A welcome return to the East

Heavens! - it has been absolutely yonks since I posted on here - and for good reason ... it has been that long too since I finished my last piece for the Orientation exhibition. Some of the group made extra pieces for the Bramble Patch show, but I just didn't find time. But I knew I would make some new works before we moved to Minerva in the summer, and I have finally reached the point on the calendar where it says 'make SiX pieces'. I'm hoping it will actually be a series of six pieces as it happens, but for the moment I am working on the first four. The series will be called 'Many Moons' and has been percolating in my head for a while now. I knew almost from the first mention of the theme that I wanted to do some cranes flying in front of a moon. I made a sample for my C+G course with Design Matters, which featured birds in front of a moon/sun and I do like that imagery:

 

 

Just as an aside - I couldn't resist seeing how this image would transfer to B+W for a possible thermofax screen ... this will definitely be getting made!

 

 

I also considered  moon gazing hares in front of ... yes, a moon ... I have used this image in silhouettes before and have a couple of bronze ones in the garden. But the birds stuck with me .. I have been making swans recently -  also seagulls and osprey. Magpies also attract me as I see them as a lucky symbol for me. So I decided that I would do a series of various birds, with moons on collaged backgrounds.

 

So next up was some quick sketches, using a selection of  books as inspiration sources for imagery and composition from the east:

 

 

 

 

 

Apologies for the awful photos - it was dark when I took them! I hope you can see enough though. I started with a square format in mind, but realised I was struggling to put my moon in an interesting position. It needs to be fairly big and was ending up almost in the middle - not a composition I like. So I changed to a longer format and sketched up four favourites, with the moons happily over to the sides.

 

Background collages came next - using the sketches as guides.

 

This one will be the moon with bamboo to the left ... I shall quilt the background before  appliqueing the bamboo and moon.

 

 

This will be the grasses and moon

 

 

checking colours for grasses and possible moon .. if you look in the top left of the table you can see where I have been paper cutting some possible patterns for moons

 

 

This one will be the willow to the left

 

 

and the willow to the right .. in each I am again checking the fabrics I plan to use for applique, work ok

 

 

Perhaps I should say that the patterned cloth in the background in each is my ironing pad - not part of the work. I am so used to it, I really don't notice it, but it might be confusing!

 

So now I need to machine quilt those backgrounds then I can apply the applique and choose final moon colours and patterns. When that is done - I shall start considering my bird shapes. I'll try to keep you up to date as I work.

 

Hope it is not too dull to see step by steps - I know I love to see how people get from A to B and onwards ... Hilary x

 

 

Onwards...to Wales!

As soon as one exhibition closes our minds turn to the next.  The Minerva Arts Centre is the venue for the final outing of Orientation hosted by The Quilt Association. We're so pleased to be able to show our work in this lovely spacious gallery. Not only will the current work be on display, but to fill all that extra room we'll be making new things too.

We hope that you'll join us for a special Meet The Artists afternoon:

Meet the Artists

Sunday 21st July 2013, 1pm-3pm

Minerva Arts Centre

High Street

Llanidloes

SY18 6BY

Normal admission charges will apply. For more details please visit The Quilt Association website.

If you're not familiar with The Quilt Association and all of the work they do both in the documentation and collection of antique quilts, but also the exhibition of new work then do take a look at their website. I hadn't visited the site for a while and it's all been revamped. There is lots of information about the quilt collection including lovely images. I particularly liked this quilt which I'm sure I've seen on display there at a previous summer show. Along with the images is all the information that they've documented. This quilt is thought to date from around 1880.

If you can't come to the Meet the Artists day then don't worry, the exhibition runs from 8th July - 7th September so there's lots of time to visit. Also on display will be a collection of Canadian Red Cross quilts. Hope to see you there.

The Grand Total

Hi everyone,

Just heard from Anne at The Bramble Patch. She wrote to thank us all for exhibiting there and to let us know that the exhibition raised £1500 for Macmillan cancer care. Isn't that great news!

A big thank you to everyone who visited and helped to contribute to this excellent result.

Now, on to thinking about the next outing for Orientation at Minerva....

Laura
x

just made it!

Edwina and I have been on the road a lot this past week but one thing on the list was to get to the Bramble Patch and have a look at the Orientation exhibition. We made it! and just hours before it was due to come down, whew. I know we've posted some images already but the exhibition looked so lovely I can't resist showing a few more.

Thanks so much to Anne and the gang at the Bramble Patch for all their hospitality!

Catherine

Still time for an outing

There's still time to catch Orientation at The Bramble Patch. On until Saturday, the exhibition includes work from all members of the group. Here are a few photos of how it's looking...

Orientation

Just a quick post to remind you all that SiX and Friends - Orientation is now OPEN! The exhibition runs at The Bramble Patch until 6th April. (Closed Sundays and Easter Monday). You can find all the info here http://www.bramblepatchonline.com/2013/events/easter-exhibitions-start-this-saturday/

Entry is £2 with proceeds going to Macmillan cancer care.

Can't make it to The Bramble Patch? Pop the dates for the next Orientation outing in your diary. The exhibition will be at Minerva Arts Centre, Llanidloes this summer. Find the details over in the side bar.

Hope you enjoy the show!
Laura
x

Teeny tiny things

I might be losing the plot.

I thought I'd do some teeny tiny 1" pen and ink sketches based on an oriental theme, but its not going well!  Unfortunately, the drawing part of the brain is incredibly dusty from insufficient use, and its got all lumpy from being hurled against my skull with violence each time I sneeze. (I'm infested with manky cold germs) This loosens the dust and makes me sneeze again....more lumps.What can I do?

I actually need a much finer pen, and I need to THROW OUT (are you listening, Annabel?) all those pens which aren't water resistant and dissolve when you put paint on them....or in my case, sneeze on them.  Eeeeeeeyewwww.  (nb those wishing to purchase, please form an orderly queue!)

Oh well, back to the drawing board. It's around here somewhere.

Any colour you like as long as it's blue

This week Laura had an indigo vat brewing and I couldn't resist joining in. I found a gorgeous hand made paper that could only be improved with a dip.

 I plan to put half of the sheet back in the vat a second time to get a darker value.

Fortune cookie wrappers seemed ideal candidates to dunk.

And these folded and clamped papers look promising although at the moment they are too wet to open without tearing. Note to self - patience is a virtue! What a pity it's one I don't possess.

I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with them all but something oriental will no doubt emerge in time for the exhibition at Minerva if not sooner. Meanwhile, the vat is still active - there must be something left I can dye. Talk again soon, Linda

1000 Cranes - Step 1

I've just about been finding time to do some quilting. I've promised two new pieces for SiX - Orientation which'll go on display next at The Bramble Patch in Northants, UK towards the end of March. When the theme 'Orientation' was suggested to the group nothing really sprang to mind, but I've learnt by experience that the themes which can appear to be the least inspiring at the outset, often drive the most interesting work in the long term. I suppose it's being forced to research something new that causes this and results in other influences being drawn into the work. I do find it difficult to change tack and much prefer to gently feed in outside inspiration to what I'm working on naturally rather than go off on a tangent and produce something quite separate to my 'proper work'. When you're a person from England who's experience of the Orient doesn't extend much further than the Chinese takeaway, it at first seems quite a stretch to introduce anything oriental into a set of work without it seeming unnatural. Eventually though ideas present themselves either through long hard thinking, or just doing. Looking at the work I'd been making over the last couple of years I noticed that there was one common denominator - hands. I do love drawing and painting hands. It's always challenging to capture the complicated form of hands and convince the viewer that there are bones and joints underneath the flesh and skin.

'1000 Cranes', Laura Kemshall, 2013, £225

I'd begun looking at origami forms and folded a crane, thinking I was going to draw it. Of course then it struck me that the interesting aspect of origami is the process of folding which is of course done by hand. I refolded the crane this time photographing each key stage. It was simple to convert the photos to black and white (I love focussing just on tone), then print them to cotton poplin using our digital textile printer here at Fingerprint.

Of course the print is just the first step. Quilting is my favourite part of the textile process. I've used freehand machine quilting. Usually I'd work on a longarm, but these pieces are relatively small so I've used a regular sewing machine, besides, Linda's been hogging the longarm and with the intermittent nature of my work at the moment I daren't block her progress with one of my quilts lingering on the frame far too long!

The quilting is simple, contour quilting on the hands, linear quilting on the crane to suggest the change of planes that the folds create and then a more decorative, Sashiko inspired background in an 'oriental' red. So this is the first, there's definitely a second underway and quite possibly more to complete the set, but I only have confidence in two being finished and ready to hang for the next exhibition.

Bye for now,
Laura
xxx

Life 6 - Still Life (With Orange)

The Story:  Imagine a warm day in summer; you've done your chores and the house is clean and tidy. You decided to go out and do some shopping and see some friends for a coffee and chat.  You've rushed around and had a fabulous time. You're back at home and are having a quiet 5 minutes.  You're thinking about the things that happened and the laughs you've had; the sun is shining in through the window and you feel warm and contented.  Your eyes begin to droop and you smile gently.


The words on the quilt are a poem by Wendy Cope:

The Orange
At lunchtime I bought a huge orange —
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled and shared it with Robert and Dave —
They got quarters and I had a half.

And that orange, it made me so happy,
As ordinary things often do
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park.
This is peace and contentment. It’s new.

The rest of the day was quite easy.
I did all the jobs on my list
And enjoyed them and had some time over.
I love you. I’m glad I exist.