look at it this way

Nostalgia for the days.....



looking at the work this way, you are seeing things how I see them..... more or less... as I am stitching. Then, every so often, I take the work from horizontal and hold it up, usually hold it at arms length against the wall. It is that crucial moment when I know if all those busy, tiny, intricate stitches, are making themselves into someone I want to know.... or think I might like to get to know a bit more.....

This piece makes use of various papers from old books, so to stitch it requires some certain and extra care, as old yellowing paper is lovely I think but also prone to being a little fragile....  I layer up and stitch through and sometimes I remember to breathe....

available here

new mixed media embroidery

book lover



wonder how....

now available here...

mosaic monday

1. Super soft Old School, 2. Untitled, 3. before, 4. shuttered, 5. Kaylacoo Tree, 6. Untitled, 7. wall wisdom -8, 8. ., 9. The Light Within III, 10. She was always projecting, 11. genevieve, 12. withered garden, 13. Fall, 14. Me at work, 15. romanic5, 16. Flying Out of the earth, 17. sep242010, 18. autumn in my mind ~shohei.h, 19. Untitled, 20. Preparing for the upcoming show

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Good morning.... posting early today as I have lots to do on this damp and spidery day.... Many thanks to the artists and photographers featured in this week's mosaic of images, via my Flickr contacts. Several photos feature artists in their studios - I love seeing these. So if you have a photo of yourself in your studio, or a photo you have taken of another artist at work - please post on flickr (let me know the link) as I would love to put together a mosaic dedicated to this, some time in the near future.

This week I am busy working on new stitch and mixed media. You may have noted I have added a few items to my Etsy shop in recent times. More will venturing that way, this week. I will attempt to keep something there to see - so there is a further selection for you and so that people who do not know my work might just stumble upon....

I'm doing little bits of re-design to this blog. So you may have already noted some changes. There are new pages being created. More to be done, so if you see things popping up and disappearing or changing slightly, have no fear, it's just me and the elves tinkering.....

OK it is time to brave the damp morning.... have a good Monday and more soon....

colours on the line

Such a sunny Saturday morning.... perfect for taking photographs outdoors.... these are the fabric cloths I have been dyeing over the past few weeks.... they are all naturally dyed with plants - now in my shop...







I did not tinker with the colours, the sky really was this blue......
If these prove interesting to others, I may offer dyed cloths on a regular basis.... They are very time-consuming to create, as each involved several or many stages. A combination of heat and slower dye techniques used, I employed tie, gathering and folding to add textural effects with contrasting solid areas. Personally I think these cloths have quite a timeless and contemporary feel, and look lovely draped on a table. But you might be tempted to stitch into them and add your own energy to the story.... There are different options to contemplate...

These photos were not taken in my garden, which does not possess such a lovely crab apple tree.... this is an open space between houses just outside so I rigged up a length of string and tied it carefully and quickly.....I was a little self-conscious of being out there photographing when dog-walkers etc... often wander through but it was early and most people perhaps had yet to notice what a beautiful day it is.....

enjoy your weekend

autumn equinox

murky morning light
a spider takes the weight of rain
angelica seeds with spicy scent
wrapped and dyed

it just gets madder....

In recent times, I've been using some rather excellent English madder root..... it is giving lovely deep tones....

I know more and more people are becoming interested in 'natural' or plant dyes. There are different reasons to experiment, including just curiosity and an empty kitchen windowsill for solar dyeing. It is fascinating to try gatherings of wild flowers and leaves and to record results. I am not a member of any particular school of dye. I just follow my own path of working it out and over time seeing how it is.

These days I like to work with mostly historical dyes I know and know will stay for the long journey. These include: madder, walnut, onion skin, alkanet. I will also try different locally grown plants as the season is right for them to be used. But if I am making a piece of stitched artwork, for example, I will use cloth that I feel confident about.

Above you can see a madder bath with gathered cotton fabric soaking. Writing with madder, using paste - possibilities here to explore.... And a madder dyed cloth, showing the different shades that may be obtained. I am particularly grateful to Jenny Dean for her book (the first I read on natural dyes) and her advice on madder dyeing. These days as I like to use as little electric heat and fuss as possible, I mostly always simmer the madder for a short time (3-5 minutes) and leave it to cool. I will use the dye bath once cooled down, either with the root still there, or I will use the strained liquid. So much depends on the madder supply I am using. I simmer the root and decide from there. I will use an alum mordant sometimes, sometimes not. I also dye wool with madder and must try this English root on wool tops..... some time soon....

inky quiet

There's something about drawing with a needle that I like - perhaps I should have trained as a tattoo artist (or perhaps not).... whether it is working with a thread or pressing on the back of paper to make an inky impression.....

new work (more than a few!) here now already

meanwhile, elsewhere, deep and colourful dyes are happening.... more on them soonish....

mosaic monday

1. S/T. Técnica mixta. 2010, 2. nude#3, 3. a bag for Martha Stewart, 4. Untitled, 5. copse, 6. Moth Dress, 7. Pineapple, 8. Maple & Red Onion, 9. Untitled, 10. stormyweather, 11. La robe de blanc, 12. when i come back home, 13. progress is slow, 14. Life in technicolor., 15. de dos

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Many thanks to all the artists featured in this mosaic of recent favourites, please click on links to see images in full etc....

A Happy Monday to you.... it is afternoon already..... where the morning went to is a mystery of time, space and St. John's Wort (that is the dye I have been working with, thanks to my lovely sister for allowing me to take a bagful of clippings from her garden this weekend).

This week I am continuing on with my dye works. I should have new cloth available and in shop this coming weekend. These things take time. I like to be thoughtful about the process and am forever surprised by the results.....

I am adding a few monoprint drawings and prints to my shop tomorrow. I have a variety of smaller little drawings and some of the larger inky landscapes that I made in the summer..... it is time they were offered to the world, I cannot hold on to everything (and I need to sell things of course, this is it......)

Many thank to you for your kind recent comments and feedback always appreciated...

If time/space/family/tube strikes allow, I hope to get to the London art book fair later in the week. That, I hope, will happen.

Enjoy your week x

darker

Cotton and linen pieces... several dyes together to make a darker result, yet each result different of course (such is the nature of....) I think they may want to be stitched down just like this, perhaps.....

finds and escapes

A view of cloth dyed with walnut and onion skins.... As mentioned yesterday, I am currently busy at work creating new abstract dye cloths.....


So I went outside this morning looking for fallen bark and acorns etc... as you do on a bright Friday morning.... I live in a suburban area with a good number of trees around, I suppose it's what you call a leafy suburb, but there is definitely a pattern to the planting, with willow, oak, ash and hawthorn being the most common - oh and crab apple too.... I was going to collect some rather mushy looking crab apples but stopped myself because there will be more for another day.... these things are all for dye pots. The larger cloths that I am working on require nothing less than the most interesting things I can find.... the bark will either get boiled up or burned for ash, not sure yet... at the moment I am going to enjoy looking at them and will allow time for any little creatures to find their way out.... Note: I only pick up fallen bark and never peel it from the trees....

I have also picked lady's mantle that grows in our tiny garden (one of my favourite dyes) and as I was laying out leaves upon a long strip of wet cotton, so a large pale moth came out, from beneath the stack of leaves, so beautifully desperate to escape and I could not get my camera in time to capture the moment, but she soon made an exit and is now somewhere around my desk..... or perhaps she has already eaten her way through, found another portal, another place to flutter.....


and I picked dahlias today.... these have been growing in pots outside our kitchen door..... they are for the dye pot also, once they start to fade just a tiny bit. Dahlias do not dye fabric pink and red. If you boil them you get browns, if you are careful with them you get madder-like shades (orangey). Some books will say dahlia dyes wool best but I like their colour on cotton also.

As I was placing the dahlia flowers in a vase, a whole three earwigs came bustling out.... ooh earwigs are not my favourite small creatures it has to be said, maybe it is the name rather than the attitude.... So it is, when picking things, finding things for the dye pot - best to wait a while and let the little ones find their way out. As a vegetarian I really don't want to be simmering anything alive, even an earwig or two.....

I have several fabrics dyeing right now and am looking forward to sharing their colours...

- have a very good weekend x

new acorns just for you

I am just about to hit the 'live' button with several new items in my shop today..... I have new acorns, several new embroidery artworks....
and this quiet lady.......

Also you may see a 'coming soon' item..... as I am currently working on new plant dyed cotton fabrics and will be offering a selection of abstract dye cloths - they will start to appear in my shop from later next week..... As much as I enjoy making samples of colours, trying many different dyestuffs, I am particularly enjoying this challenge to become yet more painterly, to work with larger fabrics and my favourite dyes, and to make cloths that work as complete pieces, or might become one-piece quilts, for example.... anyhow more on that soonish.....

shop now open

moving figures

This is a work in progress.... I hope to have complete for tomorrow's update..... combining my own naturally dyed cotton and linen fabrics, embroidery using both my basic machine as a drawing tool and my basic hand stitches for holding it together and layering.... When it comes to stitching figures, I am always striving toward a sense of movement, but they don't have to be sprinting, nor dancing even, though they may.... It is an inner movement, a journey toward something yet tangible, and the echoes of the past that move the present figure.... that is something of what I am aiming toward with my various needles and fabrics....

more soon....

mosaic monday - shadows & sky

1. beach sky, 2. She made light also, 3. Sofia Arnold, working on mural into the night, 4. one with the sky, 5. 37 96 robin plemmons shadow, 6. shadow, 7. Untitled, 8. blazing sky last night, 9. I have been working overnight, 10. shadow, 11. shadows on our tent, 12. *

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Good Monday to you - this week a mosaic of shadows & sky... I wanted to try and capture the mood of today, this time of the year as the seasons adjust, rub up against each other, the shadows are changing and with them the light, or should that be the light and shadows play together.... Well, however it may be, and perhaps you are noticing different changes were you are in the world. Thank you to all the photographers and artists featured for sharing their work, via my flickr contacts. Click on links for more info.

This week, another busy one for me. I have new work to complete and will be updating my shop some time, most likely Thursday. I have new orders to send out and will be getting on with those - many thanks.

New poem notes are wanting to be written up, so a post is likely to appear over at nevering soonish.

I want to share more about some of the various pieces I have been making recently and will do that this week too....

Have a very good week.....

the greying child

Three mixed media - these are smaller sketches, each measuring 9x11cm. I am working on a series titled 'The Greying Child'. The completed works will most likely become a concertina artist book. Yes, books are something I want to explore more and more.... (I am hoping to get to the London art book fair in a few weeks, hoping for wider inspiration).

The theme of 'The Greying Child' has been rattling about in my head for a while now.... I sometimes think of myself as a greying child, in as much as I am..... My experience as an adult is often feeling like a small shadow in a big grown up scary world that seems rather out of control, or should that be out of my control.... (Looking out, as I try to do, I see the world itself as a greying child... our planet is young and yet decaying, we build concrete jungles and knock them down, our societies often have a nostalgic view of how things 'used to be' etc....) And yet at the same time the greying child in all of us still wants to dance, doesn't she? And she still laughs when the rain falls on her face and her socks go mushy because she forgot her shoes, maybe??

I've also been working on new paint on canvas, painting another 'white abstract'. I do enjoy painting these. I have one large 'white abstract' on our living room wall and I don't grow tired of looking at it, I find it peaceful, if a little solemn. I find it helpful to make work that is not too much about myself, though is, if that makes sense..... Anyhow, I am working on new abstract work also and will share more soon....

