Patching & printing

Over the last two weeks I have been exploring new directions with some of the patchwork and embroidery pieces I have been working on. Taking the plunge with ink and roller, I have been working on some new prints, for the forthcoming 'Material Evidence' exhibition at Sunny Bank Mills. I am really excited by the detail reproduction of each fibre and stitch, and also the opportunities for playing with composition. I think this might be just the start of something for me.

Material Evidence opens on Saturday 24th October at Sunny Bank Mills and includes work by Claire Wellesley-Smith, Clare Lane and Lorna Jewitt. I hope you will join us for afternoon tea 2-4pm to celebrate the opening.

Tangled up in blue

The last couple of weeks have been frantic. I have found myself dashing across the country in a whirlwind of blue, traveling, teaching and networking.

I was lucky enough to visit The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair in Manchester last week with my Bradford students. I had a quick chat with the talented Julia Jowett, a natter with Viv of Hen's Teeth, and a catch up with my ex-student Kate Whitehead. Travelling over to Stafford I met up with Jennifer Collier and over to Unit Twelve to teach a cyanotype workshop with 12 lovely ladies. In a tangle of blue I headed east to Grimsby and the Fishing Heritage Centre to teach another workshop for The 62 Group, coinciding with Ebb & Flow.

Tangled and tired, I am having a little rest now, but it was so lovely to see you all.

Working in blue

 I have been a little quiet about this work.

It has been ongoing for a while now... ideas rustling about. But taking a very different direction I wanted to let things develop before sharing. So just a few peeks for now...

The work is complete, I now have to wait to see if they will be exhibited.

Studio play

I have so many things on the go at the moment I worry they will all jumble into one at any moment. So I am conscious of trying to keep them sperate. Inevitably I end up picking up one thing to work on and then dipping into a different project.

Here are images of the eco-print silk bundle from walk 7. It is a rather good print, which seems a shame as I was planning to cut it into ribbons... perhaps I'll leave it a while.

Sun & rain

Although we had the wrong kind of weather today, we still managed to produce some great sunprints. Jane, Anne, Louise and Louisa joined me for Cyanotype Essentials at my studio. I never ceases to fascinate me how a group of people given the same materials will create such different outcomes and I love the way we all work so differently... I suppose that is one of the reasons I teach.

I am having a little break from workshops for a brief period as the workshop planned for Harewood House next week is being postponed until later in the year. I hope to be updating the website soon with some further dates in Saltaire.

Workshops

January is always a busy month for me, with lots of assessment to do at college, but I always try to do something creative if I can find the time. Yesterday I was fortunate to attend a Natural Dye & Screen Printing workshop led by Kirstie Williams at West Yorkshire Print Studio. Throughout the day we used four different natural dyes; madder, weld, logwood and alkanet and experimented with mordants to create different colours and to create pattern. I was fascinated to see the different results that could be achieved, layering mordant and colour and radiant results of the natural dyes on cloth. I loved seeing how one dye looks so different on a variety of fibres and fabric types.

Below you can see a few of my photos from the day... I also realise I have been rather remiss in promoting my own workshops. I have just a couple of places left for my spring workshops, which can be booked online here.

Leaving a mark

Learning my letters

I enrolled this evening for an evening class in Letterpress and Printmaking led by my colleague and all round inspirational chap, Brian Hindmarch, at Bradford College. I am itching to get stuck in and hope to share some images with you.

If you find the images below as edible as me I believe there are some places still available. More info here.

Postcards from Saltaire

These are some of the little postcard prints I have been making ready for Saltaire Arts Trail, which is just a couple of weeks away now. I am hoping to create one hundred prints, but we shall see...

These little cyanotype prints are all made using 'weeds' from around the World Heritage Site of Saltaire village and will create both individual snapshots of place and time, and as a group, a kind of map of Saltaire flora.

Come along and see how many I manage to make during my special open studio event, 25th-27th May.

Patches

Little digital print silk patches, appliqued onto 'Visible Mending'. I feel the contrast of textures works well with these but still think there is work to be done. However time is evaporating fast; decisions and stitches need to speed up.

Printing together

Thanks to Jenny, Steve, Craig, Sharon and Rebecca for their company yesterday. We had a fine afternoon of playing and printing at my Cyanotype Taster workshop and there were some pretty fine prints at the end of it too. You can find more about my workshops here.

Sunprinting

Make hay (or cyanotypes) while the sun shines.

More on Valerie Hammond

If you are interested in Valerie Hammond's work there is a good interview and more images at Design Sponge.

The penny drops!

I am having a good few days, feeling closer to understanding what I am trying to do.

I noticed Abigail Doan's posting about an exhibition called Propagating Eden: Techniques of Nature Printing in Botany and Art. The exhibition looks fabulous, I wish I could go, but Wave Hill gallery have kindly made the exhibition catalogue available online.

Michele Oka Doner

The images are exquisite, including historical and contemporary examples, and I was busy appreciating the wonders of the natural world when I suddenly wondered why Richard Long's 'Mud Hand Prints' were included? They seemed out of place amongst the mainly botanical images.... AND THEN THE PENNY DROPPED... the artist IS nature!

I found two other artists in the catalogue exploring themes of self within nature or self as nature and they also had in common a very primal response to nature. My favourite are the works by Valerie Hammond (below), which have an instant attraction along with a spiritual richness.

This all starts to give me ideas about how nature, self awareness, place and process might all come together. 

Norma Starszakowna

Wonderful to see Norma's work up close at Stroud International Textile Festival. Exquisite textures and surfaces; glowing colour yet so serene.

Norma Starszakowna