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.



Tricia Smout's Language of Nature

Imagine what 12 twelve months as the Artist in Residence at the Brisbane Botanical Gardens could look like. Tricia Smout has spent this year doing just that and the grand finale of an incredible, hectic, creative, collaborative and artistic year is the Language of Nature exhibition. If you haven't had a chance to visit, the celebration of her 2012 residency kicks off on 6 November open from 10am-4pm each day at Richard Randall Art Studio. The studio is located at the Brisbane Botanic gardens and the exhibition finishes on 14 November.

Tricia has posted descriptions and photos of her amazing year on her blog - and it has been a year of collaboration and sharing this opportunity with so many groups, encouraging so many artists to participate in her year as A-i-R.  My favourite part of Tricia's year has been her unwaning enthusiasm and passion for inclusiveness, and the 495 flowers of friendship. Tricia's blog contains so many photos of how 2012 has been shared with so many. Congratulations Tricia on being such a fantastic ambassador for the arts, and the way you've inspired so many of us to be part of your year. Everyone is invited to this celebration so come along and hope to see you there.

Parks, Plaques and Chocolates

For his birthday, the WMBM got to return to Auckland with his goddess, warm himself in the sun while she rubbed and printed fabric, and be amazed when our friends arrived for dinner from Brisbane.  I know he feels ... blessed. Me too.

 

 

 

 

 

Surreal at the Art Gallery

We wandered up hill to the Art Gallery - loved that it is so easy to navigate the centre of Auckland and most things are within an easy walk, hills notwithstanding. What a wonderful space and clearly in the knowledge we were visiting, the surrealists were out in force. Before we knew it the day was half gone and we were heading off to the nearby park to do some .... rubbings. The descriptions below are mainly from the Museum - the visit one of the highlights of our trip!

Just wanted to touch this ... and explore all the pipes and supposedly empty spaces

 

This is a small section of "Monkey's revenge" by Richard Killeen - and the cutouts that comprise the piece are never ordered int he same way each time it goes on display ... full of history, technology

 

The Simplest Surrealist Act is actually created by silkscreen on plexiglass - by David Hatcher - each letter is in isolation from the next rather than spaced - so the act of reading the phrase from the second Surrealist manifesto is rather hard to read as an optomestrist's eye chart.

 

we were all here once ... weren't we? 

 

 

From the balcony

 

Section of World Map was turned into a puzzle and created by Swedish artist Oyvind Fahlstrom - which he created as a do it yourself interactive. The cartoon pieces carry messages about suffering and corruption. Could have spent a very very long time here ...

 

Man in a Bus (left) and Woman in a Bus (right)  were created by Alison Duff in 1961. She used concrete for the modelling because of the cost of bronze casting - too expensive. Took a long time over the way she has represented the body - beautiful long lines and exquisitely proportioned.