Finally....

there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it isn't an oncoming train! The image here is the front cover of my new book, my first solo effort, 'Finding Your Creative Focus'. Didn't Terry do a great job? I got the proof image at the weekend, and the book, along with Lovely Lutradur, should be completely printed and ready to go to FOQ by Friday this week. It's really exciting!!! And Lovely Lutradur is to come out in French in September, at the Carrefour in Alsace. That's exciting, too; my lutradur quilts are in France as we speak, being photographed for this new edition.

Creative work, other than the ongoing work on the Evolon book, is at a standstill, pretty much, as I prepare for the classes that I'll be teaching at Festival of Quilts. Preparing packs always takes more time than you would think, and I like to have handouts ready for everything I teach. The classes I'm teaching at FOQ are new, so that means working things out from scratch, trying to make them the best that I can, and fun for the participants, too. I'm looking forward to getting back to normal, with the Evolon book finished, the workshops completed and a chance to get back into the shed!

There's The Good News....

and the not so good news.... but there's more good than bad, hurrah! And even the bad, has some good attached...

The good news is that I'm back, after a long blog break which has had a lot to do with me returning to the world of Paid Employment, and combining it with Self Employment, and struggling to find the time to turn round, much less write my blog... The good news is that I'll be at Festival of Quilts, and when I'm not teaching, I'll be demonstrating at Spunart's stand (D25). Anyone coming to my Instant Postcards workshop will have the chance to work with the new Lutradur XL, which I think is amazing. It will make fab postcards, and I'm looking forward to making textile and mixed media books with it. I used the sample that Spunart sent me to back some small quilts; it's great for that, too. So hopefully I won't have to do too much ironing at FOQ this year; I plan to make a small book while I'm there.

And I'm not coming alone; I'm bringing two books with me. Lovely Lutradur is at the printers as we speak, along with 'Finding Your Creative Focus', my book on getting round creative blocks. They will be available from me during FOQ, and I'll be selling them through the Other Blog, as we did with the CDs (which will still be available).

The bad news, or the less good news, is that Exquisite Evolon is not going to be ready for this year's FOQ, though it will be ready by mid September, according to my printers. Part of the reason for that is that I'm working with a wonderful photographer, Haydn Rodgers, who has introduced me to his friend, designer Terry Symonds, who has created amazing covers for Lovely Lutradur's printed version, as well as 'Finding Your Creative Focus'. He is now going to work his magic on Exquisite Evolon; I'm sure you'll find it will have been worth the wait! In the meantime, feast your eyes on a couple of Haydn's photos for Exquisite Evolon, showing the jacket that is one of the projects in the book. There is layer upon layer of surface design on the jacket, and there are step by step directions on how to achieve this look, as well as the construction methods. Hope you like it as much as I do!

Workshop Fun

...and transfer dyeing is great fun, especially when there's a group. This was last week's workshop in full swing, working with transfer dyes and lutradur. A good deal of hilarity masked the fact that everyone was actually working pretty hard. We discovered lots about transfer dyes, and about lutradur, too, which, considering I was squashing elements of two different one day workshops into one two hour session, was possibly not surprising. As you can see, the dog was the only one who was completely disinterested in the whole affair; Lucky is a sweetie, but she doesn't do art....she does, however, enjoy the biscuits at coffee time.

It's interesting to run workshops in a gallery space; when you are looking for examples of good design, or a particular approach to work, there is always something to refer to on the walls. Or you can use them as inspiration, as you can see from one of the images here, which is a drawing of one of my totem dolls on a piece of lutradur. I thought, myself, it looked like Tina Turner in full flow... And if you want to refresh your memory about transfer dyeing, there's a post about it here

We're focussing on words this month... last night, we worked with found text, next week, we're making little translucent paper bowls with individual words trapped within them. It'll be interesting to see how that turns out!

Collage...

was always something I avoided. Recently, though, I've been making quite a few... and this is the most recent, made as a sample for my class on Wednesday at The Gallery, Dereham. It's amazing how much can be done with such a limited palette, and really not many materials. We'll all be making something using those principles tomorrow night.

When I do teach workshops, I rarely ever provide a 'pattern' or a specific set of instructions. Instead, I make suggestions, show what is possible, or at least, what I think is possible at this point; you might find there's yet more you can do with what I'm showing you. And that's the joy of teaching workshops in this way; if you provide six people with the same materials and the same instruction, they can produce six completely different pieces of art. Of course, if you want to copy what I've made, you can...but I'm pretty sure that yours will turn out with a different 'feel' to mine. Why not try it?

Sidetracked...

...again. I went into The Little Green Shed (TLGS to its friends)to redo one of the projects in the Exquisite Evolon book which I'm working on, which was fine. But then I had spare paint. And then I knocked some paint over. And all that resulted in a couple of interesting monoprints, which you'll see some other time, and this interesting piece called 'Mask' (click on the image to see a larger version, I think it's worth it...but then, I would...). It is A4 sized, and ready to stitch...or not... I can't make up my mind. Does textile art have to have stitch? Discuss.

I was delighted to see that Sandy had a good time at TLGS at the weekend...and that was without cake... I hope everyone who came over the weekend had as good a time as I did! See pictures of TLGS, and one of wee me, here

And now, of course, I'll have to tidy up TLGS for the last weekend of Norfolk Open Studios. There may not be cake this time, as I can't stretch a birthday quite that far, but there are always biscuits...

Featured In Despatches...

in this case, a local website, covering the nearby village of North Elmham and information about Open Studios. Although I don't live in the village, I was fortunate to be considered close enough to count as a 'local' artist. Mike and Meg from the website came to visit yesterday. We had a very pleasant cup of coffee and chat in the conservatory, and Advo managed to sit still long enough to get his portrait taken...he looks glorious! Click on the 'Slide Show' (just below my name)to see him and other images of my work and the Little Green Shed.

I've had a bit of a day off, today, drifting around doing housework, albeit rather grudgingly, and sending correspondence, including my application for ISBN numbers for the books I'm intending to publish. Exquisite Evolon is coming on steadily, while Finding Your Creative Focus is with its editor. And I really must remember to send my Little Gem (pictured above) to the coordinator. Wonder who will win it...? New ones are being added regularly; check out the site!

A Quick Glimpse...

...of my conservatory, all dressed up for Open Studios. Actually, I've moved things around a bit since then, but you get the general idea, I'm sure. There are paintings on the walls, too, more photos to follow over the next few days...and of course, the studio is bedecked, too. Robin's comment was 'No wonder we have no room in the house'.

It's been an interesting time, this. I'm waiting to be interviewed by a village website , who want to feature local Open Studios artists. I don't live in that village, but it is close by, and our doctors' surgery is there, so I go quite often. Given that it's my first ever Open Studio, I'm pleased to have had about fifteen visitors in the first couple of days, most of them textile people. So it's no surprise that some of my cloth has sold, and enquiries have been made about workshops. We had wine and nibbles on Sunday, a very civilised way to spend an afternoon, sipping chilled white and talking about art. This Sunday, though, will have a different feel. Probably more wine, I admit, but also cake, as it's my birthday, and I like an excuse to have a BIG cake!

The painting featured here is untitled, though if anyone has a title suggestion, I'm always willing to listen. It's a very peaceful oil, with lots of texture. See what you think. To my surprise, there are more painted and mixed media pieces than there are textiles, but then I'm not showing things that will feature in Exquisite Evolon, which is most of my current output. So there'll be lots of textiles to see next year, and at Festival of Quilts, too.

Small Is Beautiful...

...both in itself, aesthetically, and to potential buyers, who would like to have something, but don't have the cash to buy a large piece. Which is why I make greetings cards, in this case for Open Studios. They are small, hopefully beautiful, and not expensive, either. The thing that is different about my cards is that each one is unique, not a reproduction in sight. The only prints are artists prints, usually a monoprint or possibly a section of a block print. The difference is that each one has been hand made and signed by my own fair (albeit usually paint covered) hands. The cards in the picture are mixed media paintings. I'm really pleased with the way they have turned out, and want to go and buy some more watercolour paper, so I can make some more! I might even make some larger pieces in this way, too.... I think they have a dreamy feel to them.

Exhibitions...

mean all kinds of work that you really don't think of. Open Studios starts next weekend, so this weekend is a flurry of activity. Robin is framing and mounting pictures and textiles. I'm hanging paintings in the conservatory, putting hanging strings on other paintings, to be hung in the shed, and unearthing the spare easel from beneath sundry layers of Other Things (mostly cloth). This is pretty much the pattern for the week to come... looking for things, putting things away, making more things (like my monoprinted greetings cards), and generally Getting Ready. And that's as well as the regular things that happen, like the workshops at the gallery (transfer dyeing is this week's topic), and working on the Exquisite Evolon book. So if I'm quiet this week, you know what I'm about.

One thing it is doing for me is bringing me to the realisation that I've got quite a large inventory. No wonder I've not got room for anything in the house, not to mention the studio. The image is one of the small paintings that will be hanging in the Little Green Shed.. why not come and see it in person?

Silk And Rust...

are sometimes a marriage made in heaven... I hope you agree. I've been spending time at the gallery recently, sitting in their (very comfortable) sofa, and stitching. It was Judy's birthday yesterday, so the stitching was interspersed with birthday cake, very nice, too. And one customer bought one of my mixed media pieces, so things were going swimmingly as far as I was concerned, anyway.

I thought you might like a look at this particular work in process. It's made from a piece of habotai silk, which has been rust dyed. I'm hand stitching with yarn hand dyed by Myfanwy Hart, which is going very nicely with the overall feel and colours in the piece. I'm varying the length and density of the stitches, and it's giving a wonderful textured feel. I'm pleased...and hope to have it ready in time for Open Studios, which starts on Saturday. The time has just flown past, though, so it's more likely you'll find me still stitching on it next weekend. Please do drop in if you can; whilst I'm only open at weekends, I'm more than happy to make arrangements to see you outwith those days.

Last Chance...

to buy a fab collage from Collage Mania, in aid of the American Cancer Society. I have several pieces on offer here, only one of which has sold so far and there are some wonderful pieces from some great artists still on offer. And I was delighted and surprised to find one of my ACEOs featured on ACEO Showcase today, and in a spotlight feature on ByHand It's always a joy to have the support of other artists, and I'm constantly amazed by and grateful for their generosity.

I'm preparing for a workshop in Dereham tomorrow morning, wondering about what to take with me to do... probably the piece I was working on last time, a piece of rust dyed silk which I'm stitching by hand. Or maybe I could take the Embellisher along, I haven't worked with it for ages, and it would be fun to get some work of that kind done. A couple of the pieces I have in Collage Mania were made with the embellisher...which brings us full circle to the top of the post. Go take a look at those collages...you won't regret it! The image featured here is my favourite of the submissions I made, called 'Being Blue'.

Keyhole Kate

I mentioned at some point that I was going to make dolls as one of the projects for the Evolon book. I spent some time today working on them, and here's a preview of the prototypes. Both are called 'Keyhole Kate', and they are, I think, great fun to look at and quick and easy to make. The small one is a brooch; the larger, a proper 'stuffed' doll, about I love the keyhole shape; it just asks to be reinterpreted as a doll... and here she is, in her beaded best. I've been making all kinds of other bits and pieces for Exquisite Evolon, including an interesting bag, something I rarely do. I'm really looking forward to FOQ; I'm teaching a workshop on working in series, and we'll be using Evolon. The more I use it, the more I like it!

Tomorrow's workshop at the gallery focusses on making little books, using some of the paste papers we made last time. I didn't get photos of the papers, though they are at present in my book press, flattening out, but I will remember my camera tomorrow, and we'll be able to look at the work. Last week's workshop was great fun, lots of laughing, coffee, wine (for those of us not driving) and chocolate... so roll on more fun tomorrow!

Coming Soon...

...my first ever Open Studio. The patio and paths have been powerwashed, the studio tidied up a bit, and now I need to start thinking about which work to include; textiles, of course, some paintings, some cloth for sale, maybe some of my hand made books, and of course, the Lovely Lutradur CD. This year, my birthday coincides with one of the days I'm open, so cake will be the order of the day. Actually, cake, or at least a nice biscuit, will be available most days! Meanwhile, I've got a lot of mounts to cut, and Robin has some frames to make.

If you would like to come and visit my studio during Open Studios, the information can be found here. I'm only open weekends, formally, but will happily have visitors during the week by appointment. And why not make a day of it? You can find more information about the other artists taking part here I know I love going round other artists' studios; you learn such a lot from them, and it's great fun!

Awarded...

...this wee thing. To quote Anne, who did the awarding;

All awards are special and great fun to give. The Renee Award is relatively new and was created by Bella and Ces in honour of their friend Renee, an incredible lady who in the face of a frightening life battle is tackling each new day with great spirit and courage. Please check out the blogs of these three creative women.

Here is what Bella says of the award:"This is a brand new award and I have the pleasure and honor of spreading the seed, watching it grow. I hope it finds its way to those who are like Renee: the acorn, a small package becoming a tall and sturdy oak, giving more acorns, becoming tall and sturdy oaks, giving acorns..."

I thought about the acorns in my life ... and came up with...

Dijanne Cevaal
Sally Bramald
Ferret

...all of whom I find inspirational in different ways. Yes, I know, it was meant to be eight... but I'm tired... that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it !

Happy Days...

e
are here again. Not only is it Spring, it's warm enough to work out of doors, just in time for the first workshop in The Little Green Shed. We were working with Lovely Lutradur, and you can see the feverish activity within and outwith the shed. Judging by the laughter quotient, everyone had great fun. And we worked hard; transfer dyeing, learning about using transparency, even a little side trip into using Angelina fibres. Everyone went away with several pieces of lutradur, all ready to stitch into. I did provide chairs, but nobody actually sat in them, and lunch was terminated rapidly when someone said 'But I want to get back into the shed...' in a plaintive voice. Mind you, the bowl with the chocolate in it did go out into the shed with us... no surprises there! What's a workshop without chocolate, after all! If you're interested in a tailor made workshop for four people, I'll be putting up a post on The Other Blog in the next day or so.

Meanwhile, today was the day I finished 'Finding Your Creative Focus'...hurrah! That is, until my editor is done with it; there will doubtless be a revision or two... but that leaves me free to focus on Exquisite Evolon. Hurrah for that too!

Pasting Up A Storm...

I'm teaching tonight, a taster workshop at The Gallery Dereham I'm planning to take some of the things I use a lot, like Brusho and lutradur and hand made paper, and demonstrate making Artists Trading Cards. Then the participants get to play with all the stuff I've brought...sounds promising. I thought it might be a good idea to have some samples for the workshops I'll be teaching through May, and as the first of those is paste papers, I mixed up a batch of paste. I learned how to do this from Joanne B Kaar, a Scottish artist; her recipe is in her excellent book 'Paper Making And Bookbinding'. I've used it several times with no problems, but this time, when I was in a hurry and needed things to go well, the paste was far too thin. The thought of adding flour was just not very appealing; and then I thought of the small tin of thickening granules in my kitchen cupboard. Made by MacDougalls, this stuff, whatever it is, is intended for thickening soups and stews, but I'm here to say that it works very nicely on paste for paste papers.

Then, I thought, what to use to colour them? Joanne uses direct dyes, but I don't have any of those. So I thought of Brusho, and added that to the paste as it cooled. As you can see from the images, I got some great colours. And I'm very pleased with the results. So roll on the workshops!

Transfer Dyeing

I promised my friend Anne, affectionately known as 'Hopalong' as she recovers from an accident, that I would write a bit about transfer dyeing. Transfer dyes are so called because of the way you use them; they have to be painted onto paper, first, and then transferred using the heat of an iron or press onto the cloth. They were designed specifically for dyeing polyesters; that said, they will transfer faintly onto pure cotton, and more strongly onto a polyester/cotton cloth, depending on the amount of polyester in the blend. If, however, you really want to use these dyes on cotton, then you can buy a medium from ColourCraft that allows you to get the full benefit of the brightness of these dyes on a pure cotton cloth.

Transfer dyes come in three forms; one is a crayon, made by Crayola, which is quite difficult to get in the UK, as it has fallen foul of European legislation. The second is in paint form, which you paint straight on to the paper. The third is in powder form, which you mix with hot water to create the dyes, with a thickener to use if you wish, to make them more manageable. Make sure you get the correct thickener; there is a thickener made specifically for these dyes, and the kinds you use for Procions just don't work (trust me, I'm a quilter...).

You can use transfer dyes for all kinds of fibre art processes, providing you paint the design onto paper first, and iron the dry colour onto the cloth. If you are using lutradur or evolon, there's not much of a problem with heat; however, if you are using other polyester cloths, they may be more sensitive to the heat levels required for transfer dyeing. So, it's a good idea to make sample pieces with a new cloth, and to work in a very well ventilated area, following any safety precautions the manufacturers might suggest. You can usually get three prints per sheet from a design, though the print will be less distinct each time; I've been using Colourcraft's transfer paints recently, however, and find that I can get four good prints from them, occasionally five (provided I don't dilute them, of course).

Don't, incidentally, be fooled by the colours as they look on paper. They are often very dull and unimpressive. Once ironed onto cloth, though, they sing, magnificently, bright, strong, clear colours. I'm a fan! There are, of course, full directions for using transfer dyes in the Lovely Lutradur book ( you knew I was going to say that, right?), which you can find here. Today's images are all transfer dyed pieces...enjoy. And try them out, if you haven't already, they're fun to work with!

Altering Quilts...

is very straightforward with Lutradur, which is part of the reason I love it so much! I've had this quilt lying around my workshop for some time. I was happy with it, but felt something was missing, somehow. So out came the lutradur, and I dyed several pieces to use with it. The piece I show here is the finished version, with the original version below it.

For those of us who love technical detail, the original quilt is made from painted evolon. The lutradur is the lightweight version, which has been transfer dyed, stitching added around the blue motifs, and fused round the edges. I then cut round the painted motifs to expose the strong blue contrast colour underneath. I think it's a much more interesting piece now than it was, and I'd be interested to hear what you think.

I'm not just altering quilts, though. As I update the images in the Lovely Lutradur book (which will be going to the printer this month), I found that I had accidentally deleted the images for the 'altered quilts' section. I've looked everywhere, to see if I had others, but no... so images like these, showing the different options I considered, will be in the printed edition of Lovely Lutradur. The project itself won't change, of course, as the techniques are still the same. And yes, I'm more than a bit embarrassed to have to confess it all, but I won't get caught like that again!

Overspill...

Well, yes, I know. You followed me through the building of the Little Green Shed, and admired its size (20' by 10'). How many of you prophesied that that Would Not Be Enough? How right you were...sigh. Today, the overspill is unveiled, a large box which you can sit on, filled with things that I don't use very often, like the sculpture materials. All with the express aim of giving me a bit of room to breathe in the Little Green Shed.

It's ironic, really. In the upcoming book, 'Finding Your Creative Focus', I write about how it is possible to have too much 'stuff', as in this excerpt, below:

" Why amass so many materials? In part, I think it's a worry that if you don't buy it when you see it, you may never see it again. In some instances, of course, that is true; cloth manufacturers change their ranges on a regular basis, for example. If you need a particular amount of That Cloth for a particular project, it is essential to buy enough of it for your needs. Most of the time, though, you can be pretty sure that you will be able to find a version of what you believe you need, more or less when you need it, in shops and online stores. There is no shortage of supplies in the general market. And then, there is the magpie effect; buying whatever it is because it is pretty/shiny/attractive/unusual/new. And sometimes, art supplies are a form of consolation; you buy because you feel bad, and think that buying some art supplies will cheer you up. And the clolection of materials grows, and you become more confused about what to do with it all.

In addition, we forget that we can, in fact, make art with very little. Some wonderful art has been made using everyday things like pieces of newspaper and glue (also known as papier mache). I make totem dolls with twigs and scraps of fabric, use vegetables and leaves to print with...the list is endless. So it is at least questionable whether you really need the huge stash of materials that you believe you need. In many ways, it is easier to be creative with a minimal stash. Fewer materials limit some of your options, and force you to be more creative in using them."

So, why have I got so much stuff? I asked myself that, in a loud voice! And then I remembered The List. The List is a selection of all the different bespoke workshops I offer in the LGS. It looks like this:

Altered Art
Artists Trading Cards
Basic Batik
Basic Book Binding
Basic Decorative Hand Stitch
Basic Block Printing
Basic Screen Printing
Collage with papers
Collage with textiles
Colouring Papers
Colouring Cloth
Dyeing using Acid Dyes
Dyeing using Procion Dyes
Dyeing using Transfer Dyes
Felt Making
Finding Inspiration
Introduction to Shibori Techniques
Matchbox Shrines
Mixed Media
Monoprinting
Machine Stitching For Line
Machine Stitching For Texture
Paper Making
Printing With Natural Materials
Rust Dyeing
Silk Paper Making

And that isn't all of them! Which is the reason why I have so many materials...or at least, that's my excuse! I do, after all, provide most of the materials for the workshops in the LGS, so I need a wider range of things than those that I currently need at the moment. I have, however, been following my own advice, and going through what I have, taking out the duplicates, getting rid of things that are dried up, broken or out of date, swapping, selling or gifting the excess. I might even sell my Print Gocco...or maybe that's a step too far.

If you are interested in the book, and would like to join the mailing list, please email me; ditto with the workshops. There is more information about the workshops on the artmixteremporium blog; just search on workshops, or coaching.

Collage Mania? Artist Mania, More Like!

Nobody but me spotted the deliberate mistake in my submission to Collage Mania... yes, if you read it carefully, Almost Four is, strictly speaking, not a collage. Oops. What a twit! So I wrote a grovelling note to Karen, who was accepting the donated pieces, and said, well...what do you want to do? She, thankfully, decided to keep the piece (which kept the peace, of course...ouch...). I did, though, offer her another collage, a PROPER collage this time, the one above. Like the other pieces, this is in honor of my lovely friend and fellow quilter, the late Lynn Bunis, and all the fabrics in it came out of her stash. The piece is called 'Like A Little Candle'. I do hope they all sell...

I just got back from our local gallery in Dereham, where I have some mixed media pieces on show; I'm fortunate enough to be one of their featured artists. I've agreed with them that I'll do regular weekly classes on their premises, one during the day, and one in the evenings; watch this space for more information tomorrow! I'm planning to mix and match textile and mixed media techniques, with a bit of painting thrown in. I may even knit... and you know I don't knit...just don't ask me to crochet, as I'm a crochet incompetent!