Inspired by music

If you have read the previous two posts you will know that I am working on a project inspire by a poem and a piece of music.  It was so difficult to settle on one piece of music but in the end I chose 'Summertime' by George Gershwin from the opera Porgy & Bess.   I decide to make marks whilst listening to the music.

I used several colours of yellow paint and different sized brushes on a big piece of lining paper.

 

I put a section of the painting to music paper in my sketchbook.  I added a photo of one of my gelli prints and the words of Summertime.

I also put a piece of fabric with the words printed on with a Thermofax screen.

I put two of the gel plate print photos on a page and used the screen again.

And collaged photos of gel prints and the painting.

I moved on to painting papers but forgot to take photos until I had cut it up and collaged it with washi tape lines.

I liked this large collage but decided I would have a go at some small collages.  First of all I did some gelli plate prints with these colours:

These are 9cms square.

I rather like the purple and magenta with the yellow and orange.

I need to decide now what piece of work I am going to make from all this inspiration.

Watch this space!

Thanks for joining me today.

Bernice

Leaf Printing

In my previous post I described how I started working in my sketchbook inspired by the poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.

Having realised I couldn't work only in oranges and yellows I experimented with which colours would work with yellow.   I used a Gel Press mini to print each colour.  I cut the leaves out of some painted paper.

I did a second page of hexagons using ideas from a Birgit Koopsen video.

Next I tried some leaf printing with the gel plate, but still experimenting with brighter colours.  I have some absolutely gorgeous prints which I have also scanned into my computer.

Then I went back to using stencils.

As yet I have no idea where this is taking me in terms of a textile piece but I'll keep you informed!

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

The Road Not Taken

I am doing a Master Practitioner course with the School of Stitched Textiles.   The tutor suggested I might challenge myself to work with brighter colours than I usually use.  The first module uses a poem and a piece of music of my choice as the inspiration.

For the poem I have chosen The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.

The poem speaks of a yellow wood and my research led me to the fact that this might be birch trees or alder trees.  I was surprised at this as I have visited one of Frost's homes in New England.  Plus the poem was written for Frost's friend Edward Thomas who is English.

However, a piece on the BBC Countryfile programme solved the riddle.  Robert Frost and his family lived in the Cotswolds in England with Edward Thomas and his family living just across the fields.  They obviously walked in English woods.

I decided to concentrate on birch leaves - a decision helped by the fact that we have a silver birch tree at the bottom of our garden with a large sycamore behind it.

I started with some mark making on a large piece of paper.  I was aiming for the two paths diverging in the woods which the marks do represent but also look like branches and twigs.

I had a go at monoprinting with tree stencils designed by Valerie Sjodin.  Taking up the challenge to work in brighter colours I started with yellow and oranges.

Before I tore these up I scanned them into my computer and printed out smaller versions of the prints.   I collaged them into my sketchbook.

Then I moved on to using leaves.  I'll show you those in my next post.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice