Sunday instead of Saturday

Even though my shoulder has been very painful, or perhaps because if it, I have managed to get a lot of work done on 'Coast', it being easier to sit at the sewing machine than paint.

I am going, with Rachel, to a mentoring weekend with Hilary Bower this coming weekend, and that has also concentrated my efforts, as otherwise there would be no point in actually going if I am not working on my chosen subject.

I have been working with stitched paper.  A few weeks ago I made a lot monoprints on large sheets of heavy cartridge, which I then worked into with charcoal, pastel and acrylic medium.  I have been experimenting with these, and other papers and fabrics.  I have also included some of my coastal photographs in some work.

three pieces stitched onto canvas

three pieces, various papers, overlapping, stitched to cotton fabric

book signature, mark making outside, stitched collage  inside

more book signatures

book signature showing inside, and possible binding material

book signature showing stitched patchwork inside

another book signature

I had intended to stitch these signatures together, into a book form.  On reflection, I realise that  I want both the outside and inside to show.  I am now thinking of other methods, perhaps simply hanging over a line, or stitched to a narrow tape or cord, dependant upon whether I want them to hang horizontal or vertical.  I could join them together and make an accordion book, but this doesn't feel right.

a double page from my 'Coast' workbook

I have realised this week how important the horizon is in my 'Coast' work.  I have always put stress on the 'edge' where land meets sea, and that is all important, but the horizon is not only infinite and far away, but also the 'above and below' of the two worlds.

I am looking forward to working on these pieces more this week.  I want to explore line, both the ridged horizon line and the wavering line of the tide.

Trying to get organised

The posts on this blog have been very infrequent and haphazard.  This is mostly due to the pressure of working a painting a day plus the Jane Davies workshop that produced around 150 pieces of work over the six weeks it ran.  I wish there was something similar for textiles as she is such a positive influence.  If you would like to see some of that work, visit my other blog, lynneporterartmatters.blogspot.co.uk

I have booked a further two workshops with her this year, and I also have several art and textile workshops coming up this year, in the real world rather than online.

I need to blog here at least once a week, and Saturday seems as good a day as any, so hopefully this will be a regular slot.  In order to have something to blog about, I am also marking Friday down as a textile day.  I will also do some mid-week, perhaps Wednesday afternoon.  I have also decided to concentrate on 'Coast', and look at landscape next year.

I have been fitting in tiny slots here and there, and managed to do some work on the embellisher machine last week, and am in the process of forming the pieces into vessels.  The pictures below are of the first bowl, made a couple of weeks ago.  The bowls have a lovely translucency which I couldn't capture in the photographs. I have three more bowls to finish, hopefully by next week.

Felt bowl

felt bowl side view

I have also been experimenting with book forms, and the photograph below shows a small sample.  The binding method is over cords, and it was then dipped into Quink ink and then watercolour.

Book Form 1

More experimenting with book forms.  I made the strip about a month ago, and have now started to add photographs of the beach near my home, which I have altered in Photoshop, printed then stitched and finally dipped into wax.

I have yet to decide how to display this book form.  I like the scroll format, and may make a rod on which it can be wound.

Book Form 2

Hopefully I will have more work to show next Saturday.

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.

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.