a box and "un-perfect 10"

In some shop I found these fun boxes :
bare wood and two sides perspex
but WHAT to showcase in it ?

And then I fitted one of my finger puppets
from earlier this year in it !
Hmmmm . . . . . a bit dull.

Then, something daughter said,
gave me this fun idea.

*

This Wednesday it was again zoom-time with the
UN - PERFECT 10 GRAMS group.

We had to keep in mind the following prompts
unity
wearable
3D, using a resist

Well, with only 10 grams it is not so easy
to make something wearable if you don't want to make jewelry !

But an old piece that I weighed gave me the right idea !

(though I had to use 2 x 10 because I have two hands !!!)

It was, like before, a fun meeting with the seven
ladies of the group that were able to attend
and to see and hear about the work they all made !

THANKS  LADIES !

print making

Ages ago I bought a book about printing
with Medium Gel Matte
(normally used in painting with acrylic paint)
but never really used it in my work.

Stich Club had another workshop with
Cas Holmes
and there this method was used.
So a good reason to have another go
at Medium or even white acrylic paint.

"my secret garden"

I made lots of tests,
not all of them very successful.
It depended probably on what magazines
I took the photos from, too vigorous rubbing
or just too wet, so all disappeared.

After rubbing off the paper I let them dry on the kitchen tiles !
(the second batch)

It surely is a fun way to add personal stuff to your work !
(this will surely be continued)


In the real garden things are moving to spring !

Always happy to see these again !!!

Summer solstice (and more)

This time I had no time to stitch a special Solstice piece
(or rather : I didn't think about making one,
too many other things going on)
And after a good week
of really wonderful summer weather
we had some heavy thunderstorm days.
(with much damage in other parts of the country !!!)

But what a wonderful New Dawn !!!

*

Stitch Club had me busy with a new workshop
by Gwen Hedley
I really LOVE what she makes !!!
(a new discovery for me !)
Making marks with ink or paint
and cutting that up and stitching together
than stitching to
"blur the boundaries"

The start of a "scroll"

Not finished, but I had another idea
for another colour scheme
and design.

A lot of work cutting out, stitching and backing
all the small circles
but the necklace is almost done now
(no pictures yet  :-)  . . .)

(The next workshop by Haf Weighton started already
but has to wait a bit)

paint, words, paper and stitch

It is amazing the inspiration we get

from the STITCH CLUB !

In this third bunch of workshops

we used paint on paper or cloth

(Gregory T Wilkins)

there were words on a "medal"

(Haf Weighton)

and scrunched up paper

(Cas Holmes)

For Gregory's task (American)

I took an old unfinished acrylic painted portrait,

divided it into three with tape

and got going with three different colour schemes.

This is so far the only one I finished stitching into

And let me tell you, that was NO FUN :

ouch, punching holes into thick painted paper !!!

(so no 1 and 3 might never be finished at all ...

yet I'm thinking about painting some cloth) 

_

The "medals" were inspired by Haf ( a Welsh artist)

who started with these medals last year,

processing her emotions being ill in hospital.

Many of the STITCH group used words in connection

of the strange times during the pandemic

these last few months,

but I chose a lighter path.

Three "medals" finished

_

Yesterday was the release of the workshop of

Cas Holmes.

I've followed her blog for many years and I like her work !

She showed us to make a little landscape
out of fabric strips and pieces of kneaded paper
in Japan (where she studied) known as momigami .
It is amazing how the feel structure and even sound of the paper
changes by kneading it !!!

Of course Japanese paper (with longer fibres in it)
works best, but (brown) paper bags , some wrapping paper
and even pages of magazines work as well !
(and you get nice warm hands hahaha !)

One piece finished !

Scraps of fabric and paper are mixed together,
tacked onto a cotton backing,
and stitched with different stitches and threads
to suggest the specifics of a landscape

The cloud ("Hollandse wolkenlucht") was a piece
of a full-page photo of a winter tree with snow
from a Dutch Nature-magazine
("Natuurmonumenten")

I think there will be more of rthese ...

:-)

6 - 6 - 15 ... painting again

But

before I started again on my small paintings

I had to work on the felting - exchange :

namely a composition of all the pieces

that were send to me during the whole year.

I hadn't succeeded doing so with the exchange

of the previous year, with my "sunny" theme.

This time it was a bit easier

because I asked for 

"a red piece that could be hung" 

I fixed two stumps of old Buddleja wood together

and hung the pieces on the branches.

(if you want to see all the different pieces up close :

just click on the label felting-exchange in the sidebar)

With that task literally out of the way

(and in the mail)

I could go back to my paintings.

There are still two really small one that are 

in their first stage, and I'm still thinking how to continue.

So I took another old canvas

and started hiding what I painted some years ago under a new layer of paint,

and I just love to do an underpainting of red(s). 

Then another layer and rub till some of the red is back.

And once more : stenciling and printing

(the first layers of it, that is !)

Because I wanted to make a big bird,

I made a template of one out of heavy drawing paper.

An impression of the template in place, and after it was removed,

and here it is !

(50  x 40 cm)

(19.7"  x 15.7")

*

During the very warm last few days

the water lily showed her first flower of the year

in a beautiful pink (but too much sun for the picture)

the Meconopsis Cambrica (that I got from Gabi)

Nigella Damascena

and Iris Sibirica "purple haze"

Sitting in the garden with all these beauties around you 

is a sheer delight 

;-)

a bit of this, a bit of that ....

After the wonderful day in Leiden

I did some new layers on the painting,

started on a textile necklace,

got my last piece of the felting exchange

and 

we had a little birthday boy !

(so lots of fun things)

THREE years old

is our youngest grandson

Still a bit groggy from his afternoon nap ...

but unpacking the presents with many helping hands

cured him fast enough.

*

More layers on the painting

 Getting more and more to its final state

*

It was really fun to make these little balls

like tiny pumpkins ...

together they will make a fun necklace.

*

In the mail came a well known (by now) big envelope

with a small felted piece

of the felting exchange.

(I thóúght I still missed one, but wasn't sure from whom)

Ahhhh, Caroline, it doesn't matter at all

that it was so late :

it's here now and I love it !

Thank you !

(she apologized because they have been rebuilding their house

and all her stuff is packed up in boxes .......

oh my .... terrible 

hmmmm ... you love it when it's finished 

but you don't want to be in the process !!!)

*

Two days ago I took this wonderful bearded Iris from the garden

and put it in a little vase inside,

where the bud opened up really quickly.

Some gnawing animal took a bite ...  and left it hanging there

(probably a rat, the water is near the garden and there was also an emptied duck egg)

So beautiful !

The smaller (sibirica) Irises start to bloom too

(they're a bit more purple in real life)

Mmmmmm ... Alliums !

And last but not least :

Ginkgo in his new green leaves

standing brightly in the late sunshine