Natural Selection

I have been teaching basic screen printing skills this week. Nothing too complicated, just simple screens and Procion Dyes. At the end of a long day I had a few pots of dye left over and I decided to paint them onto a piece of cotton.

We had been using discharge paste as an alternative print medium and a small amount remained in a pot. As I waited for things to dry I wondered if it would be possible to print directly from plants. No time like the present! I nipped into the garden and gathered a handful of interesting vegetation; spindly goose grass, fragrant mint, bracken laden with spores and feathery anemone leaves.

After patting the leaves dry on absorbent paper, I brushed them with a light coating of discharge paste before pressing them gently on the cloth. For me, the joy of working with discharge paste is that you are never quite certain of the result: there is always an element of serendipity as to how much the base cloth will be bleached by its application.

I'm pleased with the results.  The purple worked best, the green was a bit too subtle, whist the blue colour discharged to a dark purple shadow. A light touch of both paste and printing pressure was all that was required and I think with a little practise it would be possible to reveal more of the leaf structure in these prints. Not bad for an idle after-thought!

Make do and mend

I've been inspired by finds from my holiday to Turkey. Everywhere I looked I saw examples of thrift but also the desire to preserve. None more so than this lovely patchwork cushion that I found in my hotel room.

It had been created from a wide variety of fabrics, Ikat woven silks that were visibly deteriorating, heavily embroidered cottons, delicate Cornelli work, Jacquard silk, pieces of plain cotton pestemel. With seemingly little thought these precious fragments had been sewn together to produce a glorious riot of colour and texture. I loved its rustic honesty.

I have returned home vowing to do the same with favourite pieces from my stash  and not try too hard to create something too harmonious or contrived.

Travels with my Aunt

 

My sketch book this week is some simple pen and watercolour drawings which serve as an aide memoire of my annual Summer pilgrimage to visit my Mother's family in the South. 

We spend a lot of time talking, visiting other members of the family and remembering those that are no longer with us. For me it is always an opportunity to look back on carefree Summer holidays of my childhood and to  reconnect with my roots. 

This time we met new puppy Ruby and some crazy guinea fowl my cousin's farm. We remembered my Granny's birthday with a bunch of yellow freesias and indulged in a bit of designer shopping. 

Time well spent! 

Saving Face

In a week of Royal announcements I can also say that I've created a new body!  I've just completed the second workshop with doll maker, Kathryn Thompson and here are the fruits of my labours.

Arriving with a bag of body parts and an un-stuffed head or two, the class was soon whipped into shape as we had a lot to get through.  I realised that the course was not just about making a doll but it was actually a lesson in drawing faces.  Kathryn took us through the essentials of proportion and then focussed on how to create details such as eyebrows and eye colour using her impressive collection of fine markers and colouring pencils.  Armed with this knowledge we then set about with some strong thread, a very long needle and a complicated version of dot-to-dot pictures to give the facial contours.

I have to confess to being a little scared of this doll and I think that it's because the face is too life-like, which should be a huge compliment to Kathryn.  I made two faces but opted to use a blank canvas face with only a minimum amount of shading.  My doll is a Patchwork Sprite sewing a small piece of work.  She has a skirt made from some knitted wool/wire, embellished with trimmings and tiny cotton-reel earings.

Wax lyrical

I have been a great fan of dyeing and printing since I realised that it would free me up from all my self-imposed constraints of neatness and perfection.  Last week I had my first foray into Batik and I discovered that there is a whole new level of serendipity with this technique!

For the uninitiated, Batik is a Javanese method of wax resist dyeing involving hot wax and a small metal funnel called a tjanting which is used to apply the wax to cloth.  After a quick practice with the tool on a piece of rough paper I thought I had got the measure of a tjanting.  With my white cotton fabric stretched over a frame I started to work in what I thought were loose and artistic swirls.  But the combination of absorbent fabric and free-flowing wax required a lot more skill than I could muster on a hot Friday morning.

The results are very primitive but the veined appearance, which is achieved by cracking the wax prior to dipping in a final bath of dark coloured dye, made my sample look like an illuminated manuscript or a stained glass window.  Unusually, I chose to work in bright colours for a change and do you know, I quite like my bold turquoise and purple cloth with highlights of yellow and green.

Doodles

I have a bad habit of doodling, especially in meetings or when I'm talking on the phone.  This week's art is part collage, part line drawing but all very loose and relaxed - just like a doodle.

I chose New York as my subject because my daughter has just finished singing in Leeds Youth Opera's production of Carmen which was staged in Spanish Harlem.  The gritty grey and black colours of the set and costumes were punctuated with flashes of red.  These gradually increased in number as the story of love and betrayal unfolded.

As luck would have it I have reached the mid point of my sketch book and it has a lovely red cord running through it.  I started my work by laying down torn fragments of The New York Times.  Then I drew an outline of New York skyscrapers in black drawing pen.  I didn't want it to be too architectural so I kept it loose and doodle-like.  Finally I have added a crimson flower (which will be pressed and dried) which was so symbolic of Carmen's love for Don Jose.

Body of Proof

This week my work area (sadly I don't have a studio so it's just a space on the dining room table) resembles a bizarre CSI case.  There are body parts all around, a pair of haemostats, needles and a monumentally big bag of stuffing!  The truth is I've been learning how to make art dolls with Kathryn Thompson.  These beautifully constructed bodies are a great way to display small pieces of work or samples that you don't quite know what to do with and are languishing at the bottom of your sewing box.

Kathryn is a generous teacher, sharing her skills and experience as well as a host of shopping tips.  It's been a crazy weekend and I've still got a lot of homework to do before my next class in a couple of weeks.  Now all I need is some inspiration for how to complete my little friend.