Haven't managed to do much work since my last post.  I started an online workshop, Extreme Composition by Jane Davies, and it is really stretching me, mentally and physically.  I'm also trying to do 'A painting a day', to post on my other blog 'Art Matters', so at the moment, sadly there isn't much time left for textiles.

I  did get an afternoon working on the embellisher.  I still think it has lots of possibilities.  Broke another needle though, so I need to learn to keep my foot down whilst moving my hands VERY slowly.

I have since experimented with one felted piece,  a sort of semi-felting around a mold.  It's very soft and unstable, and needs more work, either felting or adding another medium to the equation.   I like the idea of it being like translucent porcelain, either very smooth on the inside and felt-like outside, or the reverse.

I recently found a blog,
http://yearsrisingmaryoliver.blogspot.co.uk/ by Lorakim Joyner.  A poem from Mary Oliver every day.  I like many of Mary Oliver's poems.  The following poem struck a chord, as did Lorakim's words

I go down to the shore in the morning

and depending on the hour the waves

are rolling in or moving out,

and I say, oh, I am miserable,

what shall-

What should I do?  

And the sea says

in its lovely voice:

Excuse me, I have work to do.

-Mary Oliver

"I think God knows no particulars of this and that work.  That is a box we humans create, and into which we attempt to stuff as much activity as possible. What's the use of damning the river, caging the bird, or boxing ourselves into this or that?  

We are here to be beautiful useless." - Lorakim Joyner

I would like to be able to make things which are 'beautiful useless'.  Made only to fill someone with joy for a short span of time.

I wonder, sometimes, what it would be like to be filled with confidence, like a strong, rushing river, to know where you are going, not adrift, floating like an empty seashell, at the will of the tide.  

Of course, neither the river, nor the seashell, nor the tide care about such things.

Landscape monoprints

I enjoyed working with the Coast theme and monoprints so much that I did some on the Landscape theme a few days after.

I used acrylic and retarder for these, its not as spontaneous as using oil paint.  I had to add a little water and more retarder half way through.

Landscape monoprint 1

 I had in mind a photograph of a barn in Wensleydale,  but didn't have any source material in front of me.

Landscape monoprint 6

Turned the format to portrait, much looser.

Landscape monoprint 10

I like the flow of this one, and can see it in stitch.  Will do some on fabric next.

Experimenting with monoprints

I'm trying to find the essence of the subject,  and making several monoprints help to loosen me up, the mark making becomes less about realism and more about form.

I use either oil paint or acrylic with retarder.  Oil paint gives a better result but does mean that I need to leave them for at least 24 hours before I can work on them again.

I roll out the paint onto a glass plate then place my paper on top and draw with a pencil or my finger on the back of the paper, making sure that I don't rest my hand on it.  I have an image in my mind, but I don't work with either photographs or drawings.

first print in the coast series

For the coast series I had in mind a painting I did some time ago of boats in Bridlington Harbour.

coast series, print 5

About half way through there is less detail.  I like the way that the marks from previous prints show on later ones.

Coast series, print 11

Less and less detail, I have added the net, inspired by the previous print marks.

Coast series, print 12

When the oil paint was dry, I added some collage and gesso.  It's still not quite what I want, but I'll do some more monoprints onto fabric next time.

A New Year, but following the same themes

I have been exploring the themes of 'Coast' and 'Landscape' for several years (probably at least ten).  I still find both of them an endless source of inspiration. I live within 100 yards of the North Sea, and am surrounded by the diverse and beautiful countryside of Yorkshire. 

I took a Fine Art Diploma a few years ago, and found myself doing more painting than textiles because of it.  This means that over the last couple of years I haven’t done so much on the textile side. I now want to redress the balance.  I hope I can run the painting and the textiles alongside each other, particularly as the textile pieces I have made in the last couple of years include painting and collage.

I find it difficult to know what to call the work I do, as it can be made of anything which seems appropriate, and may not contain any fibre at all, but for want of a better title, they are textiles. 

I also make Artist books; enjoy printmaking, photography and basic digital art, and these are part of the exploration.

Time and place are important in my work.  I see history as a series of transparent layers, although some layers may be blurred; accidentally or intentionally, obscuring what lies in the past.  

It’s essential for me to have a sense of place. Although this expression is rather hackneyed, I mean it literally.  To stand on a beach; to be still, to take in with one’s sense all that is happening around you, that is what is important.  To smell the sea, hear the sound of the seagulls, to feel the touch of the wind and taste the salt.  Most important of all is that inner feeling you can only get by being there, connecting with the place.

That is a challenge.  I hope to post at least once a week, chronicling my progress.