Textile Tags

Recently I attended a workshop called Textile Tags at Littleheath Barn Studio run by Liske & Claire.  We were encouraged to rummage through their scrap bag to find fabrics to print on.

I chose the pinks and oranges and after printing on them with stamps and thermofax xscreens I tore them up and collaged bits onto a piece of fabric-backed bondaweb.

I did another A4 sheet starting with the blues and neutrals but added some colour when it looked too neutral.

I used my machine both with straight stitch and preprogrammed stitches

Then I machined shapes on the collaged fabric and cut them out.

I didn't like the shape of the one on the right so machined it again as a triangle.

I've still got some of the collaged fabric left.  Not sure whether I will make more tags or do something else with it.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

March

I am combining my One Little Word, the Unplanner from Art to the 5th and the 'I am' statements from His Kingdom Come in one binder.

I have ignored the Unplanner art challenges during March and just kept a record of what I've done.  Where there's gaps on the pages it's because I can't remember what I did or I didn't do anything special.

For the divider page for March I stuck the card that came with the bouquet of flowers for Mother's Day and then stuck some of the cellophane over the top.

Lots of the doodled pages and dividers in this binder can be coloured in but I haven't got round to it yet.

You can see the 'I am' tags that I am making for a bible verse each week.

The last few days of March are on the same page as the beginning of April so I have put that page into this month's pages.

The challenge in One Little Word for March was to create a large collage using bits and pieces cut from magazines.  I toook a photo of it for my binder.

I have tried to exercise every day and although I haven't lost any weight, I have lost inches!  Yeah!

Here's a better photo of my OLW collage.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

February Sketchbook Challenge - what did I learn?

I have blogged weekly about the contents of my sketchbook for the Sketchbook challenge.  You can see the results here: week 1,  week 2,  week 3,  week 4

These are the pages I did on the last two days.

Day 28
A collage of painted papers, a photograph, a picture from a magazine, map paper and book paper.

Day 29
Two small collages with more of a textile feel.

So what have I learned from the 29 days?
1. That it's a good idea to work for a short time every day.   It gets the creative juices going.

2.  That I really enjoyed working with a muted and small colour range.   These are my favourite pages.

3. That I still haven't found my 'voice'.   I may have found the colours to work in but not the work that I want to do.

4. I started the monthly challenge wanting to do something with seedheads but soon found that the leaf stencil dominated.  I also found that I don't really want to work with seedheads.  There's some beautiful work out there from various artists and I was influenced by their work to a certain extent but I need to find my own style and subject.

On Tuesday night I went to a talk by Amanda Hislop and she does some amazing work.  She works with a very limited and muted colour palette on landscapes, seascapes and seedheads - particularly cow parsley.   She showed how she works from her initial idea through her sketchbook to the finished piece.  The sketchbooks were amazing (works of art in themselves) and that led me to my fifth learning point.

5. I've known this a long time but sometimes you need to see it to get it: you have to put effort into it!  Amanda's sketchbooks were full of drawings and experiments.  Sometimes a drawing was only minimally different from the previous drawing.  Her finished pieces were excellent due to the amount of preparation work she had done in her sketchbooks.

So where does that leave me?
I've no idea to be honest but I shall spend time thinking about it and continuing with what I do now until I can really get to grips with the things I've learned.

What have you learned recently about your creative way of working?

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Almost at the end

I have managed to work in my February challenge sketchbook every day so far.  Only today and tomorrow left!   My previous post is here.

Day 21
Copies of a seedhead photo altered to black and white and to greyscale, stuck into my sketchbook and stamped over.

Day 22
A paper I wiped my brayer onto when I was doing gelli printing with extra stencilling and stamped leaves collaged on.

Day 23
Collage on a painted background

Stamping with a stamp I made from a large eraser

Day 24
A string stamp

Stamping on a painted background - all too fussy for me

Day 25
Acrylic paints to make the background. Stencilled on top and drawn into with black and white pens

Day 26
Inspired by the work of Cas Holmes and Jane LaFazio.  Neocolor II crayons on a gesso background.  Stamped and faux stitching

Day 27
Tags cut from painted paper.  Collaged, stencilled and faux stitching

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice