Best wishes for 2013

The WMBM (world's-most-beautiful-man) and I want to wish you and yours all the very best for the coming year - wherever you are and whatever comes your way. This year has been full of superlatives and the odd expletive for us -  we're looking to the future for the magic to continue. Little sister has a great number of wisdoms including this gem  "Be kind. Contribute."  May your kindnesses and contributions be many in 2013.

Quilting, printing and Suzy Buhle

Quilting time - the last few days of the holidays are being spent catching up on some unfinished  machine quilting projects, planning another and more printmaking in the shed. Hand burnishing is the new sport for toning arms. Who needs a gym? Later, a visit to Suzy Buhle's art studio in Aratula - always good for the soul and I came back fully recharged and ready for ... tomorrow.

 

 

 



In the studio and having fun

Having some fun on Boxing Day printmaking with Sue (little sister). We played, inked up, tried this, printed that, experimented, created some more and got completely exhausted. My idea of heaven - spending an afternoon in the studio with someone you love.



Rolling in it

 

Sue's visual diary

 

 

Wood block print - a recycled game

This piece of pink silky oak got repurposed into a printing block. Before launching onto fabric, it is being tested on cartridge paper.  Gentle rubbing, a brayer and then the third was burnished with a soup spoon. The ghost print in the top left corner was a pleasant surprise. Then it was time to empty the brayer across the cutting board, add some depth and shadows and create the final print. And last but not least, the splash of red ... just because. 

Printmaking journal

Printmaking is occupying my thoughts for the next 10 weeks or so and for starters, I needed to make a visual diary. Found some tough board and covered it in the fabrics I made in Sue Dennis' Leaf it Alone workshop earlier in the year - printed weed leaf, coriander and wattle seed pods. Then came the drilling of the holes and screwing in of the posts - and voila - one A3 sized record of my printmaking fun.  Can't wait to work on more textiles ... so many ideas, so many years required to do it all.

 

 

 

My Mother's Garden

A small section of  My Mother's Garden - which is based on rubbings taken from my parent's former home of 40 years. Over the years, some of the gates, wire and trivets have made their way to Tarome. One gate was rubbed here as part of a day with some of the 2QAQ artists. Other pieces were found in the garden beds at Mackenzie, or were rubbed from steps, pipes and tiles in and around her beloved gardens. The leaves that gathered around the pavers were a source of constant action by my mother - the finished quilt will include a tribute to her ongoing war with leaf litter.  My Mother's Garden is the next part of the quilting (or more accurately the emotional)  journey from "My father's Shed".  And now to finish off that last assignment on copyright ....

My Father's Shed - journal cover

 Some serious fun with fabrics left over from the larger My Father's Shed pieces - an A3 sized Journal cover  that wraps around many of the drawings and ideas for MFS. The fabrics have been variously stamped, monoprinted, painted, printed, Shiva'd and burnished. The free motion machine quilting is a memory of all the rocks and stones he gathered from the paddocks to preserve the blades of the ride-on mower.



Hearts from Boonah retreat

Thanks to the Boonah retreat group for your beautiful hearts last year when I missed my own birthday party. I've taken the liberty of including myself (the missing heart). Each heart was matched to a coordinating fabric - fifteen hearts, fifteen fabrics. Once used, each fabric was then gifted to a neighbouring heart (something we all tend to do on retreat). Each block was finished with a round of black fabric, in varying widths, then cut down to 11" squares. I am pleased with how the blocks seem to float over the background. Also thinking a lot more about visual balance - this was a great opportunity to practise some more of Ann Johnston's wisdoms from The Quilter's Book of Design (thank you Sue D)

 

1500 words on copyright (hearts from Boonah)

This is my 1500 word assignment on the issues with traditional concepts of copyright in a digital media environment. Before the University police jump on me,  I know it needs a little tidy up and correct referencing. The Boonah retreat gang needs to be correctly acknowledged. I did think it wasn't bad for a first draft and best of all,  it's not due until 26 November.  (I should have clarified ... I am supposed to be writing a 1500 word assignment .....)

Reflecting on design and texture

Today has been a day for contemplation and a chance to think some more about design. I've been gifted  Ann Johnston's The Quilter's Book of Design and am looking afresh at some of the fabrics created on recent trips. This piece was originally rubbed in Auckland - the lift (elevator) doors and a copper Shiva providing a nice contrast to the flowing indigo lines from a previous pole wrap. The piece was then printed with leaves we found walking to the Auckland Museum.  I had also played with a piece of rusted silk and printed it with the same leaves as the indigo dyed fabric.  Today I fused the silk to webbing, then cut out the individual leaf shapes. These were then fused, in part or in whole, onto the dyed and rubbed panel.  I've enjoyed playing with the different scales and shapes of the leaves, plus the way the overlay of silk has given depth to the leaf shapes.  




Before

Panel and printed organza



 

They all start with "S"

Sundial, George Washington Uni.

 Sundial. Sunshine. Scenic. Special. Shiva rubbing. Silky Oak leaf. Shadow printing. Stitched. Sewn. Sircles. Shiva shimmer. So much fun. Saturday.





GWU, Foggy Bottom, Washington DC



Shadow printed with Silky oak leaves

 

Stitched in sircles



Shape and size

Shiva shimmer

 

Saturday afternoon

 

Suzy Buhle Exhibition on 1 December

Suzy Buhle's studio and gallery is just down the road in Aratula, opposite the old wares shop on Elizabeth Street. You can't miss the place with its vibrant re-purposed door for a sign - and there's plenty of great art inside. Suzy's next exhibition opens at the gallery on 1 December at 3.00pm. All welcome and further details are available from Suzy. The painting I acquired last weekend is similar has lots of the vibrancy of the exhibition invitation (left) - and can't wait to see it framed!

Road testing fabrics

When I missed some of the planned events for my 50th birthday, the Boonah retreat ladies made me 15 beautiful hearts on 5 inch squares. I've been road testing fabrics to match ... and am about to launch them into a quilt. Thank you for your hearts  xxx

Left overs and experimentation

Some of the best things come from leftovers, not always food related.  Using the fabrics surplus to a "Sampler-Revisited-What-Was-I-Thinking?" exercise, a recent retreat meant time and space to play. The sampler was completed after a series of false starts and faux finishes, interrupted on more than one occasions by a glass of discussion and a meal at The Vue.  Access to the sage advice and wisdoms of fellow retreatees took care of the leftovers. Retreatees and a treatise. Everyone brings their "skinful of perceptions" (thank you Mum) and the weekend is always richer for it.  So my leftovers gained value and now it's up to me to give them meaning.

 

Full stitch ahead ...

 

 

Our accommodation at the Outlook

 

Deck with a View

 

What couldn't you cook in this?

One degree of separation

.This morning the WMBM made some additions to his edible colour palette  - jostaberry, thornless loganberry (it will never mitigate the viciousness of the youngberry) and more raspberries. The sweet potato also are taking off in the vegie patch and last evening we dined on freshly dug potatoes, yellow squash and cherry tomato bake with fresh peas. Where's the meat? Well we tucked into a lamb sausage each - courtesy of our friends and farmers Siwa Fresh. The onion and carrot were grown locally - our entire meal was no more than one degree of separation between paddock and us.  The wattle seed pods are gorgeous, providing a reddish ochre carpet and are irresistible to the Rosella's and king parrots.