mosaic monday

1. swallows nest, 2. boy, 3. studio IV, 4. Bird Mask Made From Recycled Cereal Box and Tyvek Mailer, 5. 2010 6 26, 6. Untitled, 7. Untitled, 8. lesley, 9. mapping energy, 10. filling the void 3, 11. Madame Perles et Pluie, 12. a not a and, 13. In prog 2, 14. Francesco Balsamo - sostare come un rocchetto (2009), 15. Icarus

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

A new mosaic monday for you..... many thanks to all the artists featured here for sharing their work via my flickr contacts....

It is a bank holiday here and half-term school break. Today's weather report: cloudy with a hint of smoky grey, very breezy and not sure if I will put the washing out or wait a little while....

I'm as always busy with various projects. One thing I want to do this week is, a little each day, work some more on the big piece 'poetica'. I may be over halfway now but I don't want to rush at all. It will come together in its own time and I will not know just exactly how, or how indeed the final piece will look.... it's a huge jigsaw mystery to my eyes.....

Yesterday evening I posted, over at nevering, the final poem notes for my sequence 'here and there'. As you may know, I spent the month of May writing daily and posting almost daily. There were a few days when for one thing or another I did not get to post but mostly I did. I've now got myself a bundle of poems to consider.... Some I like and others I may work on a little more.... What might happen now? There may be a small book happening, I might make some illustrated postcards to go alongside, I may think of this and that.....

Things happening in June ---- Following on from the new words and poems - June is the month of poetry for my stitch work. I decided that a while ago, a few months ago infact. And I'll stick with the idea so long as it works out for me and my handwriting.... So expect to see a few hearts and other delights - very much inspired by the 'here and there' poems, I suspect.....

And also in June, around the midsummer, St. John's, (ah yes time to harvest St. John's Wort for natural dye! more on that too).... there will be a special Midsummer's event.... a special three day Midsummer madness, selling some of my past work at special prices.... Now I've told you so you know already. What's what and how silly the prices are (very silly) you will just have to see.....

Also, I will not forget this week the ruff necklace how-to - but until then I must move away from the computer and get on with other things..... have a very good, creative week ahead.

sketch sunday

Working outside the sketchbook...... I have a few new painted sketches (see my etsy shop)... I think this is my favourite one but no... it changes.....


Enjoying the pen drawing - here is another: 'seeing is believing', or 'masks'.... can you find the bird?

Later this evening I will post the final two poems for my 'here and there' poem sequence over at nevering.... It's been an intense period of writing notes and sharing ideas - I think it's been a success in as much as I've found the discipline to write most days and am happy with some, if not all.... I did not expect to write complete and polished poems - that is not what nevering is about - anyhow, if you would like to read I'll be posting later over there....

enjoy the rest of your Sunday and thanks for your kind comments x

pen dreaming

A rainy Saturday here.... and I've spent some time continuing with pen drawings..... these are concentrated, time-eating, detailed obsessions....... I like to build a story without knowing too much myself at the start, I like to be surprised of course......

Here we have (top) 'mend the small dreams and the big dreams will look after themselves'.... featuring my dreamers with their doll figures and other personages..... And then a larger drawing 'high hopes' or 'forever and ever'..... the pair might just be a wedding couple, perhaps, and if you look you may see he is standing on a little wheeled step because he is slightly shorter than her.... my starting point for this drawing was the neck ruff (can't get away from that obsession right now!) - in an earlier drawing I had included a little ruff-conjoined pair and this gave me the idea for this portrait......

Worked in pen, on smooth cream paper. These will be both be in my etsy shop in just a little while - at a special price. I'm also going to be adding a surprise stitched piece - not previewed anywhere - so you're welcome to see it in the etsy shop once it's there!

Enjoy your weekend...

new work for shop today

Here are three new heart & brooches sets...... with their buttons hanging down, these hearts make sweet ornaments by themselves, but with a brooch - a little special I hope...... in my shop later today....


A simple enough smaller brooch.... she is light and ruffled, and her thread from the mouth suggests perhaps she is reading aloud...... also in my shop later....




And here I am wearing the brooch (you can see her just about) and a little pleated ruff necklace that I've made - this one is for me to wear - but next week I'll write here some simple instructions so you can hand sew one yourself, if you like......

So yes, shop update later on this evening (UK) and I'll also be adding a few new things to my etsy shop over the weekend.... busy busy.... I hope you will enjoy taking a look....

have a good weekend x

painting & the wallace postcards

A painting of a dreamer girl..... It's not often that I paint these days and even rarer is it that I paint on canvas (as I have said before, perhaps, I don't think of paint as my medium).... however, from time to time I do like to challenge myself. For this canvas I gave myself the challenge to paint in just black and white, using a pencil drawing on a coat of white paint as my starting point. I like her. She seems happy in her black frock on white.... as if walking into a dream.....

Yesterday I took a day off from the sewing and drawing, and went into central London to visit the Wallace Collection I do like to visit. It is a treasure trove of a grand house. I like the grand rooms with many paintings, fine antiquities, miniatures, carvings, seventeenth century watches that just amaze.... I bought a few postcards and they are now on my screen (above), along with a few of my own drawings/ monoprints. I like to keep a changing display of inspiration.....

Tomorrow I will share with you new stitch work ready for my shop update.... hope your week is going well x

work in progress - poetica

It is Monday evening already, how did that happen?? I am so used to writing something here in the morning but I'm writing now instead..... it has been a very hot day, completely clear blue skies, and some of the plants in my garden literally cooked (poor mint).

I thought I would share here a few quick photos I have taken today of my larger work in progress - 'poetica'..... I seem to have passed the halfway stage now and there really is no going back, of course, no way of unstitching!

I'm enjoying the process and find it is better to work on it a little at a time. The further I get into this one the more time I have to give to looking. How important is just looking? Very I would say, especially when working on such a large piece and puzzling out how the whole will come together to make a singing composition. Just as listening aloud is important in poetry writing, so holding up and seeing is important in stitch work..... Attention to detail is everything, of course, but it's seeing the bigger picture and all that too......

This week I'll continue to work on 'poetica' and smaller pieces alongside. I hope to update my shop Friday and perhaps also have something new for Etsy over the weekend. Meanwhile I have a few lovely pieces in my shop to see right now, do take a look if you have a moment...... I think I may be making a few new hearts & brooches, for those who liked them.....

Thanks always for your kind comments. Now I'm going to wish you a very good week ahead and get to bed after a busy day. More soon x

sketchbook sunday

Good evening, it's been such a warm weekend here, magnificent blue skies and heat.... from chilly to heatwave in a matter of days...... So we've spent quite a few hours outside. I've been gardening and sketching...... Here's a page spread from my small moleskine sketchbook....


I've also recently rediscovered the pen as a drawing tool.... yes, I know, radical...... I used to do a lot of sketching with ballpoint pens..... who has not doodled with a biro?? But it's not something I've done recently. My drawing in recent times has been very much about pencil smudge and feint texture....
So drawing with a pen is quite a change, but in some ways feels nearer to stitching.... in as much as you cannot erase and the line is everything..... But with a ballpoint pen I can get the tone and shading that I can't achieve with stitch - all that fine cross-hatching for example..... So it's another way of saying things. Another tool to work with. I enjoyed these drawings. They are quite small, smaller than a postcard..... I am happiest with this one just above....

Hope you enjoyed your weekend. Thanks always for your comments.

young magpie & new

There is a tree just down the hill from our house..... on the corner of the street, and its had a nest in it these past few years.... I've seen that nest alter with the seasons, change shape, but to be honest have not paid much attention to it recently....

Then, as I was walking along to meet my son at school, I saw this young magpie standing on the corner.... No sense of fear, poor chap is completely disorientated. And in this warm weather I am not sure how long he'll survive.... I hope a parent comes to find him. Well, as you can tell, as soon as we got back from school I went out again and took a photograph and took a small tub of water with me. Not sure if the bird will want to drink or if he can. Really not sure what to do?? I will check on him later, but I fear......

Meanwhile, I have been busy stitching and drawing today. I'm going to update my etsy shop with a few things later on this evening.... This is a small portrait drawing in pencil that I completed a few weeks ago and she'll be in the shop later.

Enjoy your weekend x

hearts & brooches

There are many ways to display a brooch..... wear it on your favourite jacket or dress, for example..... I sometimes frame a favourite piece - an embroidered brooch can look really eye-catching in a box frame. Or, as I sometimes do, you can pin a brooch to something else, a doll, or a heart ornament for example....

