Not as clever as I thought

Wanting to travel light to Manchester as I was going by train and staying overnight and I also needed to bring back a big box of my work with me, I decided not to take my camera but to take photos with my new phone. Good thinking I thought and took lots of pics to show you on my blog. I even managed a short video of a group of us taking down a super piece by Jae Maries which involved us all standing in a line to hold it as someone positioned it on a very long length of packaging on the floor.  I rushed to the computer on my return only to find that, after an hour of unsuccessful clicking, I couldn’t find a way of downloading anything! You might laugh, but I did some lateral thinking and sent everything to the computer by email instead, what a great idea and it only took another two hours! The video wouldn’t ‘send’ – too big I expect.

So here are two images and expect another posting soon when I’ve coerced someone ‘young’ to come and show me a new skill! I’ve made a note not to feel impatient when students tell me they can’t do something with their computer and have to ask a child!

Just two pics with more to come later. The first is the entrance to the gallery which is part of the Art School of Manchester university. Perhaps you can see the decorative ‘school of art’ letters. The building was opened in 1930.

Second pic shows my two pieces just before they were taken down so have their packaging placed alongside ready. Those who might have seen an image of the larger one might notice that it was hung facing the wrong way but as the digital print was good quality on both sides of the fabric it didn’t really matter and even I didn’t notice for a while.

Here is the piece by Jae Marie's with hundreds of stitched figures strung across a corner of the gallery. The length of the white strip to roll it in shows you how long it was. Working together as part of a group developed a new meaning. Video will follow.

Posterizing–I can do this!

I owe a thank you to Daniela for showing lovely posterized photos on her blog recently. I’ve never been able to get this effect to work no matter how high a number I selected. Now I’ve found that a really low number gets the results so I had a play with this image below.

I took this picture of the sky in Hyde Park recently while I was watching some Olympic event. Well – the day was very hot and the grass very cool and comfortable and we had just had lunch with a glass of wine……

Un jour á la Serpentine

Cheering on the marathon swimmers in Hyde Park and a photo inspired by a famous painter.

Then some fun with ‘paint shop’ effects. Guess the painter!

Concealing and Revealing

An intriguing glimpse of things newly revealed by the conservation team at Tyntesfield House, a National Trust property in North Somerset. It was a very inspiring day, spent with my group of masterclass students, seeing the fascinating way in which the life of this grand house is gradually being revealed. The group and I are working towards building a collection of textiles around the theme of ‘Conceal and Reveal’. This visit also gave us an excuse to meet up and enjoy each others company as well as doing some serious note, sketch and photo taking. A few images of items that intrigued me -

      

The first image is the discolouring of a wall surface due to water seepage as well as fading around a removed picture. The last image - can you guess what has been recycled to create this decorative garden feature -  masterclass students not eligible to answer!

Pretty as a picture

One of my summer projects is to produce an online workshop for the Distant Stitch website. My first workshop which I am just finishing is ‘Decorated Papers, with a demonstration video and an accompanying manual. All good fun to do –especially the video! There is a gallery of finished pieces at the end and I am including images of how these decorated papers could be used for different crafts. I thought that Carrie might be amused to see how well her stitched images (given as part of my precious Summer School ‘gift’) looks framed by one of them. I used a little wooden Indian block to print this paper using bleach on a previously inked and salted paper. I thought the decorated paper and the stitched image worked so well together. I hope Carrie will allow me to use this image in the workshop.

 

Double entry

You are invited to “62@50” by the 62 Group of Textile Artists.

Both my pieces ‘Pentathlete’ and ‘Stretching’ will be part of the exhibition so those who have followed the trials and tribulations of the making process, will be pleased to know that they were accepted.

Jae Maries, the Chair, asked members to produce ‘something ‘impressive’ to celebrate this 50th anniversary, so I’m sure it will be an exhibition to see.

The very last time

Happily, my very last stay at Urchfont was a lovely occasion and, yes folks, the sun shone!

 

Group photo with tutors – Sandra is on the far left sitting next to Melanie and Alison.

Dawn is sitting second from right, between Daniela and Carrie. I’m sitting in the centre between Sheila and Jane – just incase you didn’t recognise me!

Standing, from the left – Ros (sometimes known as Pam). Viv, Anne, Alison, Sue, Lesley, Jenn - peering over Meg’s shoulder, Jackie, Stephanie, Pam and Gwen .

Lasting memories of Urchfont – stitched pieces as a gift to me - made by members of Sandra’s class who were working with digital imagery. Such a moving present. Hankies were used.

Last coffee in front of the large fireplace in the foyer –starring, from the left, Alison, Carrie, Daniela, Anne, Sue, Viv, with Jenn and Meg kneeling.

Last lunch, starring all the colourful salad dishes.

 

Lovely sunset from the Stableyard, looking over the carpark.

Thank you to our wonderful two tutors, Sandra Meech and Dawn Thorne for giving such interesting workshops. You’ll see from the pics on the Distant Stitch Summer Gallery that all enjoyed this special event. I’ve put a few here for you to see some images of the last Urchfont Summer School.

Dawn Thorne demonstrating to Alison

Sandra Meech

Lesley – “Shall I rip this here?”

But please note that next year we will move this event to Farncombe Estate in the Cotswolds, (just south of Stratford on Avon). The dates will be Friday 5th July, starting at 16.00 until Monday, 8th July after lunch. This will be the same length but will straddle a weekend to make it easier for many of you to be able to attend.