Further work in my workbook

My last update showed the art work I had been doing in relation to the poem 'The Road Less Travelled' and the music 'Summertime'.

I moved on to looking at the possibility of making fragments.   I saw instructions for a folding book on Facebook and thought it would be great for displaying samples.   I tried making it in card with squares of the gelli prints I had made for this project but not stuck in my workbook.

I made it again with collages made from the gelli prints. 

 And the page in my workbook

I moved on to dyeing fabrics.

And then started experimenting with different techniques.   I had been to a workshop with Clare Bullock to learn Nuno Felting.

The instructions with this course include:

• Try at least 5 materials you’ve never used before
• Try at least 5 techniques which you either haven’t used before or are now pushing to a different level

Nuno felting was quite new to me.  I had done a workshop with Lynda Monk but decided I would try some of the ideas in her book Beautiful Bonded Surfaces.  I tried out Tyvek with wool tops, scrim, bubblewrap and came up with varying results.

I also tried working with an Embellisher (squares on the right) but really didn't enjoy it.

I also tried a couple of machining techniques.   First I tried a water soluble fabric sandwich with Aquabond on the bottom, a layer of wool tops and a thinner layer of water soluble fabric on top.  I machined one with a grid and the other with free machining.

The other technique involved layers of sheers machined onto a felt backing.

I moved on to displaying the samples.  I took a photo f the samples and printed the photo out.  As I tried different stitches on the sample I scribbled what I had done.

I put in my submission to my tutor.  Each sample was photographed and annotated.

Stitched samples

I also had to submit a design brief for my final piece.  I had decided that I would make a larger version of the fold up book using Lutradur rather than card for the base structure.

I received the feedback from the tutor.  She suggested that I made an odd number of squares.

I had tried dyeing the Lutradur with the same dyes that I had dyed the fabrics but it just didn't work so in the end I painted it with acrylic paint.

Having decided I would make the piece larger I tried out various versions of the squares and triangles.

And eventually decided on this arrangement.

I am now working on the final piece and I will show it to you in a future post.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Red

Our theme for our photography group in February was Red.  Sadly I didn't give the topic as much time as I would have liked.  However I did take some photos.

Spotted at Evenley Wood Gardens

A painting seen in a pub which was advertising a Paint Party.    And I love red wine!

Some of the tulips Roger gave me for Valentine's Day.

And in close-up.

Our next theme is street art.  I haven't seen any yet - but that's probably because I haven't been out of the house to see any.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

D is for ???

In our Living Your Word of the Year group we are using a fortnightly (bi-weekly) A-Z challenge throughout the year to help us focus on our word and live it out.

Because of the way I have made my journal it's a case of going with the flow of what background the pages have when I turn to them.

I could not decide what D word to use for these pages.  Why was a decision so hard to make?   In fact I did the E pages before the D pages which is just as well as it turned out.

Psalm 37 has come up several times so I am now assuming it is my verse or verses of the year.  So I looked at it again and found that verse 4 says: 'Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart'.

So there we have it: D is for delight.

As I said, I did the E pages first and needed to extend the pages.  I found a Teresa Collins folder in my scrapbooking stash and stuck it down on the D page so that it folded out for the E pages.  That's the cream bit with black pattern.

I searched on Biblegateway for delight and also looked for quotes online.  I thought the e.e.cummings quote sat well with the design on the page.

I printed out the other verses I found, cut them up and stuck them on the page.  I don't really doodle but I thought I could always come back to this page and doodle round the verses with a black pen.

Here are my pages together.

And now for a sneak peek at E.  Valerie has suggested we do vision boards for E.  So I hvae chosen the word Envision for E.   Valerie has made some suggestions to get you started on her Dig Deeper blog post.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group: Living Your Word of the Year

Join Mary Brack, Valerie Sjodin and I in our Facebook group where we are giving participants the opportunity to live out an A-Z of their own word throughout 2019.  Mary explains what we are doing in her blog post.  We don't like a lot of rules, so we will have suggestions and options to spark creativity, and to help in recording and exploring our word’s meaning in visual and fun ways. We will each blog about our experiences and our art.

 Living Your Word of the Year 2019

Hashtags on Instagram:  #livingyourword2019

Check out the other blogs:
Mary: www.foundonbrighton.com
Valerie: www.valeriesjodin.com/blog

To ensure you get updates from Valerie, Mary & I why not subscribe to our blogs.

Mark Making and Photos

Over the years I have taken many photographs of texture, intending them to be inspiration for my art or textile pieces.  Some of the photos never see the light of day again!  Do you have photos like that?

Whilst I was at Committed to Cloth I saw a book called Mark-making in Textile Art by Helen Parrot.  Never one to pass up an opportunity to buy another book, I duly ordered it from Amazon and it was waiting for me when I got home.

I have tended to see marks as something done with pens or brushes or maybe stitch.  I have never equated my photos of texture with marks.  So whilst we were at Evenley Wood Gardens I deliberately looked for marks.

With these first two photographs I can really see the relationship between nature and mark making.

The next few photos display shape and line.

And lastly two photos of a wooden bench that really looks like stone.  So many of the marks could be interpreted as stitch.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Snowdrops

We decided to go to Evenley Wood Gardens to see the snowdrops.  We were sure we hadn't been there before.  Until we arrived at the village of Evenley and had the whole déjà vu experience.

Yes, we had been there in 2017.  And looking back at the photos from then, I discovered that I took many of the same photos - standing in the same spot!

The major difference was that my 2017 photos had raindrops.

So, onto the 2019 visit.

In 2017 we went to the Great Western Arms near Aynho for lunch.  This time we drove into Buckingham and had a walkabout and lunch at The Woolpack.

Another great day out.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice