Another grid of grids!

This week I took part in another zoom session of Notice What You Notice.  I talked to Christine about the grid of grids I made last week and she suggested trying it on translucent fabric.  It's really difficult to photograph!

Anyhow! I put an old map on the table, stretched a piece of polyester organza over it, and taped it up with masking tape.

As with the one last week I started with indigo acrylic paint.

Added tape and printed with white acrylic.

Added more tape and printed with Payne's Grey.

I peeled the tape off carefully.

It had occurred to me that the fabric might stick to the map due to the plasticity of the paint.  However it peeled off easily.  However very little of the paint went through to the map.

Here's the painted fabric.

I put the masking tape onto a large sheet of paper and cut it into 7cm strips.  I shall probably make them into a zigzag book.  What else!

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

 

Notice What You Notice updates

I'm astounded to find that I haven't updated you on how the Notice What You Notice course with Christine Chester is going. I discovered I haven't updated you this year!

Since that's several months, I'm only going to share photos with notes rather than a full on report.

I made a zizag book using images I had manipulated on the computer. 

 I covered both sides

We looked at the work  of different artists using photographs in their work.   One of the other students found the work of Diane Meyer.  You know I would be instantly drawn to her Venice work.

Then I had a go with my photos printed on watercolour paper.  I used a preset stitch on my sewing machine

I printed a photo on Lutradur but when I heated it the photo disappeared.  I layered it on top of some painted paper and then onto printed fabric.  I started handstitching it but decided to machine instead.

We looked at the work of Ismini Samanidou and interestingly each one of us on the course chose a different piece of work that attracted and inspired us.  This is a weaving although to me it looks more like inscribed concrete.

During the class session I worked on dark and light and the idea of using heavy and light amounts of stitching.  However rather than actually stitching I played with crosses on the computer.

Next we are looking at artists and particularly textile artists who use metals in their work.  I'd better go and do my research for it.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Online and In-person 2022

If you are a regular reader you will know that I frequently write about how many courses and workshops I've signed up to.  Most of which I don't complete.

So, what am I up to in 2022?

I currently have two online courses that started in 2021.

Notice What you Notice with Christine Chester started in September 2021 and ends in August this year.

There's also Saturday Sketchbooks with Hilary Beattie.  This started in October last year. There are livestreams once a month and pre-recorded videos once a month. Apart from starting to make a book pf patterns and making a few collages I haven't really done much with this yet.

The in person workshop that started last September is Textile Explorations, where I'm making small fabric collages.

You may be wondering by now what I have lined up for 2022.

Not as much as usual really!

At the beginning of 2020 I had a discussion with Leslie Morgan about my continually booking workshops.  I came to the conclusion that I should book less workshops.  And then I had to go cold turkey!  Covid-19 brought about the cancellation of most workshops through 2020 and I made better choices from those that were available in 2021.

So back to the question of what is lined up for this year.

Three days with Christine Chester doing Paper Lamination and four days with Liske Johnson doing Art Cloth: Maps and More.  Both of these are in July at Littleheath Barn Studio.

Plus an online course with Hilary Beattie called Inspired by.  The first class being Inspired by Tulips.  

I was clearing out a cupboard over the weekend and found this tulip stencil I made in 1996!!!!!

Strange the things you hold on to.   Mind you I also found some work from my college finals in 1970.

What creative things are you planning this year?

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Notice What You Notice

This month with Notice What You Notice we talked about research and how to go about it.  I tend not to research in the strictest sense for new work.

I have done researched projects in the past particularly for my City & Guilds Creative Embroidery Certificates and for the Master Practitioner course I did.

Since then I've tended to veer away from this type of research.  I've immersed myself in the photos I've taken related to a theme and then tried to reproduce the feeling rather than the photo.  For example this sketchbook is based on a local canal.

Kate Green, who I know through the Artist Mentoring programme we're both in, recently posted a video about her MA research project: Hidden Potential.  The work looks amazing and I'm so impressed with all the research she has put together.

If you're a Creative, what research do you do?  Do you have a style of working before you start on a piece of work?

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

PS There's an opportunity to enrol on Notice What You Notice starting in January - on zoom or in Christine's Eastbourne studio.

NWYN Concertina Book

As I told you in a previous post, the second session of Notice What You Notice was looking at a photo of an item provided by Christine, rather than an object or photo I owned and therefore knew something about.

It's been quite difficult to photograph the concertina book so I've made this video.  The first half is the front of the book and the second half is the back.

I tried to take photos so you could see through the holes to the pages behind.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Notice What You Notice 2

Previously on Notice What You Notice we looked at an object or photo of our own. (Can you tell I've been binge watching a tv series - actually several series of Project Runway! They always start with Previously on ...)

This month Christine provided us with photos of 3 items to choose from.  I chose this one.

What do you think is in the photo?

I thought it was a plank of wood.

Christine told me she thinks it's some sort of leaf, but now I'm wondering whether it's the bark of a palm tree.  Yes! They have palm trees in Eastbourne!

Anyway!  We were asked to make a concertina book and then to make marks that we had observed in our chosen object.

Here are my pages to date:

I mopped up the pages with paper towels

I'm going to collage bits of the paper towels into the concertina book.

Watch this space!

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Notice what you notice

Notice what you notice with Christine Chester started this week. I wasn't sure how it would work being on zoom with some of the participants whilst some others were in Christine's studio, but it worked really well.  There was a mix of Christine talking, small group interaction, whole group interaction and individual working.  The three hours zipped along.

After making notes on what I had observed in the photo above we had a small group discussion about what the other ladies saw in the photo.  We each had a turn at looking at the images or items the others in the group had chosen.

After this we were challenged to use only paper, scissors and paint to experiment with ideas inspired by our item.  I looked first at the roof tiles and cut a strip of paper and shaped it.  I wet the paper in order to make it curve.

I painted some strips of the paper using the pattern of the roof tiles in the brush strokes.  The paint wasn't quite the colour I meant it to be!  I made cylinders with the painted paper.  We were allowed to use glue!

 

 

I cut another strip of paper and after painting it I tried making a spiral - potentially a 'book form'.

I don't know where this experimentation will take me.

Watch this space!

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice