like time – you can do nothing about it.’

Last night I felt pretty eroded…

Sorry not to post yesterday …

but we went on another Wednesday wander with Mr and Mrs Cheddar, this time all the way to Bristol.

We went mainly for this, but had a guided tour of the city from Mr and Mrs C, as it’s their old home.

It was well worth the trip – although we are still recovering.

I have to admit that although I had heard of Banksy, I wasn’t really very familiar with his work. I think I know it a bit better now! 

The animatronics were amazing.

Photography was allowed without flash but my little camera struggled to cope.

I’ve decide who one of my Installation artists will be for Contemporary Textiles, though.

 

 

 

 

 

I particularly liked this Damien Hirst with added rat.

 

 

 

And now for something completely different – a woven plank. Paint Shop Pro again, the ‘weave’ filter.

Pales into insignificance compared with that lot above!

Through the window

I have been playing around with my pebble tracing - not very successfully! I started with the usual L-shaped pieces of card - every book or person I come across seems to have a different name for them - but couldn't find a section I liked. Everything was just too round!

In one of her books Sandra Meech suggests cutting three parallel windows in a card - like a triptych. So as I like triptychs I tried that and this is the result - coloured with Derwent metallic pencils, which, I have just discovered, are water soluble. I like the slightly recessed look of the 'windows'. Could be stained glass, especially if there were arches at the top. Like a mini version of this ?

It also reminds me of the work of John Dahlsen which is what inspired the C&G wallhanging which led me to take the pebble photo in the first place. Having looked at Dahlsen's work again, I can see that my image could be worked in lots of textured stitches - as I don't have very much beach detritus lying around. Some, but not a lot ... The colour scheme, which I would never have thought of using if I hadn't started with that rather unprepossessing picture of pebbles, is growing on me.

It also reminds me of this window at the Weald and Downland Museum - which in turn inspired an image in my 'Creative Sketchbooks' book. Which I can't find.

Tuesday trip - 2 days late

Unfortunately I can't think of a travel related term beginning with ‘th’…

Today we kept a long standing promise to ourselves and went back to ‘Art in the Garden’ at the Hillier Gardens. [I can recommend the carrot cake in the cafe.]

We still haven’t seen all of it – and part way through my camera decided that the memory card was full, so I didn’t manage to photograph everything.

Here are some examples - you may spot a theme developing...




This one is for the co-grandparents [hereinafter known as Mr and Mrs Cheddar], proud owners of Ronaldo the Wonderdog. [I think I may have spelled that wrong, and it should probably be Ronalda anyway, but I am sure someone will correct me if necessary.]

And this is for Ronaldo. They - and another sheep, a pig, a goat a goose and a cat - were all made of chicken wire by Mandy Flynn.

These are by Darren Greenhow. The lizard is made from bicycle chains, and his others all incorporated recycled engineering bits. Including the fish on a [real] bicycle which we came across after the camera packed up.

Not sure who made the rooster but I think the colours on his head are wonderful.

I find a lot of animal sculptures twee but I liked these.

While we are on the subject of art – our paper on Saturday published a two page spread of a self portrait by Tom Deininger, which led me to Google him.

http://www.tomdeiningerart.com/

There is some ‘adult content’, if that is a concern for you.

If you look at the thumbnails it may seem fairly conventional – but look closer … There are ideas for embroiderers there, I think – for example the seascapes made of denim, but also the supermodels, some which look as if they were beaded.

It reminds me of the work of John Dahlsen:

http://www.johndahlsen.com/index.html

some also made from junk, and also quite inspirational for embroiderers, I think. My wall hanging for part one of C&G was inspired by a Dahlsen piece but it drifted …

Tuesday trips - resumed

We got back to our routine yesterday with a visit to ‘Art in the Garden’ at the Hillier Gardens near Romsey. We had been to a small indoor art exhibition there before which had been – how can I put this? – a bit flowery for my taste. But it was a lovely day, so we decided to go. And thoroughly enjoyed it. The art was mostly stunning and mostly beautifully sited.

There were a lot of flowers of course, not all real. This is by ‘Iron Vein' [?].

The gardens are lovely, even if you are not interested in the art, but a bit pricey to get in. There is a good tea shop, which you can get to without going into the gardens.

I took a hundred photos, although we only managed to get half way round before our elderly joints suggested we came home. However the event is on until the autumn, so we will go back at least once to see the rest.

I won’t show you all the photos, but here are some highlights.

As there are occasional references to textiles in this blog, I have to include this one by Susan Bowman, Yes, it is a crochet skirt, set with plaster/polymer.


And a cast glass hat and mittens by Miyuki Kasahara.

These, by Robinson and Wainwright, were perfectly complemented by the wonderful tree they were hanging in.

But my favourites were these by ‘Loco Glass’

and this and her companion by Patricia Volk. I love her contemplative expression.

We couldn't quite afford to buy anything because we had spent up on Sunday, at the Sandown Quilt Show, when Wensleydale bought me my belated birthday present. [You may remember I had a big birthday this year.] The prezzy arrived yesterday.

I used to have a Bernina but the motherboard died and wasn't replaceable. My little Elna is great but I missed the additional bells and whistles of the old Bernie. Well – this one has even more bells and whistles, including the stitch regulator, and I think it is going to take some getting used to. All I managed to d last night was to put the tools away in the tool box, which was a more complex procedure than you might expect as the tool box is like a miniature wardrobe with a place for everything.

I had forgotten how heavy Berninas are – almost as heavy as my third machine – which I don’t think I have shown you before.

This one has no bells or whistles at all – it doesn’t even sew in reverse – but after 100 years + it is still working … which is unlikely to be true of either the Elna or the Bernina!

In case you think I have been suspiciously quiet

about the box that used to be a lampshade - it has been making steady progress.
This unlovely object is the full size mock-up, which for once I made before the real item. I’m glad I did because I decided that the proportions were wrong and that my original idea of ‘leaf litter’ on its own didn't work and it needed a focal point – hence that spray of leaves. [Leaves again – there is definitely a pattern here.]

I also changed the design of the sides after Wensleydale dropped some heavy hints. ‘Are you going to do the sides like that?’ - which always means ‘I don’t like it.’

I have also:

painted and over painted some fabric for the sides and base [not brilliant but most of it won’t show, and I’ve run out of the crucial colour of paint];

Stamped leaves in Lumiere paint on silk organza and machine embroidered them. I love how they look on the fabric – almost too nice to cut up, but I made myself wield the scissors. However I think I will make myself a stole this way ACAG [after C and G];

Finished the embroidery of the top panel, apart from adding beads which I left until I had decided where the spray would go;

Made the spray;

Prepared the fabric for the sides;

Padded the frame for the embroidery and the base and laced the fabric over the base.

I’m exhausted just typing all that!

Busy day tomorrow but I hope to get the frame covered and possibly the embroidery mounted in it – and more work on the sides.

I think I will finish this by the end of June!

No Tuesday trip this week as I was working on the box and Wensleydale was DIYing – but we did have a tripette on Friday. There are currently 2 very different art exhibitions on in Winchester ‘Discovery Centre’. [I hate the name – it’s the Library!]

The first is ‘Art and Artefacts’ – details here – scroll down:

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/wdc/city-space.htm

Immaculate work but many of them are a bit too whimsical for me!

In complete contrast:

http://www.howardhodgkin.org.uk/

We saw Hodgkin’s exhibition at the Tate a couple of years ago and thought his work was stunning – the prints are different but just as good. There is one of a palm tree at the entrance that I would have loved to have brought home - anyone got a few thousand £££ to spare?