That's Better...

...though you may not see the difference.  My sister kindly gave me some water based oil paints, some time ago, having heard me talk about them.  I finally tried them out.  I hadn't realised quite how big a difference there is between acrylics and oils, but this confirmed it.

Reader, I painted.

Boxed In I and II...and there's a lot to explore in this, for me, at least.  It's how I feel about ME: locked into a tiny space, unable to move much, or do a great deal.  The observant quilters among you might notice a resemblance to a log cabin block in the structure of the painting...that was certainly going through my mind as I was painting. 

I've never used water soluble oils before, so I tried monoprinting.  Okay, maybe not.  Each of these was made on paper that had been underpainted in acrylic.  The first one then had additional marks added, the other two were left as they were.  Don't think I'll be doing that again, though.  Not fussed about the red one, but rather like the other two, especially the second one.

The upside...I love painting with oil paint, it's thick, buttery, easy to work with, and this watercolour version is incredibly easy to clean up.  The downside, though, other than the oil smell, is the length of time they take to dry.  This is day three, and we're still not quite there...I don't really have enough room to have work lying around drying for days on end.  So the jury's out on what to do about it.  I suppose the simplest thing would be to stop painting, but I get a good deal of pleasure from it.  So I think I'm going to reserve judgement, and perhaps play with some more of my toys...I have both printing inks and a lot of pastels, soft and oil.  Maybe there's something I can do that will be easier to do and not take as much energy.  I'll let you know.

Sharing...

...what I know, is one of my favourite things to do.  I miss running workshops, and coaching people, more than almost everything else.  I had a visitor yesterday, and took her into the studio to see the paintings and monoprints I've been making recently.  And when she asked how I made the paintings, it seemed easiest to show her, rather than try to explain.   And these two pieces were the end result, a painting, and a monoprint taken from the painting.

The paint was quite thin, so the guidelines in the top piece are clearly visible.  I'm not actually sure that that's a bad thing.  They're both interesting, in different ways.  My friend left, determined to try it for herself, which is a good thing.  The more people making art, the better, after all. 

I told her, during the session, that the thing to do was to trust oneself, and trust the paint ( I should have said, trust the process, but hey...).  And interestingly, when going through some old journals, looking for some notes I made for a possible book (didn't find 'em), I found this.  'There is something about just letting the paint be paint... that it will ultimately be part of a landscape is irrelevant.  Work it as it needs to be worked and it will come together eventually, and you will have what you will have.'.  Which is really what I was trying to say.  At least I'm consistent: that must have been written at least ten years ago.  It works for fabric, too. 

Back To The Books...

...at least for a moment.  I had cut a few 'pages' from an accordion book, made from Lutradur XL, and because they were lying around, and a bit battered, decided to experiment on them.  So I started by giving them a coat of acrylic paint, and then stitched into them to suggest a landscape.

Not the most exciting thing you'll ever see, but a good basis for continuing.  It had been a long time since I'd machine stitched on paint, so wanted to check that this wash wasn't going to give me any problems (and it didn't).  I had intended to add more acrylic paint in each section, a mixture of colours and marks progressing down the page, with a slightly different set of colours on each page, to suggest changing weather and/or times of day.  When I got round to actually doing something with it, though, there happened to be some watercolour crayons on the table.  I wonder....I thought... and this is what happened...

I like these strong blocks of colour, though I suspect they suggest different seasons, rather than times of day.  I was quite surprised by how well the watercolour sat on the fabric, though I suspect the acrylic underpainting was the cause of that.  I was even more surprised when I turned over to work on the other side...

The colour had bled through two layers of underpainting (one on either side), and  I think they work really well.  This side has a completely different feel to the reverse, and I'm pleased.  There were a couple of sections where the paint hadn't migrated, but a bit more water on the reverse side sorted that out.  I'd like to add some text, but the words haven't suggested themselves, so we'll just have to wait until they do. 

To Collage...

...or not to collage, that is the question.  I've talked about this already, here.   I've done a bit more work on several of the collages, but the only one I feel is reasonable is this one...

That's something of an improvement, but I doubt I'll keep it.  I've been trying to work out what my problem is with this; there seem to be several reasons for it.  Firstly, and possibly least directly, I'm not a fan of using other peoples' work in mine.  This doesn't use images or newsprint, but several of the other collages do.  I like the theory of using newspaper and found images, but the practice is something else.  Secondly, I don't seem to have the same relationship to collage as I do with paint.  Paint is a mark, and another mark, and another mark.  Collage, though, somehow seems to be more structured, at an earlier stage, than either paint or textile...and I don't really do structure.  There's also something about meaning... if this piece has a story, I can't seem to access it.  Perhaps I'm too caught up in the techniques involved, to be able to hear it speak. 

I'm not sure much is going to be gained in pursuing this particular approach...at least, not on paper.  Intriguingly, while sorting through fabrics for a completely different project, I found this.

I don't remember making this, to be honest, but I rather like it.  The base is cotton, dyed with tea and onion skins.  Then there's a layer of Japanese paper which has been coloured with what looks like Brusho.  Then, a layer of transfer dyed lutradur, with some pieces of painted paper and a scrap of constructed cloth.   I like this.  Perhaps it's because it's much closer to my usual style than the paper based collage.  Perhaps it's the combination of elements (though, looking at it, I think I want to hit that lutradur with a heat gun, put a few holes in it, to relate more closely to the Japanese paper).  So if I do make more collages, this looks like it is the way forward.  Okay, I feel comfortable with that... glad we sorted it out.  Back to work...

The Last...

...of the recent batch of monoprints.  Well, not the absolute last: rather, the last of the monoprints I can hand stitch.  Those that remain, have too much paint on them to make hand stitch comfortable, so will be machine stitched.   

I think this is my favourite of this current batch.  More colour variances, and varied texture and marks.  The stitch is pared back to allow those things to show through.  The blanket stitch is perhaps a bit heavy handed...though it looks better in real life. 

Coming to the end of a cycle of work is always problematic...what to do next?  I've started a small creativity group on Facebook, based around a monthly prompt.  I have a few ideas around that, so at least that's something.  However, they're mostly around paint, and I need to have some bits and pieces to do by hand on days when I'm sofa bound...so that needs to be thought about.  I've got a few bits and pieces tacked up and ready to go, so perhaps one of them.  They need a bit more thought, though.

Meanwhile, given I'm set up for paint... I wanted to experiment with Lutradur XL and paint, so, while I was monoprinting, I used some of the excess paint to put a wash on a piece that had been part of a larger book, but cut away when I changed my mind about it.  I then added some machine stitch.

 It's effectively the same colour, both  sides, but with different thread, plain on one side, variegated on the other.  Yup, more landscape... one of my defaults.  I think what this one wants, is to explore the idea of weather, and the changes in light, and therefore colour, that there are when there is a change in the weather.   Which doesn't exactly fit the bill for hand work...but hey... you do the work you have in front of you.

Shifting Direction...

...again.  Another mini relapse, another rethink.  As I can't work at a machine for more than fifteen minutes at a time, work needs to be small scale.  And, I discovered, hand stitch is meditative, but painting is joyful... and who wouldn't want joy in their lives?  So, another shift in emphasis.  I bought some canvas boards to work on, but I'd been reading recently about watercolours on fabric, mainly people enthusing about Inktense on fabric.  I have a few inktense pencils, and did contemplate buying blocks, but thought I'd start with what I had to hand.  I've been playing with watercolours, and remembering why I don't work with them, predominately...so maybe not inktense.  Acrylic, now... so I worked with watered down acrylic paints on a scrap of sheeting I had to hand.

Not my usual palette, but, like I said, what I had to hand.  Once it was dry, I started markmaking with oil pastels...

Oh, look...there's a figure... entirely unintentional, but the unconscious does what it does.  She looks like a dancer.  Now... as a child, all I wanted to be was a dancer.  I love dancing.  I'm married to a non-dancer, so I can't say I miss it, entirely, as I haven't danced in years...last time was possibly my son's wedding.  But this is undeniably a dancer.  And making this piece is a way of having dance in my life, probably the only way it will ever happen again.  And here she is, finished.  

She is outlined in machine stitch, with accents provided by two different variegated threads, though they read as very similar in the image.  Definitely worth working some more in this way, I think.  

I did promise a look at the finished felt piece... here it is.  

Can't get excited, to tell you the truth....but I started, so I finished.  Not worth framing.

Coming Along Nicely.

Borderline, that is.  Reader, I cut out those knots.

And added a lot of stitch.  I feel better about that whole area, now, and have identified something (well, somethings, actually) to go in that empty central space.  And then, I had to work out what to do with the rest of the space.  What colour, what thread?  Blue was the original thought, to suggest sky.  Then green, to suggest fields.  Finally, I picked a brown variegated thread, the colour of the earth, and started working round the lower left motif.

There's a lot of stitch going in, resulting in a certain amount of distortion up in the top right, unsurprisingly; I hope that can be blocked out of the piece.  There will be more stitch going into the rest of the piece, so I figure that it all might balance out (yeah, all over distortion...).  My  next set of decisions will be around what I do next with the stitch, whether I continue to follow the lines I've established, as much as I can, or whether I add blocks of stitch using different threads, perhaps adding some darker brown and some hints of green.  I have enough room to add one more line of stitching around the main block, and then I'll have to decide. 

I'm still not happy with All That White, though.  I've never liked working with white.  I don't wear it, either, other than the odd white shirt.  I'm contemplating adding paint after the stitch is complete, in a very light, random way.  Or possibly staining the background with tea, being careful to keep it away from the paper, which I don't want to colour.  I suppose this was predictable, and I really should have thought of it before, but it is what it is, and I'll work with it.  Because process is all there is.

Making The Most...

of the weather.

I freely admit to being a creature of emotional extremes, though, as I get older, these seem to be calming down somewhat... I think that has more to do with top notch psychotherapy than age, sadly. But I admit that when it comes to the weather, I am a conservative wee soul.  When they threaten me with temps of 30 deg, and even above, I whimper.  But I thought I might as well make the best of it by drying some fabric painted work on the line (and it's not even 11am...smug, me?  Hell, yes.).  

I actually went out to add another layer of varnish to this floor cloth, made by members of the Hub...

...that is the third layer of polyurethane varnish... one more and I think it will do.  I think they made a great job of it. There is another piece to varnish, too, but it is for a wall, so I may use a spray instead of laboriously painting on the varnish (though it really doesn't take all that long).

I'm working on a rug for myself, though Milliecat thinks that it is Just Perfect As It Is...

I reckon these fabric painted pieces won't take long to dry, which is great, as I want to work on them today...but before I do, I better go rescue and clean the brushes I used this morning.  My new motto is... 'It ain't over til the fat lady cleans up'...

Silk Purses...

famously cannot be made from sow's ears.  I showed you a painted photograph, this one, in fact;

and wondered what it would be like if the white stitching was not so white... and here it is.

I think it's an improvement... but only in photograph form.  (I notice that the colour is different in the two images, the top one is closer to the real colour).  The piece itself is too small, I think.  The curves are interesting, but the intense stitching detracts from them, rather than supports them.  I also think that it looks better on screen  because the darks look darker.

All in all, this has been an object lesson in how not to do it, really.  I admit to having my doubts about this piece from the moment it came off the printer. So...what have I learned?   Perhaps the real lesson should be, listen to the inner voice that says, there's not much you can do with this, and spend your time on stuff that does work.  Then, if you insist on ignoring it, think properly about what stitch is going to do.  Stitch is our friend... but not in this case, where it draws attention away from the important parts of the image.  I also think there's a lot to be said for working with these macro images at a larger scale; if I had done that, it might have worked better...there certainly wouldn't have been a place for that fussy stitching.

So what next?  I'm going to overprint it, I think.  In black.  And then, probably, cut it up.  But not today...today, I'm going to work on something that is working well, just to cheer myself up.

Still Working...

on this piece, which I talked about here ;

Today, though, I decided to work on the piece of board that I'd used as the base of the monoprint that colours it.

I should say that the dark blue isn't quite as strong as it seems in this image...but hey... it's a photo...
I decided to use it on as a warm-up piece today, when I went out to paint.  And here's the end result:

So... how did I get from there to here?  I started by spraying the piece with Lemon Brusho, deliberately varying the strength in some areas.  I don't like flat colour; I think it's boring.  Varying the colour makes it much more interesting to look at, and helps the eye to travel round the image.  While it was drying, I wiped off as much of the yellow as I could from the little circles, smudging it into the shapes, turning them into a lovely blue green shade.

But it wasn't enough.  The obvious thing to do, given my current work, was to print over the top of it.  I might have contemplated another monoprint, but  it seemed a bit predictable.  Instead, I took a look at a collagraph I made last weekend.  I tried it out on a piece of scrap cloth, in green; here it is...

I liked the way that it worked, so decided to try it on the monoprint; it worked very nicely.  And that, I thought, was that...  but nothing is ever that simple.  I had made an earlier trial print of the collagraph, in a reddish brown colour, but it was not particularly successful.  When I printed on the monoprint, some of the red brown colour was transferred.  I found it catching my eye.  And so, finally, I added some random dots of red and green paint to the piece.  I was surprised how well it worked; it seemed to pull the whole piece together.

Now, all I have to do is finish the textile piece... it's coming together slowly.  I think I have an idea...

Reculer Pour Mieux Sauter

It's just so elegant in French... it means, going backwards, to go forwards. I suspect I've used it in a title before, but it's worth restating.   I'm in the process of clearing out and reorganising my fabric rooms, upstairs in the attic.  I'd like to say it looks worse than it is, but I suspect it's the other way round.  I've shown you pictures of my chaotic workroom before, so I've put up some eye candy instead.  Much more fun to look at than mess, however creative it might have been at some point.  I've got a bag of scrap to go to a school, a bag of fabric for the Hub and I've surprised myself...more of that in a moment.

I've been giving myself a hard time recently, about my work.  How it's admired, but doesn't sell.  How, much as I'd love to work as a creativity coach, I haven't got out there to persuade people to try it, even though I know I'm good at it, and have a suitable background.  How I didn't write a book last year, despite planning it.  How the kits haven't sold...and how I haven't promoted them enough.  Me, me, me.  When you work on your own, it really is all down to you.  Above all, I worried that I've been so busy trying to make work that other people might like, so I could earn  some money (my husband is currently out of work, so there's no money coming in), that I'd lost sight of my own work.

Not a pretty picture, is it?  Whilst I might sound as if I'm being hard on myself (and heaven knows I'm good at it...), it's really the truth.  All, except the last bit.  What I've discovered is that there has been a lot of work going on around the edges in the last two years or so.  I know it, because I've found it, in piles, waiting to be developed, hidden under Yet More Fabric....I can't believe how much fabric there is, I swear it has been breeding up there during the summer...  And I haven't looked at the hand dyes, yet... argh...

So... I've decided to Get A Grip.  I'm going to finish clearing the studios, and see what else I find, and then make A Plan.  And, because I know that I have had this revelation before, and forgotten it, I'm going to write it down, but not in such detail that I drown in it (which is what happened last year).  Give myself room to make.  Stick with the daily haiku idea (twenty days, something like twenty four haiku), which is quickly turning into a journal of sorts, with some illustration.  Not quite an artist's journal, but interesting, nonetheless.
Scared?  Hell, yes.  Confident?  Not really.  But it does feel right...so I'm just going to think less, and do more.  That's the catch line for the plan... think less, do more.  And yes, I've said it all before, in public, too.  Hopefully, this time, I'll be able to stick with the plan.  Wish me luck, I think I need it.

The image above is 'Where'.  I made it several years ago.  It's made from hand dyes; the word 'where' was discharge dyed on one piece.  Then, I painted over the top, using acrylic dyes, after extensive machine stitching.  I love texture, and this piece has it by the bucketload.