So I decided to design 'sets', if you like, hearts that go with brooches and smaller brooches that go with hearts.... There's the option to display these together or apart... And of course I've included the distinctive loose threads and vintage buttons that I like to add to my work....


I like the combination here of the orange surrounding stitches with the flesh tone of the plant dyed cotton heart..... And you can see the other side of the mother of pearl button, which is just as interesting, I think, as the pearly side. I like to experiment with different tones and textures....

These two will be in my shop a little later on today, along with the Queen Bee piece I posted about earlier this week.

I'm still working away at my big-huge piece 'poetica'. I am now laughing at myself for any delusions I may have had about finishing it soon! It will take a while longer. It will take as long as it needs to take. My goodness there are some intricate thousands and thousands of stitches coming together. I held it up for my daughter to look at and she swooned as if completely overwhelmed by all these little faces peering out at her.... I'm thinking of perhaps taking some really good photographs and making some postcard prints of details and the completed work... but I'm racing ahead of myself again. Got to finish it first.... patience, patience....

hope your week is going well x

ruffs & queen bee

A new embroidery artwork - Queen Bee.... following on with my ruff obsession and an Elizabethan feel, in my 'moonlit' style of intricate stitches.... not an exact portrait of Her Majesty Elizabeth I, you understand, no, I think perhaps this figure is more a dressed up dreamer, an imposter if you like.... a storybook queen of nowhere.... that is how I feel like sometimes, queen of nowhere, somehow rootless, owning no roof of my own..... but I'd wear a paper crown if you gave me one....:)


or queen of the daisies.... so many of them in our back lawn, despite the chilly May we are having, it seems the daisies are enjoying a healthy spring and, er, I haven't cut the grass in a few weeks.... I'll get to it but will leave a big circle patch of daisies to carry on dancing.....


And a new mixed media brooch in my 'Romantics' style with loose threads and that pared down primitive feel..... 'my own passions'..... you may see this figure also wears a ruff.... I was reading up on Elizabethan costume. The ruff was an uncomfortable accessory to wear but nearly everyone, rich and poor, wore a ruff around their neck. Various sizes - and colours. We think of ruffs as white or ivory, but this was not always so and people often wore pastel shades. Except, it seems Queen Elizabeth ordered pale blue ruffs to be banned - not sure why - whether she was successful I am not sure. She was a fashion dictator in many ways. She also banned the use of an automated stocking knitting machine to preserve the jobs of hand knitters..... Just a bit of fashion history for you.....

Both of these will be in shop updates later this week - my own shop Thursday, and Etsy on Friday.... I'll show you more tomorrow, I hope..... x

mosaic monday

1. Ikarus, 2. Untitled, 3. Detail, 4. noi per le medesime vertigini siamo, 5. sit in my bathroom, 6. Trees and sky, 7. Trying to forget, 8. Where rust meets madder, 9. tinyshadows, 10. I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars. Walt Whitman, 11. versierpoging, 12. S/T. Técnica mixta. 2010, 13. Don't leave me..., 14. ., 15. two figures, 16. hanging flower pot with six horns, 17. 嬉, 18. Sin Título, 19. Level Playing Field, 20. Anamorphic Abstraction

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

A happy sunny Monday to you! It's been a few weeks but I'm pleased to post a new mosaic of favourites once again..... Or should that be, once again I have oohed and swooned over the many beautiful, intriguing and inspiring images found over at Flickr, via my friends there..... Thank you to the artists featured above. A truly international selection, all kinds of media.....

Sorry for no sketchbook Sunday yesterday, but I really had to catch up with things around the house - and take it easy by Sunday afternoon..... (Ok so I fell asleep but the world carried on without me....)

I have new poem notes to type up for nevering.... as my 'here and there' project continues on....

New stitches, many many stitches this week... I want to continue on with my large piece 'poetica' - and well, perhaps, possibly, finish it by the end of this week?? Not sure and will not rush....

I would like to update both my own and etsy shops this week. I'll keep you posted. Various new designs in mind and coming together....

So that's plenty to be doing.... I will get on with my day now and wish you a very good week ahead x

charms and dreamers

charms and dreamers - an embroidery cuff..... a piece of 'wearable art', if you like, or a piece to hang on the wall and display..... It's been a while since I have made any textile cuffs....

Just recently, you may have noted, I have got my intense stitching mojo back... I admit I had needed a break from it over the winter and so worked with other mixed media ideas too.... but now the sewing machine and I are revved up and in the flow.....




Here's a very much larger, up-close detail

And the complete thing.... It combines machine embroidery stitch work with natural dyed cotton and linen fabrics.... There is a secret little pocket on the reverse side.

Very much inspired by medieval and slightly later artwork..... The pink and orange shades you get from madder dye (used of course way back then) really inspired the entire piece....

In my etsy shop later today, along with a few other items.....

forget me nots

Sweet forget-me-nots have finally started to appear around here.... springing up in the gravel and stones of driveways, paths, wasteland.... varied but always pretty in their simplicity....

And I've been very busy, stitching many stitches as always, and I've today completed a larger 'moonlit' piece - a new tall house of individual tiny faces and memories....

(This piece will be in my Etsy shop tomorrow.... along with a few other items. So you can get a closer look at it tomorrow!)

Now I have poem notes to type up for nevering.

Beloved

Beloved - mixed media artist book.... this one is 8cm or so tall.......

I shall tell you the girl in the centre there has lived in my special collection of drawings for a little while - I've looked and wondered how she might work in different projects..... but then the idea came to give her a little more detail with the embroidered ruffle with applique.......

It sometimes works this way - I make a small drawing or stitched piece and then it sits, waits a while....

But there's no waiting now - this artist book, with another and a new moonlit brooch will be in my shop later today....

somehow

Somehow - a rather tiny paged artist book - pages just 5-6cm tall..... that tiny figure in a white gown (is she a bride, perhaps you think?) is indeed tiny and I've played with the size of pages a little here.... as always with my mixed media books, I'm combining many of the things I enjoy - embroidery, monoprint drawing and mixing paper with fabric.....

And 'somehow' seems to be the word of the moment (somehow a deal may be reached, somehow agreement will happen.... or somehow the weather may get warmer, it's so chilly for May!)

To answer a few questions left in comments recently...

Tina asked what music I listen to when I work... This varies, but I tend to listen to instrumental and classical music when I am stitching. For my 'poetica' piece I am sticking with the same music each time I add a little to the bigger picture.... and the music I'm listening to for 'poetica' is 'Gothic Art for England' - chamber and chapel music. The CD was produced as part of an amazing V&A exhibition back in 2003.

bwilliams asked about the foot that I use for free motion embroidery - I do have a clear foot for my sewing machine. I would think you can get a clear foot for most machines. Being able to see what is happening right by and near the needle is vital when working in free motion stitch. I really hope your students enjoy their experimenting with machine embroidery.

work in progress - poetica

Good Evening! yes my usual Monday greeting is definitely something to do with morning, the weather and the day ahead...... but somehow or other the day has gone by already.... So good evening it is...... here's an in progress shot of my larger work 'poetica'. You can see here my wonky finger and just how tiny some of those stitched faces really are.....

This week I'll continue to work on 'poetica'... I'd say I am almost a quarter of the way through.... No rushing though.... I want this piece to be just so....

I'll be updating my own shop this week - on Wednesday.

Also, there will be, I hope, a few new items to add to my Etsy shop on Friday.....

Meanwhile, I have some poetry notes to type up for today's nevering post - so I'll wish you a good week ahead and as always - more soon....

sketchbook sunday

A two-page 'spread' in my smaller moleskine.... continuing with an historical, Stately feel perhaps..... I'm enjoying all the playing with pattern and use of that yellow pencil....

Always busy, so I am working a little at a time on my larger 'Poetica' piece - and of course posting a new poem each day for my 'here and there' sequence, over at nevering.

Very pleased to say that I was invited to write a short piece about my work for the delightful Copy + Paste blog. You can read it here! Thank you Julie for your invitation.

And thanks also to everyone else who has given me a mention in recent times. I'm really grateful to you, thank you.

Lots more coming next week. Shop updates and I'll show you more of my in-progress work. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

house of dreaming

House of dreaming...... I felt like gathering together many fine faces to make a home, a sanctuary perhaps, a place of memory, ancestors and dreaming..... I like simple house shapes and I hope you enjoy this intricate piece. Now in my Etsy shop, along with a small selection of other items. As mentioned yesterday, I shall indeed be adding a few new items over at Etsy, every so often, to offer you a further selection of my work.

I've poetry notes to type up and a heap of washing up that needs attention - not sure in which order they will be tackled! I hope to unwind a bit this evening after a busy week and much politic drama here (still ongoing, but so interesting!)

I wish you a very good weekend x

new moonlit & news

Two new 'moonlit' pieces. The one above on the book page is really quite tiny, just 4 x 4.5cm in size but quite detailed with many dancing stitches...... Her pointy hat makes me smile.... These pieces all have a blend of gothic/ Elizabethan / Victoriana about them, if that is possible..... well perhaps I have proved it is?!

This is my news: After quite an extended break, I've decided to dust off the counters in my Etsy shop and will be listing a few new items tomorrow. New things will appear in there every so ofen. I've regularly been asked when will you offer artwork for sale over at Etsy and I do understand the desire to see work there. So I am listening:)

My bigcartel shop will remain my 'main' shop and will offer a wide selection of current work. My Etsy shop will offer a few new items to give extra choice. I'll see how this works out over the next several weeks.

So tomorrow, Friday May 7th, there'll be a small selection of artwork in my Etsy shop.

Meanwhile, I am continuing to work a little more at a time on my larger piece 'Poetica'. Thanks for all your encouraging comments both here and over at flickr. I am enjoying the process and want this to be a special work, not just because it's the biggest yet.

Also I'm writing poem notes and posting daily over at nevering. I'll be posting today's later on..... x

work in progress

A peek at my workspace, I don't think I have ever shared a photograph of my sewing machine before, except perhaps a flash of presser foot..... here you can see the large piece I am working on and just how far I have to go before this one is completed. I have given it the working title 'Poetica' - that may change, as titles often do.

Claire asked a really good question yesterday, thanks Claire - I was just wondering for a work of this size do you sketch it out first, go with the flow or a combination of both? Answer is: I am improvising this one, as I do with nearly all my stitched pieces. I have a general idea that there will be a 'spine' of focus detail. I am working from the centre out, as that is the best way to stitch for me, both to get a flow in the overall composition and so that I don't have any lumps and bumps in the cloth. I do sketch little ideas on paper and will refer to previous work. So, I'll think about incorporating different stitch patterns, like checkerboard, spidery stitchwork, a variety of faces and how to put them together.

As you can see here, my sewing machine is pretty basic. I am often asked if I have a 'fancy computer machine' and you can see here I really don't. I'm working on a little table with my machine and a few essentials on hand. One essential is my ipod. I like to listen to music to help focus my concentration.

I hope to share more photos of the actual work as the stitches come to life.....

you're seeing things much bigger

A Happy May Monday to you! it is a bank holiday here, and it's rainy, blustery and cold out. But oh well....

I'm working on two 'big' projects during May. One is stitch and one is poetry. The stitch you can see a little of in the photo above. What you are seeing is a detail, enlarged. I am stitching a large, intricate, many many many faceted embroidery artwork. It is in my 'moonlit' style, so there are many tiny faces and patterns, attention to detail. It is growing slowly from the centre-ish outward. The final piece will measure perhaps 50cm in length. I'm considering this will be a piece to work on each day, for several weeks, and expect it to take most of the month (working on smaller projects along side).

I'll hope to share more work in progress shots as the stitching grows.

Also, through May I'm working on a sequence of poems with the working title 'here and there' (I think that will change, but will see). You can read more about the poetry and read my daily posts over at nevering.

I'll not be updating my shop this week - but will be updating next. I'm aiming to offer something new most weeks from now until the August summer holidays.

Well, I am not sure I will get into the garden to do much today, but will be spending some time stitching and visiting family. I hope you have a good start to the week. More soon x

sketchbook sunday

Two pages from my small moleskine..... a continuation of the Elizabethan-inspired portraits with a hint of colour and pattern.....



yesterday the first of May! I made a series of tiny paintings, quick little sketches, delighting in yellow, black and green.... naive little figures in worlds of their own..... So, throughout May, every so often, I am going to make more of these tiny ones. If you see one you like, I am offering them for trade/sale £5 (five for the fifth month - plus postage) each.

Now that it is May the weather has turned chilly! oh dear.... the garden has had plenty of rain. I am hoping to get outside tomorrow and take some photographs of my auricula collection and other things..... I hope you enjoy your May weekend x