Wednesday 18 May 2011

Stitching under the influence of germs.


Due to a bad case of germ addled brain I decided handling heavy machinery i.e. sewing machine, was probably not the wisest decision this week. So I decided to dust off my stranded cotton and flex my finger muscles with a touch of hand embroidery, and I must admit I have found it all rather delightful. As you can see above, my first endeavor was a bit of a promotional exercise, just to clear out the cobwebs and key into the old embroidery memory box. Through a haze of coughing and spluttering I seemed to have found a rather pleasant and productive zen state.

After my little adventure into PR stitching I decided to venture down my more usual and comfortable artistic path. After witnessing some really quite exquisite skies from my sick bed, and a plethora of birds having a rollicking good time in them, I settled on a series looking at Starlings in flight. From a very young age I have always loved birds in flight, birds perching are nice enough, but wow when they flew I found them captivating. In actual fact one of my earliest memories is riding in a car looking out of the window and wishing I was a bird flying alongside, make of that what you will. With their exquisite and mesmerizing displays Starlings were the perfect choice. So far I have created a small triptych and am currently cogitating over plans of a much grander scale.

This week may you all have as productive a time as me.....minus the germs!


Wednesday 4 May 2011

I've been framed!


Avoidance, something I have quite artfully mastered. Up until this point I have been employing these skills quite thoroughly when it comes to finally framing my work. But this week I bit the bullet and got myself in gear. I’m sure I’m not alone in this struggle, and there are many of you out there who do everything in your power to put off such an event. The presentation of work is such a complete and final commitment, when the decision has been made and acted upon there is very little chance of undoing it. This is the particularly cruel part of the process that I like to dance around, continually distracting myself with shiny objects, like metallic thread (see previous post).

In keeping with the themes and concepts that I’m working with in ‘Lost Voices’ I have known for a very long time that I want to present each piece in an antique frame. So off I went trawling the seas of ebay for only the best specimens. A task I found more difficult than I expected, too many of the lots were in far too good a condition. What I really wanted to find were frames that had lived, a little rough round the edges but still functional. After many hours and stressful bidding wars, trying to avoid that dreaded of all beasts the auction sniper, I managed to get my hands on a great selection. The many weeks I have spent avoiding have only added to their worn charm......honest!

With all the necessary tools in place and itching to be used I started to procrastinate on how best to stretch my pieces and it wasn’t until I found a very helpful guide from Textile Artist Ruth O’Leary that I managed to get my sluggish brain cells firing on all cylinders. But once I did there was no stopping me, except maybe the occasional bite to eat and drink. All went very smoothly and I now have my first framed piece, after which a celebratory dance may or may not have been attempted! The final result can be seen in my gallery of current work here.

Good luck to all of you out there who are or soon will be attempting such things!