Tree Fern - In progress

This is the progress so far on my TIF March and Sumptuous Surfaces piece.

I stitched for hours - and then stopped to look. Now I'm not sure it is working ...yet.

I think I have too much contrast between the darker and lighter colours. Actually the lighter "whites" are quite colourful on their own - but just looked washed out here. Partly the camera photo - but it also looks like this in reality too.

I had an art teacher who said if your painting or mixed media piece wasn't working to paint it all white and start again....it's tempting, but it's not a painting, so I'll have to try something else!

I don't want to unpick too much, so I'm thinking of getting some "inbetween" shades to try and bring it together. Or may be when I add the paler areas on the left of the piece, it will just work anyway! Here's hoping...

Sumptuous Surfaces - Colour Design and March TIF

I took this photo a couple of years ago. It is a macro shot of a section of a tree fern stump. I loved the colours and textures and knew one day, when I had the time and felt ready, that I wanted to do an impression of it in textiles.

I am fascinated by nature at a macro level and my digital camera has given me a new lease of life - helping me record what I see. I also love the beauty in decay at close up. I think of all things returning back to the earth - whether they are natural or man-made - everything is ephemeral.

I smiled to myself when I saw the topic of the March Take It Further Challenge. The theme is: "Do you ever notice the little things, the small moments, the details in life? This months challenge is to do just that, pay attention to the tiny details. Sometimes the small things become emblematic for something larger."

This macro interpretation fits that topic and the colour scheme pretty exactly for me. As I am also time poor - it will give me a chance to catch up with this and the February TIF within the next month. Sharon B and I are obviously on the same wavelength at the moment. What luck!

I started this piece a while ago...well, I found the brown corderoy (from cut-offs when shortening a pair of trousers) and painted the interfacing with acrylic. Made a postcard sized background area. Then I ran out of time, inspiration and any idea what to do next.

Sharon B's sumptuous surfaces design class has given me the basics of design and a framework to see how I can "Take this Further". I have been inspired to have another go. It has also enabled me to give myself permission to work on a piece of art that I feel very inspired to try.
I didn't do much art at school. I never had a chance to develop a personal style. I have just been trying lots of different things. I feel that this may be one step closer on that personal style journey.


The design outline and colour scheme...

















Here is my progress so far...

Finished!

I have just finished my first Sumptuous Surfaces project. The shells and sea debris were fun to do, to experiment with a variety of stitches and textures.

Now on to a colour design...

Beautiful, but Deadly - Sumptuous Surfaces (3) - Texture

Here are my starfish so far. I have used Perle threads and beads to give an encrusted knobbly look. I am pleased with the result and think that I have got the starfishy look. I looked at lots of photos on the web to try and make them scientifically accurate.
I didn't realise that using the perle threads would make them sparkle in the light - so they look quite glamorous! Sadly you can't see this in the photo. (Maybe even beautiful, but deadly!)


The Australian CSIRO have several pictures of the real Asterias amurensis. I have tried to copy the tube feet, patterns on their back and the knobbly lumps (beads and drizzle stitches). They range in colour from creamy yellows to purple. As we are working in monotones, I have kept to yellowy/cream colours. I am also pleased that the palestrina stitch has conveniently turned up at the tips - as this is a distinguishing feature of this seastar.

The background stitches are different sizes and layers of cretan stitch and then the gaps have been filled with seed beads and
drizzle stitches and the odd french knot.

Now - what to do with the background, so that they look out of place...





This is what the real ones look like:
CSIRO picture
Museum of Victoria Picture

Starfish

I am still working on the Sumptuous Surfaces project. This is my progress to date.

I have started my edges and low relief work. My design has changed slightly - I took out my third little starfish as I realised that it wouldn't leave me any room to put in the seafloor and sea shells etc.

I've used gold organza outlined with palestrina stitch (hopefully to look like the suckers/feet under the starfish). I plan to add some stitches to show the patterns on the backs too and drizzle stitches to show the spiny bits - probably next week now.

The background is cretan stitch in crewel wool. I decided not to pull the stitches, after an experiment, as I prefered the smoothness of the standard stitch.

I'm not sure what to put around the border of the post card. I've looked at a few wools/threads - but so far none has looked right. I may have to buy something new, but I thought I'd wait until I have stitched some more.



There are some lovely pieces of work in the group and I'm really looking forward to see how everyone's work is developing next week.

Sumptuous Surfaces - Week 1 - Concept Development

Concept Development:

Since moving to Australia I have had to come to terms with how strongly people feel about"feral" wildlife and plants. In England the animal and plant hunters made non-indigenous plants exotic and glamorous. The opposite of this took a bit of coming to terms with. Now I get it.

They are talking about "feral" in the sense of non-native or non-indigenous - things that are not supposed to be here. In a way perhaps earlier on being a new immigrant I took it personally - perhaps I was not supposed to be here. Was I feral? I was relieved to hear an Aboriginal elder tell me that they believe that if you are here, you are supposed to be here - that you have been blown in by the wind spirits for a reason.

So maybe feral is things that are not supposed to be here- that are upsetting the natural balance of this ancient continent. It was separated so long ago that it has a very delicate natural balance and extremely sensitive to change.

Camels in the desert - natural surely? Not here. Wild horses, brumbeys - are causing lots of problems.

Cane toads - the most famous example of biological control gone wrong.

Some of these feral things are so beautiful. When I walk along the coast from Bondi to Bronte the colours of the cannas, blue/purple bindweed and verbena sing against the blue sea and sky and look absolutely stunning. I have to remind myself that they are strangling the native plants and stopping them and the native animals from thriving.

I can understand the early settlers feeling homesick and bringing their songbirds and cottage garden flowers with them. I cried the first time I saw forget-me-nots in a florist here! They are causing chaos and now with global warming and international travel the process is accelerating.

Bush regeneration teams spend their spare time pulling up asparagus fern and nasturtiums along the coast and replace them with natives.

The Indian Mina bird - that I remember in a cage as a child doing impressions in the sweet shop in my grandfather's village - is here too. The local honey eater doesn't stand a chance against this aggressive persistent competitor.

Last week I saw a documentary showing the same problems the world over.

So now my concept association list:

Native, indigenous, feral?

Beautiful but deadly

Cane toad

Bindweed

nasturtiums

asparagus fern

carp in rivers

goodbye to frogs

not where they are supposed to be

Am I feral?

Barrier reef starfish - Crown of thorns - nitrogen run off

Starfish at St Kilda pier, Melbourne - from America

So my concept is "beautiful but deadly" and my design will be based on a starfish.

I have an image of the starfish I saw in Melbourne that I will work with. It was the Northern Pacific Seastar (Asterias amuensis).

"This large sea star has five arms with pointed tips and is mottled yellow and purple in colour. It is native to the northeastern Pacific, around Japan, Korea, Russia and China. The Northern Pacific Seastar was discovered in Tasmania in 1986 and in Port Phillip Bay in 1995. In the Derwent estuary near Hobart it now dominates the sea floor. In Port Phillip Bay it is now widespread. In January 2004 the Northern Pacific Seastar was found to have spread to shallow reefs near Inverloch in southeastern Victoria. Volunteer divers and staff of the Department of Sustainability and Environment are attempting to eradicate this latest outbreak."

Now to work on an image/design...

Sumptuous Surfaces - Week 1 - Materials

I have signed up to do Sharon B's Sumptuous Surfaces course with Joggles. I have wanted to do this course for some time - but there has never been a good time. So I decided that it is now or never and signed up. I am very excited about doing the course and now just need to make some time to make the most of it.

We are starting off with a neutral pallet - so I have been through my stash and found quite a lot of "stuff". What I don't have much of is neutral coloured threads - I have wools and fancy threads, but not the basics - so I may have to shop for those. I don't have many beads either - I prefer buttons and found objects - so again , I may have to look out for some.

So I've started - now to work on a design...