Saturday 23 June 2012

Back to full flow

I have been back to creative flow this week - that is when I haven't been putting things away -  dishes and cutlery, pots and pans, the ironing, gardening tools, sewing stuff, groceries, bills, jars of spices and herbs, empty jam jars, pencils, pens and paint brushes, books, and so on and so on and so on. How come I get all this STUFF out in the first place? There are only two of us in this house and I wonder how we manage to fill every surface.  I never did cultivate good domestic habits despite my mother's best efforts, but I do try to put things away when I have finished with them, however they still seem to pile up on me.  Still, after a good tidying session I can feel vindicated in getting a lot more stuff out.
Firstly it was all the sewing threads and beads.  I have added to my splattered pieces from my last post with French knots, seed stitch and beads. These are for my C&G course.




I am pleased with this carnation piece and feel it could make a panel on a cushion cover, if I had the right colour fabric to go with it.

I thought you might like to see my work using the photograph I took of the planter also in my last post.

First I did a bit of colour analysis.

I printed up some black and white versions and worked on some pencil studies - the right hand piece is a slice of elm that used to be a rustic coffee table, but is now slowly rotting in the garden.

I took advantage of the one sunny afternoon we've had to do some pen drawings of foliage. By copying the drawings I have been experimenting with some compositions.


I drew the planter by first tracing the photograph and then using the tracing to print out a line drawing for adding colour to.


I'm thinking of how I can translate this into a textile piece.  Trying to do the whole thing is a bit too ambitious for my skill level so I'm thinking of selecting an area to concentrate on - watch this space.
Just going to put away the pencils, pens, paints, scissors, glue, camera and sketchbook before I get out the sewing machine for some fabric piecing practice.
Hope you are enjoying your weekend,
Jill