ART market in Warmond

My upcoming Art Market is on Sunday

August  31

in Warmond
(that is just north of Leiden)

11.00 - 16.00

This market will be a bit different from the ones I usually go to
because I take only my paintings this time
and only a few textile pieces.

The "Fire Bird" above is a brand new painting
that I will take with me.
(acrylic on canvas,  40 x 50 cm)

There will be some funny narrative ones and also
some with flowers, both are gouache on paper.

So why not add some textile flowers too
. . .

So if you love to see (and buy) some art
please visit the market next Sunday !
My stall will be near Herenweg 75.

Hope to see you there !

Colibri coruscans

A big name for a tiny bird !
"Sparkling Violetear" defines more clearly
what this hummingbird looks like.
They are sparkling green and turquoise little jewels
with some patches of bright cobalt blue (violet)
And noooo, they have no (outside) ears, but
a fun wisps of blue feathers behind the eye.

They live mainly in the north western part of South America in humid habitats.
They live solitary and defend fiercely their own territory, by singing !
They feed on honey but they also hunt insects.

Stitching the flowers (front and back !)

All the little parts are there before assembling the bird
based on the example of a paper bird,
with a photo as reference and thin pencil lines on the background.

Ready for the seam allowance to turn under and place it
on a painted 20 x 20 cm canvas.

Yes, happy with it !

August is here

Oh my, really ?
They say time flies
so use it well !

I finally started with the background I had ready for my next bird :
the hummingbird.

I would looove to see these little fellas
in real life but they don't live here
at this side of the ocean.
(you can't win them all . . . )

For the bird I used some snippets
that I had backed with "Vliesofix" ("Wonder under")
because the silk bits can so easily fray.
For the leaves and flowers I just cut out the shapes
and I started to tack them down along the edge,
a lot of work, but I love it.

And, maybe because I'm a restless person,
I've started with another, and also bigger piece too.

Not sure yet what to do with it next,
let's wait and see

. . .

25 - 7 - '25 . . . and another bird

For us
25 - 7
is a special day :
our first grandchild was born !
And today that moment is 24 years ago, how time flies !

*

Though
Stitch Club had a fun but "dark"workshop these last two weeks
by Ruth Norbury
I kept working on a new bird-piece
(for which I started the background during a zoom session of SC)
The bird I chose this time was the song thrush

Nowadays, finding a good photo of the animal you want to portray
isn't very difficult : so many lovely pictures on the net !

I liked this one especially 
because in our small front garden there is a rowan tree
which is visited by many birds when the berries (right now !) are ripe.
 

It starts with building up the bird with tiny scraps.

Stitching in the garden in summer is such FUN !

Though I don't do that always,
I backed these very small berry-bits with "vliesofix"
to stop fraying.

VERY fiddly leaves to stitch onto the background

The last step will be folding the excess bits on the side
so it fits on a 30 x 30 cm (painted) canvas

*

(and now it is time for Ruth Norbury )

:-)

tiny owl

Last month I've added one more to my considerable list of bird-pieces.
This time I pieced together a tiny owl
The tiniest of all owls,
not much bigger than a blackbird !

I made my first bird, a robin,
in the Stitch Club workshop by Many Pattullo
in December 2020.

She often re-uses pieces of old quilts
as a background in her work, but I piece mine together
with varies pieces and leftovers in the colours that I need
that I baste to a slightly bigger cotton background.
For the bird I start to look at many photographs
and then make a sketch of the position I like best,
to have a template to build up the bird with snippets of fabric.

Then comes the job of stitching all these tiny pieces together
(hmmmm, fiddly business)

When and eyes, beak, feet and some "feather-stitches" are added
I just have to make some extra stitches in the background.

The last task is painting a 20 x 20 cm canvas
and stitch the finished piece onto it !
(ohh, that last bit still has to be done !)

Ketikoti

July 1 is the day that is celebrated in Suriname
(and also here in The Netherlands)
to remember the abolition of slavery
(in 1863)
"Ketikoti" means in Sranantongo (Suriname's main language) : "broken chains"

On many Sundays these past months
we have been busy with the community stitch project
"Draden van ONS"

 In our province Zuid-Holland are many places
where people can participate, using felt,
quilting or embroidery.
I am one of the assistants in Rotterdam ( near Schiedam)
The design, made to look like stained glass windows,
is cut in small parts and then cloth, felt or stitch are added
and when finished assembled in bigger parts to put on the big screen.

Stitching on this big scale requires two people
that stitch as a team : one in front of the big screen
and one at the back.

If you live near Rotterdam
come and work with us :

Gustoweg 83

On Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays

balls

Early May we had the Stitch Club workshop by (the Dutch)
Mirjam Gielen
making a six-segment object.

I chose some purples from my stash
and special fabric I bought last year on a textile fair.

Then came the fun part to decorate them.
On the turquoise one I started with woven picots
(always so much fun to make)
and then I added seed beads in the colours of the hexagons.

For number two I decided on stacked running stitch.

Of course a running stitch is easy BUT
if you want them really close together a lot more is asked.
And you can only do a few rounds with one length of thread . . .
so filling this ball took "ages" !!!
The different reds go nicely with the purple.

More than halfway down I changed the pattern
into small dots.

After this workshop we had some "quiet time"
and, to be honest I liked that very much.
As a Stitch Club member from the very start
I'm amazed in how many workshop I participated !
(and to be even more honest : not everything is finished,

there are still quite a few WIPs to be considered   :-/  )

This last week we had something new and fun though :
zoom sessions with a lot of SC members from all over the world

and it was so much FUN to see each other and stitch a bit together !
Those were wonderful events
a fantastic STITCH COMMUNITY !