Sunshine and sketching

Nice to get back into the habit of five minute sketches again-and the bonus of sunshine helps a bit.These geraniums are at a very early stage in their careers-am hoping they will bush out a bit.
Currently searching for Bondaweb in France and drawing a blank so far.I thought i had some in my boxes in the studio, but must have used it.6 months here and six months in the UK is a difficult balance in terms of memory.Seems when I'm in France ,what i need is in the UK and vice versa.

back in France

Can't believe it's so long since i had time to blog,but now we are back in France there will be time to think and work creatively again.Have already made some monoprints,after a very inspiring course at Glos print co-op before driving down here.Cat is settled in and did the journey like a pro.Have also started work on more lace/felt combinations-taster below.

Still adding to this one and will probably kill it,but enjoying all the processes.It's a bit like making soup,sometimes the final ingredient ruins it.

I.m trying out combinations of heavy and light,creating layers and frills and generally trying to avoid finishing my final Snow Queen piece for the exhibition in Denmark.

lace felt and other combinations

Have been experimenting with different methods of adding white to white and texture on texture-also printing on different surfaces.Felt isn't easy to print on with a very fine screen and this week,more seems to have gone wrong than right-suppose that has always been my way to learn!Also,it is very difficult to take a decent photo of white on white,especially when daylight isn't good.Rol on summer!

Maybe i should try on  a coloured background instead of being stubborn and wanting all white!

At last some progress with work

This piece of felt has been very slow coming together,in part because other life has taken over and in part because the studio is cold It was inspired by the photos I took of the river cruise from Bobbin Head after our daughters'wedding on a ferry .The folds of the rocks fascinated me and the strange angles of the folds.Some of the felted fabric is digitally printed,some naturally dyed using leaves I collected from the area and some dyed with the old favourite ,rust.I am about to print with thermofax screens on areas of it and I think I will be making more of the same when time allows.Have also finished the stitched cloth below and am beginning to work on more felt lace for an exhibition connected with FELT IN FOCUS .I'll also be teaching a course in France based on the lace techniques which I developed last summer,so things are pretty busy,in my head

This was an old piece of linen from the end of a loom-must be a technical name for it!

At last some work to show!

Somw work to show at last!

More experiments

 

Terrible picture! I'm using the fabric I dyed in Aus in samples which I hope will eventually give me a piece based on what I saw on the Hawkesbury river.The silk is Habotai and has been felted onto merino wool to give this texture    I want to make something which  will be a memory for me,so this silk is a wedding dress leftover.The light was very bad yesterday when i took the photo but the colours are all from plants in the park near my daughters flat-names yet to be identified.I love this method of felting.

Another sample of felt ,layered and cut into,which came from all the aboriginal art i was absorbing ,both in Melbourne and Sydney.There are 3 layers and i need to consider the colours,but this seemed a good way to start,because the white helps me to see what i am doing better than a colour closer the underlying layers.Now,i need to do some natural dyeing to get the colours i need I also need a computer which will stop typing my words in strange places i didn't intend them to go!