C is for Commit

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 chose Commit for my C word.

Commit?  Isn't that my word of the year?  Why, yes it is.  And I haven't done anything with the word so I thought this letter was the right time to start.

But first, I started with the February calendar.  At the end of the month I will put a photo on either side of the flap to show a couple of things I've done during the month.

I had read Valerie's Washi Tape Adventure blog post and tried out  putting strips of washi over the highly patterned page.  I wrote various scriptures in the gaps.

More washi tape with arrows!  Then I wrote a definition of commit, some synonyms and a different translation of Psalm 37:5

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

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Creative Play

I have just got back from a 5 day retreat at Committed to Cloth called Unlocking the Mystery of Creative Play.  I went last year to the same course - only to find that it was totally different this year.  Partly due to the make up of the group and partly to do with my thought and design processes having moved on in 12 months.

My starting point was the theme of 'taste' for a new series of work on Senses.  I had in my head the idea of oranges and lemons and the nursery rhyme to go with it.   However as you will see from the photos it developed into a more abstract form.

I started with mark making - first trying a rubbing with a commercial stencil.

I moved on to making marks with various circular objects.

And then tried words with various tools.  I love drippage.

I cut some of the pieces up very small to make mini collages.

I played with the bits left over after I'd cut circles out.  I loved the circular mark at the bottom of this page which reminded me of the spray from peeling an orange.  I had this made into thermofax screens with 3 different sizes of the image.

I joined four A3 sheets of black card together and glued all the bits down - the circles and the bits from round the circles.

I took numerous photos of sections of the above using grey 'L' shapes.  I've just put one photo here to represent the 12 I took.

I used my new thermofax screens over the top of the large sheet.

Then I took the sheets apart and worked on the individual A3 sheets.

I looked at segments.

I played again with the 'L' shapes

The next 4 photos show the sequence of auditioning and the final cut.

Here are some of the other pieces I made.   Each of them went through the auditioning process and the cutting process before being pinned to the wall.

And then more mark making

And my final gallery displaying my 5 days of work.

In the last hour I was there I took the original sheets of mark making and tore them up and glued each of 2 pieces of paper together to make a book.  I'll do another blog post on that soon.


I don't know whether any of these ideas will make into a textile piece.  I don't think it matters really - I just had a happy creative time and that's what matters.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Cas Holmes: From the Land

Last week I spent two days at Littleheath Barn doing a workshop with Cas Holmes.  I was a good girl this time and did exactly what Cas asked - well as near as I could make it.  I sort of did landscape rather than the time I did Venice at a workshop on hedgerows!

I love well-organised workshops and this was a really good example of one.  Cas started with a demo and some talking.  Except it wasn't a monologue - it was a series of questions we had to answer to develop our thinking and our observational skills.  Throughout the day there were more sessions like that.

We started with mark making on white fabric and paper.

Cas had given us a photocopy each and I ripped mine up and placed it over the top of a strip of bought fabric which in turn lay on top of my fabric (above).

I used Koh-i-nor dyes and some acrylic paint.

I removed the paper strips

And then the bought fabric.

I started to look at making layers with the newly painted fabrics and with odd bits I had taken with me.

Cas suggested make 2-3 samples tearing up the papers and fabrics we had.

The last activity on day 1 was to paste all the pieces together, shown here on my third sample

When the pieces were wet with paste they all appeared very dark and very green and went home a trifle disappointed.

However in the morning when they were dry they were much lighter - but still very green.  Cas talked to us about manipulating the surface removing parts rather than adding more.  I removed one small bit but didn't like what I had done and eventually added a bit to cover it up!

Cas suggested that people might like to put the piece they liked best to one side and practise on one of the other pieces.  And, well you know me!  I ignored that and put my three pieces together.

Cas challenged me to bring some of the back to the front and I folded over one of the pieces to make a raised section.

The raised section folds out.

Then I was very brave.  I got my sewing machine out and did free machine embroidery.

Cas gave each of us a personal challenge and mine was to raise a seam.  It's not really clear on this photo but I promise you it is there.

In the afternoon we hand stitched.  At first we were only allowed to use variations of straight stitch and then we could add no more than 2 other stitches.  I used herringbone stitch and a few french knots.

I brought it home with the intention of sticking this piece into a sketchbook.  But Cas shared her photo of it on Facebook and I have received several positive comments about it so maybe I'll do some more to it and find a way to display it.

At the end of the day Cas asked each of us the one thing we would take away from our 2 days.

My reply:  if you don't like work being green then don't start with green paint!

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice