the great barrier reef

Recently I have been inspired by the Hand & Lock competition brief looking at bio-mimicry. Looking at how things work is a hobby of mine and this took me to a wonderful book by W. Sackville-Kent who took photos of the Great Barrier Reef in 1894. A student of Darwins' bulldog no less, the images speak of study and discovery. This in turn has led me to discover the Australian Impressionists. At the time Australia was building a new nation, these artists sought to establish individuality in relation to location through landscape painting. My drawings and stitches aim to bring together our own understanding of locally global.

the traces we leave behind

Textiles seldom survive over long periods of time and working with such a historical building as Newark Park the evidence of humans is in the bricks and mortar more than the fabrics. My work progresses on the gallery piece for Newark Park exhibition, pulling together ideas on the traces we leave. I’ve gathered lengths, some that were left in the garden for two to three months, these have been stained and partially destroyed but still link to the pieces in the garden and the kitchen. I wanted also to bring into the piece some of the ideas that sprang from the workshop that Carla held in October, where I worked with found objects from the garden at Newark Park and to use some blind stitching techniques I had played with where I found myself stitching around my thumb print.A strong connection to the ephemeral.

Recording my autumnal walks

Steadily stitching marks on this roll of Terracota Mud cloth, varying size and colour of my marks. All my marks representing leaves in the canopy of the trees or the blanket of leaves on the forest floor as I walk. My first piece for our exhibition at Nature in Art. 

Enjoying the meditative rhythm of the needle and thread through the cloth as I stitch, thinking of my favourite time of year surrounded by the comforting colours of Autumn, helping me forget the greyness of January.

Line, Shape & Design at Festival of Quilts

I spend 3 wonderful days attending a masterclass at The Festival of Quilts with Leslie Morgan, and playing with thickened procian dyes using various tools to create line and shape. 

Using various tools including  screens, glassine, & all sorts of mark making tools including a credit card.

The use of a credit card to apply the dye paints worked beautifully on a piece of African strip cloth blanket, creating sweeping marks of colour across the  cloth. Lots more playing with dye paints and strip cloth to follow.