#makearteveryday

In September a chance conversation with a friend brought up the subject of sketchbooks.  Now, I love sketchbooks - I have bought many in the past but there was no guarantee that I would every use them!

When I have been taking various courses, I have always worked hard on my sketchbooks and even now I love looking back at them, igniting memories of past creations.    But left to my own devices, I am a lightweight and after a few pages, the sketchbook is put to one side and possibly never opened again.

I began to think about the reasons for this and concluded that it was definitely being faced with this large expanse of white paper waiting to be filled.  Now I know there are loads of ways of quickly covering a page to get rid of the bareness but you still have what looks like a very large space to be filled.   The solution I quickly realised was a smaller sketchbook so I went out and bought one A6 in size thinking that I can always go up to A5 if I found this too restricting.

So on 25 September I began and achieved an entry for everyday until yesterday, 31 October.  I have decided to have a break as it does take up time everyday and I have found other projects have suffered and as Christmas approaches I have other creations to get started on.

Here are the pages so far with a bit more detail of their composition.

L to R: Gelli printed with stamps; gelli printed with added pen; pen sketch with watercolour; collage of gelli printed deli paper; pen sketch with watercolour; map with collaged letters; gelli print with pen zentangles; dictionary page with hand writing; gelli print with printed page and machine stitching; gelli print with leaves and collaged letters; paint drips with added drawn lines; paint sponged background with poem.

L to R: Gelli printed paper with added gel pen lines; gelli printed background with collaged letters; collage of gelli printed paper; pen sketch with pencil; pen drawings with added paint; collage of magazine paper and collage letters; zentangles in pen; printed background with wax rubbing and pen lines; collage of gelli printed paper; gelli printed paper; washi tape collage; colour pen zentangles;

L to R:  Gelli printed paper with collage letters on tag; gelli printed paper; collage of letters and paper on printed background; pen drawing with watercolour; waterstained paper and fabric with stitching; pen drawing on enhanced photo; collage of found items; collage of found items; beach found paper and ribbon with stitching.

L to R:  Pen lines and shapes with wax rubbing and soluble crayons; collage of inked paper with white gel lines; map with paper cut arrows; wax rubbing with pen lines; ink zentangle with water colour; painted  and printed background with coloured pencil detail.

I have learnt so much while doing this and feel I have become more confident and more importantly, far more relaxed while working in a sketchbook.   During this process I bought Shelley Rhodes's Sketchbook Explorations and having read the book cover to cover, I was so inspired that I feel this book is the main reason for freeing me up.   There are several of the later pages that were directly inspired by this book.

Although I will be taking a break for a while, if I find myself with nothing to do I will  definitely return to my little book.  And looking to the future, I am already feeling inspired enough from some of the pages to start a bigger sketchbook which will no doubt be seaside themed as that is where I find most of my inspiration.

Gel Printing update

I've already reported just how much I enjoyed the #31daysof gelprinting that I took part in on Instagram but now I want to let you know what I've done with all the prints.

First, I decided to make a book for the majority of the print so that I would have a record of them for the future.  I debated whether to make a book myself but in the ended I took the easy option and bought a scrapbook to add them to.  I got a kraft paper book with a spiral spine so there was plenty of room for expanding.

Each day has it's own page with two or three prints together with a record of what I used to create the prints.

Cover

 

Crayon Resist

Circles

Hearts

Tissue Paper

Feathers

Letters

Leaves

Primary Colours

Then, with some of the paper left, I covered some small notebooks which I may use myself or give as gifts.

Saturday Workshop

Back in June when the sun was shining and the air was warm (yes it did happen once or twice!) I was very lucky to spend a day at a workshop run by Cas Holmes.   It was arranged by Context, the Contemporary Quilt group I belong to and what a great day it was too.

It was titled "PAPER, TEXT AND IMAGE – DEVELOPING IDEAS FOR TEXTILES" and we had to take with us a variety of papers, fabrics and paint.   I must admit I hate putting things together for workshops, particularly when I don't have much of an idea about what the end result is going to be.  I either end up with too much or too little!   Being a creature of habit I stuck to my rusty colours and also took some rusty nails just in case!

We started by printing on to some of the papers and fabric using what ever came to hand including leaves and other items found in and around the Hall.  My nails came in handing as I used them as a printing 'block'. Then came the task of building up layers of fabric and paper held together with paste.

Cas was a wonderful tutor and although we were left to get on with our own materials and ideas, she was constantly going round the room commenting and advising as she went.   

I ended up with three pieces which I have used in differing ways.

The first one I stitched in to (having waiting at least a week doing nothing, as advised by Cas).  Also added some rusty nails!

The finished work mounted on cream board ready to frame.

The second piece I intend using as the design for a quilted hanging.  I want to dye some fabric to use but I also want to incorporate paper and found items.

The final piece I cut up as it was a bit 'busy'.  The pieces are now in one of my sketchbooks and who knows they may to used one day.

At the end of the workshop we had a show and tell/discussion which was made all the more worthwhile by Cas's thoughtful and though provoking comments.

A truly great day!

Taking advantage of a "Snow Day"

Well the snow has once again forced me to be housebound so I've had a chance to get some things finished and to get them posted.

My second completed piece for my exhibition is made from 'left over' pieces of the rusted fabric used for the panel I've previously posted. This panel of pieces was quilted and then stretched over a board before mounting it on some naturally dyed fabric I've had in my stash for some years. This in turn was stretched over a canvas board.

The copper 'buttons' are the ones I bought from Dale Rollerson at the Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally.

This next piece is squares and shapes cut from fabric I've used for a much larger piece (well large for me!) which is still 'work in progress' while I decide how I will quilt it.

The squares and pieces were stitched onto a double layered dyed background and backing and then washed to give it a frayed appearance. I have to admit I saw this idea done, probably much better, by Dinah Travis at the Hever Quilt show this year and as I had some work in my sketchbook that lended itself to this method I thought I'd give it a try.

Incidentally, this is the page from my sketchbook that inspired the quilt.

Rust!

My obsession with rust continues! I seem to see rust everywhere I go, so much so that I really must get down to creating some art work with rust as the starting point.


At Pagham Harbour there is part of what must have been an attempt to secure the harbour wall and it has rusted beautifully, so much so that holes are appearing. Every time I see it the texture of the surface cries out for something to be done so I have started a sketchbook to collect together my ideas.



To give you an idea, here are some of the photos I've taken: