What I’m working on!

I have a private exhibition looming. It’s an unusual event as it won’t be open to the public, just to a specific group of people. The work that they will see is quite a big step away from some of the things that I have previously created. I’m just beginning a new artwork, and I thought you might like to see a part of the process.

The background fabric will be hand dyed cotton. Dull and dingy it will be a dark mustard in colour with splashes of a slightly brighter yellow and dark blue. It doesn’t sound very attractive or interesting, does it? So, how to make it more interesting? It’s too dark to respond to much more over-dyeing, so the answer is paint.

First some experiments:

blending 1

 

Blending colour is the first step, I don’t like to use ‘raw’ colour straight from the tube or bottle. This looks promising

blending 2

 

Looking better as it is mixed more and more. I’m not using a paintbrush for this process, I have a special blending tool which I’ll tell you about another day. They look good on paper, but will they do on the fabric?

fabric

 

 

Perfect!  Several thin layers of transparent acrylic have been built up. Some of it is printing using an old mouse mat which is a perfect printing surface. The experiments were worth it. Can you guess which colours I used?

colours

 

Did you guess? I love mixing colours – you never know what you will discover. I have never used these colours in combination before, but I will be using them again. Stitching comes next, but first, some more fabric preparation.

Is it time you tried some new colours? Let me know if you do.

Why have I been so quiet?

I have to admit that one of the most irritating things to read on a blog is ‘sorry I haven’t posted for a while……’ . So, I’m not going to apologise for my absence because sometimes life takes over and that is fine, it is far more important than blogging. However, some of my absence has been caused by internet connection problems. For a number of years we have used Virgin Media as our provider, but no more……. Today we changed! Here’s hoping that it’s for the better and that our connection remains constant for all hours of the day. It also means a change of email address, so if you have been writing to me at a virgin.net account I suggest you contact me for the new one. For a limited time you can use   winifredsheadache@gmail.com   as a contact address. Make sure you tell me why you need to have it – remind me of where we met etc – as I may not be the only one checking the mail and I WILL NOT BE RESPONDING TO SPAM! Those of you who know me know that I don’t want to lose contact, so this is a sort of belt and braces means of letting you all know. You can also, of course, contact me via the usual shop address.

So, on to other things. Did you all have a good weekend? The weather was glorious and it was such a pleasure to be able to go out for the day yesterday in warm sunshine. We visited the Hillier Gardens in Hampshire. It was the perfect time to view the Magnolias

6th May 2013, Hillier Garden 023

They were truly beautiful set against a cloudless blue sky.

On Saturday we attended the Embroiderers Guild Regional Day at Wokingham. We saw lots of lovely people as usual, and listened to some very interesting speakers. I’ve heard Debbie Lyddon before, an interesting talk which is highly recommended, but also heard one by someone new to me. The morning talk was from Kirsty Whitlock an exuberant and enthusiastic artist who works in mixed media textiles. You certainly won’t be disappointed if you have a chance to hear them somewhere, and they are both also friendly and approachable people.

Now, I need your help! I have mentioned before that I’m teaching an Embellisher Workshop at Janome in Stockport near Manchester at the end of this month. The class was ready to go, but sadly one of the participants has had to pull out as she has been admitted to hospital. This doesn’t sound as though it would make much of a difference, but she is the driver for 3 other friends, all of whom were planning to attend. Four people pulling out this close to the date means that the workshop will have to be cancelled unless they can be replaced by Tuesday 14th May. Please can you pass the word? Mention it to anyone you think might be interested, and also apply NOW if you were considering coming but had decided to wait until the last minute to enrol. It will be a great shame if we have to cancel. The price has reduced from that of last year, and the venue is wonderful. Remember that you don’t need a machine to participate, all machines are provided, so you can travel as light as you wish as supplies will also be available to purchase on the day if required. Further details are here and by popular request we will be making a little pair of boots amongst learning other things.

I have had many requests for a workshop in the West Country. I know that you don’t like travelling far, so I’m very pleased to tell you that a two day workshop has been arranged for August this year. I’m planning on coming to the Mad Hatter’s Studio in Plymouth which is ideally placed for both Devon and Cornwall. Details are here. I haven’t visited the Studio before, so if you need information about the set up I suggest you contact Sheron. By all means contact me for more information about the actual workshop.

There is more news too, but this is enough for one day, so there will be another post tomorrow, and then, when I’ve caught up, I’ll be back on track as promised.

Textiles in Focus

Forget about queueing for parking at Alexandra Palace, or the NEC for that matter. No charges for parking and less than half the entrance fee! Why not visit Textiles in Focus in Cottenham near Cambridge instead! There will be an exhibition that’s worth seeing, lots of demonstrations, and, of course, good traders. All the suppliers are specialists, so they know all about their products and there is good food and drink to sustain you too…… How can you resist? Dates? 15th – 17th February. There are also workshops and a lecture.

More information can be found here, I’ll be there with Winifred Cottage, so please come and say ‘hi’ when you visit. On that note, if you have any special requirements, for instance Kunin Felt, make sure you let me know in good time beforehand. I won’t be taking much of that with me, and may have limited stocks of other things too.

blog Cottenham

 

This is a photograph from last year. It’s a lovely show, and well worth a visit. Hope to see you there.