Saved by the Bell

Yes, it is true. The disaster of the last post is not complete. I kept muttering to myself that there had to be more squished samples around here somewhere. I was sure I had  rolled them up on an empty paper towel roll. I finally gave up, poured a scotch and grabbed all the things on my desk for a sort through.

Underneath the BELL bill, actually, ooozing out from under the Bell bill were the missing pieces of squished textiles, but not on a roll. Laid flat.

In fact, the larger one is the one I want to work on next and

the god-awful ugly one is the one that I have been looking forward to re-doing this fall with mountain ash berries and rose hips. Yahoo. The winter can come anytime now, I have stuff to stitch.

Success and Failure

Autumn squish time! Whee!

Ash Tree berries, Holly berries, two shades of mini petunia, zuchinni ivy (not the veg but an ornamental, blue hydrangea, asparagus leave (yes the veg, not the houseplant) and another grass I don't know the name of. All of these look so luscious. Ignore the yellow beans, that was dinner.

Sometimes I think I'm succeeding. I adore these blue hydrangeas.

I have been waiting with huge anticipation all summer for the blue hydrangeas to bloom. A friend gave me two flowers off her bush last week. I was so thrilled. We have had a terribly dry summer and I wasn't sure the hydrangeas would be up to it. But this lovely shrub was. Out came the rolling pin and for an experiment, some acrylic paper.

petunias

 Acrylic paper is the kind that is best for using acrylic paints on. It is not made up of acrylics. It is thick and takes lots of pin pricks well. A good candidate for stitching into. One big difference between this paper and fabric is that you have to use all your muscles to get a good squish going. The edge of the rolling pin is essential and the flowers move around willy nilly. Good, I love this kind of accident.

Asparagus frond before

After

 

Other times I know I've had a colossal fail.

The squishing on the fabric went as usual, but then..... Idiot me..... I soaked the fabric in vinegar to set the colours. WRONG. It should have been alum. I have lost ALL the colours in this fabric. I have been squishing for two summers and autumns and now my winter goal of stitching up these textiles is ruined. I feel sick.
The paper pieces are an experiment and I have no love for the process of stitching into heavy paper. I don't mind the lighter ones, I can iron on some interfacing on the back to support the stitching. Now what?

I'm on the trail of new works, inspired by my squishes of plant matter on paper or fabric. The blog header photograph is the first of these works. These two images are helping me to remember what I want to do with colour and pathways. The stitched piece is by me, an imagined water garden. The properly framed piece is by local artist Rosemary Clarke Young, a wax resist watercolour.

Stunning blue and purple hydrangeas are now out in gardens and I am hoping to snip a few blooms to add to my existing pieces. I have lovely blue florets coming to me tomorrow morning from a friend.

This is a combination of squished plant matter and some glued on bits under a synthetic see-through paper. I am ordering more tomorrow, so can let you know specifics next week. I use thinned out white glue. It probably has a host of reasons not to use it, but compared to all other glues I have tried, it does the main thing, and that is glues one thing to another successfully.

I have chosen thread colours that are similar to the colours of the plant matter that was used. There were blue hydrangea petals, red roses, small unfurled hydrangea buds that turned that dog turd yellow and some grass.  White threads and laces are also to be included.

This is a sample of squishing from last summer. I didn't use much over the winter, I wanted to see how the colours would fade out. As you will see in future posts, the colours is enough to move the stitching along. This summer I have added a few blooms and grasses to some fabrics, but not enough to make a huge change. Once the hydrangeas are added, some more grass (it has all turned brown and in Nova Scotia, that's saying something.) and hopefully some rose hips, I'll then have all I need to make up a little group of stitched bits.

I am not taking Karen Ruane's class this fall, mostly due to other commitments that need attention. The class sounds wonderful, I recommend it. Check it out. http://karenruane.bigcartel.com/product/wrapped-and-bound-in-stitch

End of Crazy Ass-ness

I had a blast this summer.

A good part of that was due to not having internet. We spent as much time as possible at our camp.

We have to bring in the water, have a composting toilet and a friend who freezes ice packs for us so we can stay for longer periods of time. We take up a huge box of books, Steve takes his banjo and the cat, and I knit or nap.

One of the blast off points for this summer was a week long sketching in Lunenburg 'camp'.(here) I stayed at a very nice B&B (link) and had lovely meals out. The course, taught by Emma FitzGerald (here) was wonderful. We learned about sketching buildings, outdoor spaces, people and finding the courage to be in public while drawing. There was a complete range of drawing skills from two potters who never drew, to two very accomplished drawers (as opposed to dressers or bureaus (all three words are homonyms, what a surprise.)

My first ever, ever drawing while sitting in public and that includes sneaking little doodles in lectures when bored. This is a big sketch book, no hiding behind it, but I tried.

The Lunenburg Bump, except it isn't. I could not get the geometry. Awful isn't it, except...it was a worthy effort.

As the week went along, it was amazing how quickly everyone picked up tips and skills, courage and a sense of adventure around 'failures'. We had several interesting conversations on the topic of failure. I had to really think about the idea that drawing failures are really unsuccessful sketches, an entirely different sort of product. Most sketches, even the worst ones, contain some thing that can be moved along, from the original idea to a corner of the sketch or a line that worked.

I tried a different bump, figuring it was the bump's fault, not mine.

Here, Emma Fitzgerald looked over my shoulder and coached me, then I went to my B&B and outlined the correct lines in a thicker market, so I could feel how the lines were drawn.

Even colour choices can ring true on a drawing that looks crooked or out of proportion. We all painted in watercolours, the medium of choice for many who are adding colour while sketching. The application of watercolour goes much more quickly than pencil crayons or markers. And I looked so professional, sitting there with water cup, stool, sketch book, paints and camera. No one dared say 'what a mess you are making." No, they all smiled, kept their opinions to themselves and we all pretended that whatever I was doing was entirely right, given the artistic nature of (sssh) an artist. "I meant to do this" was my mantra.

I think we tackled this on our second afternoon. Sweet Henry in Chocolate Bar, it was impossible. See below.

After a while, and several efforts, I drew a dragon and blew the whole thing up. In frustration, I turned the chair 180 degrees and saw this.

Much simpler. It turns out, this house has a ghost story attached to it, about a boy who can be seen through the upper window and who can be heard playing the violin. I added the ghost figure later on, after hearing the story.

I started to feel that not all things were impossible with this drawing.

We went to the Lunenburg market and did gestural drawings of people. I liked this exercise a lot.

Then we had to draw something more specific and add colour. I think these two turned out alright.

A home with many, many artifacts was loaned to us for an afternoon and we spent a lovely two hours sketching and painting. This is a nook in the kitchen. I am proud of it, especially compared to my first drawing.

Steve and I did a couple of outdoor sketching events while at the camp. This is the cemetery in Port Medway, looking over the harbour. It painted up rather well, also, but where or where did I put it?

Back home, our daughter was with us for a fun week, my son celebrated his 29th !!!! birthday, Steve and I remembered we have been married for 30 years and both my camera and computer came back from repairs. All exciting for different reasons.

Silly buggers.

And now I return, to discover that the readership has plummeted. No surprise since I posted nothing for weeks. Dear readers, please come back and/or pass it on, Cloudmongers and Soup is back and at'em.