Tuesday 19 March 2024

Chaos to Calm

While I was struggling to complete the river piece I had announced to anyone who would listen, that I was going to give textiles a rest.  I was going to go back to art journaling and mixed media.

So much for that!

As I was finishing the river piece I got the inspiration for 4 new pieces.  I actually had pictures in my mind of what they would look like.  They are all very different but all represent freedom in some form.

Chaos to Calm

I have drawn them in a workbook to get them out of my head and only working on one piece at the moment.

I was also inspired by a lamp made by Donna the winner of the Great British Pottery Throwdown, called The Ascent, which represented her journey out of depression.

I have painted procion dye onto calico.  It was supposed to be really dark  at one end getting lighter using a dark black, a lighter black, a medium charcoal and a lighter charcoal.  However it didn't really work out but never mind.  There was supposed to bee a lighter grey where the black 'bled' into the cream!

Plus when I washed the dye out 24 hours later, I managed to get some staining on the part that was supposed to be undyed.  However it will work out okay as move on with the piece.

I decided to make the piece slightly smaller so ripped off some of the black on the left and a strip from the top.

I had dyed other fabrics to use with this piece plus some pieces dyed with rust coloured procion dye to make chains for two of the other pieces.

I have torn up some of the fabric to make fragments which I have currently just placed onto the background.  Each of them will be handstitched before being stitched onto the piece.

I am going to wrap the cords with the different torn black fabrics before couching them onto the piece.

My tasks for this week include wrapping the cords, making some thinner cords on the sewing machine and attaching the background to some wadding and a backing so that they will take the weight of the cords.

Not much then!!

I'll let you know my progress in a later blog post.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice


Saturday 16 March 2024

Catching Up!

Having not blogged regularly over the last few months I have some catching up to do.

Our photography theme for December/January was Glimmer Moments.  You can read more about what these are here.

The instructions for the photography group were: A glimmer moment is something that brings joy or a sense of safety. This isn’t about taking the perfect picture. It’s about snapping an image that probably only means something to you. It might be an image that represents a moment rather than the moment itself. After all we should be living in the moment. An example might be the dirty plates after a family meal.

I only took two photos during the 4 weeks - one at each end of the time - both of which were about meals out with the same friends.

Ceiling lamp at the restaurant

Painting on the restaurant wall


The next theme was to choose between 5 and 10 of our best or favourite photos from 2023. 






 

I hope you have enjoyed my photographs.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Tuesday 12 March 2024

Poetry thoughts

My lack of creativity wasn't total during January & February.  I did manage to attend some online poetry workshops.  The good thing about zoom is you can turn the camera off so the other participants don't know whether you're even there.  And certainly one of the sessions I was particularly vacant, even though I was actually in the room with computer!


For this first poem we were asked to make a list of words that go together.  For example, pencil and paper, cats & dogs, up & down, etc.

Where?
Let’s stay here. Here
where comfort lies.
Here, where my concerns
are contained and specified.
Here, where I feel safe. 

Let’s go there. There
where adventure waits.
There, where worries fade
amidst the new found space.
There, where I feel free. 

The second poem we were asked to write was about travelling solo.

Frustration
What if I packed a bag
and ran away from home?
What if I leave no note or
explanation; no forwarding address
or plan of destination?
What if I turn off my phone
to enjoy the silence of a solo
retreat? Retreat to times past
when communication was simple.
What if I set out one sunny day
choosing a road to travel to
who knows where; then turning
East or West after half an hour?
What if? What if I don’t?

This third poem is an ode to make something unimportant become significant. 

Taking Out The Bins
Monday’s chore. To empty
inside bins into
a plastic sack and place it
in the grey bin. Outside
whatever the weather, ready
for Tuesday’s collection.
A simple task held lightly
by him, but seen as a love
language to her. 

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice