More practice needed!

I always feel a bit of a fraud when I describe myself as an artist because I'm never happy with my drawings or paintings - they never turn out quite how I imagine them in my head.  However one thing that my time at Bradford College taught me was the importance of visual research as a means of "getting into" a subject.

So many times I have started a project with one idea but by the time I have done my obligatory sketching and photos I'm off at a tangent.  Perhaps its the time that you allow yourself to truly think about your subject whilst drawing or painting that deepens your understanding and opens up new avenues.  Whatever thought processes are going on, I now embrace my rudimentary drawings and delight in seeing where they take me.

Just for the record, this is a pen and ink sketch of a bowl of peacan nuts and clementine leaves left over from Christmas.  They were sat in a hand carved wooden bowl brought back from a friend's holiday in Goa.  I liked the idea of gifts from afar which seems fitting for the season of Epiphany.

2/50

50:50 Project

Its an old adage but I'm turning over a new leaf this year.  My goal is not only to blog on a weekly basis but I've also set myself the challenge of doing a new piece of art every week.

I have often admired artists who undertake such marathons and the discipline of doing something different and in a relatively quick period of time is quite engaging.

Last year, I was lucky to visit Farfield Mill and catch the 62 Group@50 exhibition where Hannah Streefker's work caught my eye.  She had mended the holes and imperfections in leaves with delicate and loving stitches and then mounted her specimens in individual frames covering an entire wall.  The effect was breathtaking! 

In my own homage to her work I collected some leaves from my garden:  holly and ivy for the season and sweet bay leaves for their aroma.  It wasn't difficult to find some that needed my care because the incessant wind has been ravaging my garden for months.  But stitching these delicate green clothes proved much more difficult than I imagined.  As the leaves dried, the stitches became loose and coarse. I don't think I enhanced Nature's own work but it was interesting to work with new materials.

Sold out?

Its a bit of a guilty secret but I have taken time out from my artistic practice to jump on the whole cutesy owl band wagon.  I will plead mitigating circumstances and it was for a very good cause!

A few weeks ago, my friend Chrissie and I were asked to help at a Christmas Fayre to raise money for our local Sue Ryder hospice where we both volunteer.  Some generous soul gave us heaps of  fabric.  Now like most crafts people we are suckers for bits of fabric and embellishments so we set about making up little craft packs of lovely fabric, buttons, ribbons and bits.  As we were making them, we thought it we might sell a few more if we had some projects for people to make with the packs.  So I found myself, at 10 o'clock the night before the Fayre, still writing instructions for how to make my little friend.

Have I sold out to popular culture?  Maybe, but we did sell a lot of fabric and quite a few patterns!

P.S.  Let me know if you would like a pattern!


Photo and design:  Claire Ketteman

Hidden Lives

Just in time!  I have finished my work for the Gawthorpe Lace Inspired 2012 campaign.

I made a pair of ladies cuffs: machine embroidered net decorated with hand-made paper couronnes.  Hand cuffs to bind Victorian women, financially to their husbands, intellectually to the expectations of society and physically by a well-defined sense of duty.  With limited means of expression, I imagined a Victorian woman stitching I dream of escape and set me free, unobtrusively working the words into the decoration.  The key motif is reminiscent of a chaterlaine worn by a house-keeper (the only suitable job for a woman).  The paper couronnes are fashioned from old books, alluding to the power of the written word to change the status quo.

Photos and design: copyright Claire Ketteman

Mixing it up!

Do art and science mix?  Why not - they always have done in my mind!

I'm doing just that at the moment as I juggle my new job, researching business opportunities in the chemical industry, whilst I making a very late start on a piece for "Inspired 2013", a competition run by Gawthorpe Hall.

The scientist in me is analysing different types of dissolvable fabric for machine embroidered lace (the current favourite is Romeo from Barnyarns) but my art head is thinking about what kind of statement I want to make and how to connect with my audience.

Why not come back in a couple of weeks and see what I have made!

Miniature Works of Art

I've always been fascinated by miniature things; tiny dolls and tea-sets as a child, tempting bite-size food as an adult!  Local literary heroines, the Bronte sisters also had their own miniature world and they wrote about their adventures in tiny books.  It is fitting that when asked to produce an artist trading card for a forthcoming Embroiderer's Guild meeting, that my thoughts returned to a previous work, Two Views of Withens.  

Working on a canvas 9x6 cm, I selected some scraps and samples of cotton organdie and silk viscose georgette that I had dyed and printed.  The pale, washed out blues and rust colours that I used reminded me of the moorland weather.  I copied the final verse of Sylvia Plath's poem (of the same name) onto calico and then laid down the other fabrics with an undulating running stitch.

My artist trading card will have my name and contact details on the back and will be swapped with other artists at the next Guild meeting.  Sharing our interests, showcasing our talents, loving our art!

copyright photo and design:  Claire Ketteman

Playtime

Last week I spent a fabulous day playing with large quantities of shaving foam, acrylic paints and silk dyes.  I was learning the technique of marbling and I was not alone!  My playtime partners are a group of highly intelligent and very well qualified women who have all left the rat race in pursuit of a more fulfilling life.  We meet once a month to share our skills and talents, to experiment and most importantly to have fun.

The fruits of our play might be incorporated into a new project or may just linger in our work baskets waiting for further inspiration.  Whatever happens, a day of playfulness is quite liberating and never wasted!

photo: copyright Claire Ketteman