Designing with Scissors

Recently I attended a 5 day retreat at Committed to Cloth led by Leslie Morgan.  It's a time to spend on your own work with input from Leslie whenever you need it.  She is very good at asking leading questions and helping to move your work in a totally different direction!

My theme for the retreat was taste and I had got the nursery rhyme oranges and lemons stuck in my head.  The starting point on the first day was mark making and so while I was thinking about oranges I printed with various different round objects.  These first two are on large sheets of brown paper.

I also liked using white acrylic paint on black paper.

Designing with Scissors
I started cutting circles out of one of the brown sheets and cutting those into segments.  There were some interesting shapes left over which I tried on top of the printing.  I worked on the black A3 paper in landscape format.

I printed some orange circles.

I tried turning the paper to portrait and added some more segments.

Leslie suggested I used some L shapes to test tightening up the composition.

I cut the sheet of black down to this.

The photos above and below show the design process which took place over two or three days with other design ideas going on at the same time.  It was so great to have a wallboard where I could pin things up and think about the pieces.  Sadly I don't have room at home for one.

In this series I had the piece of A3 black paper and was auditioning a diagonal line.   First I tried with some white ribbon.

Then I tried an orange line.

Then I looked at the composition with the L shapes again.

 

I cut the sheet down and made a triptych.  I auditioned the pieces in different places and different ways up until I was satisfied with the design.

This last version won!

I really enjoyed designing with scissors.  And a craft knife and ruler!   Whether anything I made ever gets to be a textile is open to question.

If you're interested there's a post about this retreat on my personal blog: Newly Creative.

Bernice

What caught our eyes!

The annual Festival of Quilts was hosted at the NEC near Birmingham last weekend.  Dia, Cath & Bernice visited the show separately.

And here's what caught our eyes!

Dia's first choice is 'Global Harming'. She found it to be sad but powerful. It was made by Susan Sami who won the Novice Quilter category. The quilt is inspired by wars and conflict around the world and the increasing number of refugees fleeing the perils of war.

This quilt is by Latvian quilter Aina Muze (1943-2017) and is entitled 'Nocturne'.  It was exhibited in the EQA:Diversity gallery.

'Homage to Kandinsky' by Eleanor Marsden appealed to Dia because of the composition.

And lastly from Dia, 'Fractured', which represented an industrial dockside reflected in the sea.  However Dia saw a broken mirror and reflections within in it.  That is the great thing about art - it is not just about the idea of the artist but the reaction of the viewer.

Sorry there's no attribution.

Bernice left her phone at home but after a short bout of anxiety convinced herself that she could cope.  After all, before the invention of mobile phones we all managed to have a good day out.  Fortunately Dia and Cath managed to take photos of the two pieces that Bernice really liked.

Firstly the 3rd prize winner in the Art Quilts section, 'Metropolis' by Lesley Brankin.  Bernice loved the combination of traditional quilting with the painterly effect of the skyline.

Bernice also loved Susan Hotchkis' quilt 'Alderney'.  Susan had been inspired by the corroding metal embedded in the harbour wall and pier in Alderney.  Bernice's first reaction was that it was an embroidery rather than a quilt.  It is indeed free machined but also incorporates trapunto quilting.

Bernice also enjoyed the galleries set up by Unfold and Art Textiles: Made in Britain.

It could have been predicted that Cath would be drawn to the bright colours in the work of Louise Mabbs on her colourful stand and Alexandra Kingswell in her gallery exhibition, ‘More than the Sum’. The mathematical inspiration behind the work of both artists was also very interesting, giving it an extra dimension.

Cath particularly liked Louise’s fabric origami techniques, which create various tessellations, beautifully enhanced by Louise's signature use of these wonderful colours!

The mathematical inspiration behind Alexandra’s work was also intriguing, as she has based much of it on the Fibonacci sequence of numbers, which occurs widely throughout the natural world and has influenced the work of many artists over time. Cath has always been interested in number patterns and add the vibrant colours into the mix and she was hooked!

L - Hope  Top R - Let the waters teem!  Bottom R - Blue Planet

Cath found the work of Janice Gunner deeply affecting, inspired as it was by the artist's experience of recovering from a critical illness that affected the brain. The 'Pathways' pieces reflect the confused nightmares and hallucinations as well as the healing comfort of family visits. Images were manipulated and printed digitally onto fabric, before machine quilting to produce these beautiful pieces.

  A sudden rush of blood to the head  Her eyes are closed, she's sleeping

I never slept a wink

There is nothing predictable about Cath’s last choice, as it is a complete departure from her favoured ways of working and it surprised her. Although she has enjoyed the demos Bernice has given to the group, Cath has only rarely applied paint to cloth in her work. However, she was completely fascinated by Committed to Cloth’s demonstration of breakdown printing in the Creative Textiles area ...

Breakdown Print - work in progress by Elaine Griffiths

... and also Nancy Crow’s huge mono-prints in her gallery exhibition, ‘Self Portrait: Focus’, which were breathtaking.

Cath has taken the inspiration away with her and is planning to investigate ways to incorporate these printing techniques into her future work - she had a great day.

Bernice and Cath

Unlocking the Mystery of Creative Play

Last week, I had the privilege of spending five days at the Committed to Cloth Studio in Surrey.  Leslie, who was leading the Unlocking the Mystery of Creative Play workshop, was most generous in her time, support and encouragement to us all.   We had individual help as well as group sessions.

We played with black India ink on a variety of white paper and used the photocopier to make enlargements and reductions, which we then cut up and collaged.

We painted with a scruffy brush on a long stick, with India ink again on  a long piece of paper.

When that had dried, we painted on the other side with diluted India ink.

 

I cut mine up and made a large book.  I will be putting details of it on my blog: newlycreative.com

This collage was made from black and white photocopies of the exercises I had done earlier with coloured papers.

I made a small book from some of my collaged papers.

The five days were so beneficial.  I am hoping that it will help inform my work for our next theme.

But first I need to finish my Destinations work for our first exhibition at the NEC in March.

Bernice