2012 – a new beginning!

Today, the Number 1 day of a new year,  marks a new beginning and an injected start to my creativity.

Coincidentally, a Christmas gift from family members, reflects this movement in my life.   Twelve by Twelve, The International Art QuiltChallenge is the book title.

This book will be my companion as we soon spend time travelling regional NSW, particularly around the Barrington Tops area.    There is more to my story of change, as it emerges during the next few weeks.

But for now, I want to impress on you just how good this book is.   Stories about twelve textile artists from around the globe, including two very clever ladies from Australia, Brenda Gael Smith (NSW) and Kirsten Duncan Q’ld).

A book to savour & reflect upon over the next few weeks, as I travel with the creative minds of these twelve artists.  More is to come……

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you!

Time out!

My blog life has been somewhat distracted these past few months….you may have noticed!   Sometimes our lives need  a little “time out” to refresh, restore, and rebuild.    

Well a little of this is true for me, but other events in life have taken precedence – but soon I will be back in full swing into blogland again.

Chris and love walking around Brooklyn – to see and smell the sound of the sea and curiously watch fishermen with their day’s catch.  Chris took these photographs – and as the day was a grey one, it seemed that black and white suited the occasion.  

Always when at Brooklyn, I do love to see these upturned dinghy’s  sun baking (even if there is no real sunshine), waiting for their masters to take them to the waters once again for an adventure on the sea.

Hornsby Shire Festival of the Arts – Free Artist Talks Series

Hornsby Council’s Free Artist Talks Series is a daily event – Wednesday 23 November through to Sunday 27 November 2011.

Situated at the Community Centre, Shepherds Lane, Cherrybrook – where parking couldnt be easier!  

You are invited to come along – be informed, entertained, edified and enlightened.

Come along for my talk 12.30 – 1.30pm on Friday 25 November – when together with my textile art colleague Diane Groenewegen we will be talking about Fabric Art Collage – Antique & Contemporary!

You can also view the Hornsby Art Prize Exhibition – while you are there.

Deconstrutured Screen Printing

Here is one more picture showing another angle.

Deconstructed Screen Printing

Earlier this month two of my extraTexture friends came over.

With our big screens we created pieces using the Deconstructed Screen Printing process.

During the first or second pull, it is difficult to tell how much “pulling” is required so we peeped.  And we were happy with the results.

Here is a sample of one screen we used, changing from using print paste without dye, then adding (blue) dye print paste to see what happened.

We were quite happy with how these images turned out.  Barbara & Cindy took their pieces home to batch – it will be a surprize to see the outcome, when we next meet.

 

Red dots!

What a thrill!

My three entries into the annual Berowa Rotary Art & Craft Exhibition all sold during the opening night!

Each of the framed pieces were similar in design except for the colour and texture.   I worked these on painted fusible web, applied to fabric & wire form, stitched heavily by machine to produce texture and shape.   The technique was one of the many that Sandra Meech taught our class in her wonderful workshop for ATASDA NSW in Sydney.  Sandra is one of the best teachers I know – very gifted as an artist and very good at teaching.

I believe the flautist who played at tonight’s opening, was the purchaser.    As a lover of flute music (I once auditioned to undertake lessons on a flute – but life got in the way), I am pleased as punch that my pieces are going to a deserving home.

Here is a photo of one of the pieces.

Mixed Media experimentation.

Messing around again with MIXED MEDIA has produced these pieces.  The first piece has had some stitch applied to build more visual texture.  The last two are “naked”, awaiting thread and needle.   More about this process will be posted shortly…  These pieces are preparation for a 2-day workshop I am teaching in November;  more details are on the ATASDA website.

Texture for art-quilts….these local treasures at Bobbin Head have provided imagery for my fabric printing. The first is rain on an old bubbled window; the second is obvious (isnt it?), and the last is a bottle top! Come back soon to see more of these wonders.

Polysol Transfer Dyes

This past month has been devoted to spending time experimenting with Polysol transfer dyes.  These dyes are applied to paper, then transferred via heat to fabric.    Several techniques have been applied, including thickening the dyes first which creates greater textural imagery.  The old GladWrap was handy too, as was foil, to create texture that hints at aerial landscape views – from a spaceship!  But more of these images will be available very soon.

Meantime here is one piece showing an impressionistic close-up view of the Bungle Bungle Ranges in W.A.

Postcards from the Kimberleys

Playing with Polysol Dyes has been successful!   Besides lots of textures on fabrics which I am saving for future little pieces of fabric art, I set aside today (well, not quite all of it), to create these four postcards.