*

Meanwhile, many thanks again to everyone who has visited my newly-updated shop. I've sold over half my copies of zines/chapbooks - thanks! I am sending everything out asap. New work will appear in the shop next week some time.

*

Art of This World - is a new website created by artist Mary Ann Wakeley.... and I am one of the featured artists - very impressed and excited about this site. I will be finding out about new-to-me-artists and thank you Mary Ann for including my work/links.

Enjoy your Sunday.

september sky

Evening skies in September, quite often impressive....... Just a quick post this evening to say thank you - many thanks to everyone who has visited my shop. In particular, I have sold several copies of my zine+chapbook - thanks! All will be sent out asap. Much appreciated.....

shop update today

It is shop update day..... the beginning of autumn season for me, I am just about to 'launch' a new selection of new new new.... I have new stitches, paintings, folk art.... and books....

I am very pleased to be offering both novembermoon zine no. 1, the first in a quarterly series of art zines - and my poetry chapbook 'here and there'. The poetry chapbook features an original monoprint stitched to the front cover - each different. I'm offering these new books in my shop from today. If anyone is interested in purchasing both I am offering them together at a slightly reduced price.

Please note books/zines will be sent out separately to other items. Allow the usual 3-5 days for me to send all packages - I try to send things out asap.

New items will continue to be added to my shop from today. I have more dolls, works on paper and mixed media still to come.....To navigate your way around please click on categories to see more. I have changed the design a little - usually you get to see everything by scrolling down - but now I have twelve featured items and then you need to navigate via categories. Please let me know if this does not work for you! I hope it works out ok.....

many thanks and more soon.....

mosaic monday

1. S/T. Técnica mixta. 2010, 2. autumn dew, 3. Pendants, stoneware pottery ancient look, 4. beach huts, pine trees, 5. operetta, 6. Sad Pin Cushion, 7. Stitch in Public day!, 8. 底, 9. The Poet In The Park, 10. UILSKUIKEN, 11. my inspiration1, 12. h o m e ...., 13. some other day, 14. Always with Me, 15. two men, 16. dyeing with foeniculum vulgare // results

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

A happy September Monday to you..... a bright, breezy morning. I have plenty to be doing today, but always like to try and start my week with a mosaic of recent favourites, via my Flickr contacts. So, many thanks to the artists featured this time, thank you...

Tomorrow I shall begin to add new autumn work to my shop. I will be adding quite a few new items tomorrow and then will be continuing to update with new new new over the coming weeks. I'm excited to be sharing my new zine and I have my poetry book 'here and there' finished and ready too (I was going to wait until Oct but decided to launch at the same time, saving postage for anyone who might want the both). New stitches, paint and more.

OK I am going to grab my mug of herbal tea (cutting down on the coffee these days), and will get on with the day.... I wish you a very good, creative week ahead x

folk portrait

folk portrait - watercolour on paper

many thanks for your comments this week - much appreciated.... I will make this a short & sweet, to wish you a very good weekend.... more soon....

not just any old hat.....

New for autumn...... top hat doll creatures...... indeed I have been busy making these tiny yet long top hats, made for perching (and stitching on to) small heads..... A variation on my 'classic' pointy hat chaps, the top hat gents and lady enjoy a nostalgic point of view. They are made using mostly hand dyed fabrics, natural colours, vintage buttons and many hand stitches.... inspired by my love of 18th and 19th century costume, primitive at heart, these folk art dolls each have their own individual character....

For my shop update next Tuesday.....

I enjoy making dolls to explore my 'silly side', as a way of balancing all the other work I make. A lot of my artwork on paper is populated by female figures, so I decided upon making chaps with hats. I have further ideas I want to explore, in doll form, and the idea of a black rabbit is becoming somehow infuriating, in a good way, but time to make lunch and more soon......