Ripples

This is another of my favourite photos from the recent Kakadu trip. It was taken of the water hole at the base of Wangi Falls. We were not able to swim as the water level was too high - but it gave a wonderful opportunity to "stand and stare"...and for me to take some photos. The colours of the water reflect the beautiful tropical green pandanus trees around the pool, the beautiful golden sandy and pebbly bottom and the endless blue of the skies above. There may even be the trace of a turtle, a freshwater crocodile or passing fish - they were all there.

I was fascinated to read about the ovoid - the basic shape of water ripples and how it influenced Northwest American Indian art at the Ragged Cloth Cafe blog:(http://junomain.wordpress.com/2007/05/06/reflection-by-eileen-d/)

I have always been fascinated by the fleeting patterns and reflections on the water's surface and plan to use this photo to try and take this further. I'm not sure how yet. Watch this space...

My First Art Tag!

I was invited to join the Flickr Art Tags group (http://www.flickr.com/groups/arttags/ ) the day before we went away. It's been on my mind what to do, and I've lots of ideas, but little time at the moment. So I thought I'd start simply and use some of my favourite paper, that I made a while ago for birthday cards. It is layers of tissue paper glued washed with dark blue and silver acrylic paint. Highlights in pencil. The ribbon is the last piece of one I have loved using and saved back for something special. I will use it as a gift tag.

Rusty Barnacles and Woven/Whipped Wheels

I really enjoyed the rhythm of the woven and whipped wheels.
I have been very inspired by a photo of barnacles I took a while ago on a trip to Bundeena. It can be seen at my Flickr site (http://www.flickr.com/photos/luci_f/387560245/). It has inspired several pieces of work that I have done. I also wanted to try printing photos onto fabric. I don't have the proper stuff to do this directly, but stumbled on method that works for me. I print out the photo on my bubblejet printer. Cover my fabric with clear gel medium and then put the photo onto the fabric and smooth down. The photo transfers pretty well and I get some colour blurring and randomness which I like!
The picture below shows my results - with varying quality of prints and black and white version - onto cotton in the top row and muslin at the bottom. The muslin also had a rusty red monoprint of the same image onto it from a different angle.

I decided to use some of the muslin as a base for the woven and whipped wheels stitches and the end result is at the top as an ATC. I was fairly pleased with this - as it has the same "feel" as the barnacles I photographed, but has evolved to be more abstract.

I am planning to make my first fabric book on the day out at Bundeena, where I took the barnacles photo, as I now have several small pieces inspired by that day. Any hints and tips and links on how do go about this would be really helpful. In particular how to stiffen the pages. Thank you in advance.

Running Stitch

Today I was so inspired by what everyone is doing as part of TAST that I couldn't wait to get back into it.

I decided to go through my stash to find an interesting background. I recently went on a fabric printing course and have accumulated quite a few experiments that I thought could make interesting backgrounds.

I decided to keep it simple - as I have a few weeks to catch up. Much as I would like to have spent all week weaving lines of running stitch at different spacings! I'll have to save that for another time. Often that is part of the problem - too many ideas - not enough time!!

I really loved the fabric printing - it's going to be a big passsion. I love the bleeding edges against the sharper ones. The sharp ones are printed straight on top of the fabric. The blurry ones made by putting the fabric onto a paint covered surface and pressing the print block on top of it. The longer you leave it the blurrier the edges.

The blue shapes are made with a wooden block - an offcut found on the street near a building site.

I love this stamp (below). It is an old door handle that I found thrown out by a neighbour. It is repeated 5 times here - so the print is each row of 4 shapes.



This is my very favourite stamp - another door handle. There is just something about it that I love, expecially when it is repeated lots of times.

OK - so it is now in the open. I confess...I'm one of those people who just has to pick things up off the street to see what I can make or do with them...Fortunately I have a very tolerant hubby!!

Back home!

Isn't it great to be back home?! Especially after an amazing adventure! The three weeks in the Top End of Australia have flown by and I now have a head full of images and memories of a fabulous place.

I took my needle and threads with me - to try to keep up with the TAST challenge while I was away. I managed to do this sample - Oyster stitch. I enjoyed creating the patterns and rhythms and loved this stitch - once I worked out how to do it. It took 2 trips to internet cafes to do so! The light in places you stay is never that great - so the other stitches had to wait - although I did check to see what they were when I could. Palestrina next and running stitch and it's Tuesday again...so I'll have to swing past Sharon B's "In A Minute Ago" blog to see what this week's challenge is. Think I am going to be busy! I'm also really looking forward to seeing what everyone else has been doing in the group.

I'll write more about the trip to Darwin, Kakadu and Katherine soon - and post some pictures. It will definately go down as one of the best trips of my life!

Happy Easter, Holidays and Bonnet Stitch!

Happy Easter!

This week's TAST was a quick straightforward sampler - straight rows of bonnet stitch. But I like their symmetry and will be thinking about what I can use this one for again, when I have more time.

We are off on holiday for 3 weeks today! Flying to Darwin first and then driving onto Kakadu National Park and Katherine Gorge. It is finally starting to sink in. We are taking camping stuff and will spend some time out in the wilds - should be fun. I am so looking forward to being in the wilderness. Sydney is a great place, but having grown up in the English countryside - I am really looking forward to seeing some open space. I am looking forward to seeing so many things - ancient Aboriginal rock paintings, waterfalls, wildlife, Katherine Gorge. I'll tell you all about it when I get back.

Knotted Cretan Tree Bark

I have a passion for trees - verging on being a tree hugger! I'm the one stopping to stroke bark as I walk past a beautiful tree that catches my eye and doing strange things with the camera to get a close up of the beautiful colours and textures...

Knotted cretan stitch from TAST had that organic feel to it and I felt sure that some kind of tree would be part of the stitch study this week.

A while ago I created a couple of tissue paper and scrim backgrounds based on Yvonne Brown's article in Quilting Arts Magazine (Winter 2005 - issue 20). Of the pieces I made, the yellow ochre one looked unfinished until I added burned sienna to it ...and all of a sudden ...tree bark. It was the perfect background to practice knotted cretan on.

On Saturday I had a studio day with friends in the Blue Mountains, near Sydney and had overdosed on trees - so this was the obvious way to go. I used a sketch of tree bark that I had made as the template for the stitch areas - but took lots of artistic licence!

I found the stitch a challenge, but think I got there in the end. The main challenge was to get the tension right, before the knot tightened and left a loose loop. I've been brave and posted a close up, because I love the textures!