A dry forecast so a walk round Buttermere. The colours are particulalry good this year, but sadly the sun didn't shine, so the colours didn't really show up on the photos as well as they might.
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| Not a sight you often see - the National Trust Buttermere carpark - empty! |
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| What I presume are Kerry Hill Blue sheep in Buttermere - nice! |
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| But nothing beats a Herdie! |
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| Autumn colours. |
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| The lump that is Grasmoor. |
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| Fleetwith Pike. |
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| Looking back down Buttermere. |
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| Stature! |
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| The classic view! |
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| And Grasmoor again. |
Following on from gelli printing fabrics and tissue, (click here for more information), I began to tear them up, ready to piece them together with stichwork...I'm still not sure where this is going,but if I don't do something nothing will happen...
It's at this time of year that we begin to drive round the Anthorn Peninsula, on the way to my folks, so that we can see what birds are around. An unprepossessing start, but the Barnacle Geese were back and a delight to see. There were plenty of Teal, a couple of Shoveller, Golden Plover, Wigeon and Black-tailed Godwits .....and many, many Lapwing. Suddenly all of these dropped out of the sky and we had a brilliant view of a Marsh Harrier - excellent!
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| Barnacle Geese. |
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| Teal. |
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| Across to Scotland. |
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| Incoming tide and plenty of birds in the sky. |
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| Incoming Lapwing. |
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| Prior to the Marsh Harrier. |
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| All settled down again.... |
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| Plenty of Teal at Campfield Marsh..... |
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| ...and sleeping Wigeon. |
Right - I have been waiting to have some sort of mental image about a textile piece based on Wedholme Flow to appear...it isn't happening, so it's time to go for it!
Today I started by dying some fabric - well not really dying it, but printing it because a white piece of paper or fabric is really intimidating! I have a role of museum archive tissue and I had been wondering how it would work for gelli printing. The advantage of the tissue is it can be layered and you can see the underlying image and it's easy to sew through.
I choose my theme as Molinia grass - which is curly when it dries and the seed heads of Bog Asphodel.
I cut stencils for both and used Golden Open acrylics and textile medium to print...the tissue was a joy ot work on ...and I also used some sheets of teabag paper that I had for comparison - both lifted good, clear images ...the teabag paper was stiffer. I also printed onto cotton as a base layer ...
Anyway - here are some of the results. The pieces will be combined and manipulated - I just need to work out how!
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| Archival tissue paper. |
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| Teabag paper. The skin tone lines are oil pastel. |
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| Tissue. |
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| Printing onto a commercial coloured fabric. |
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| Printing onto a purple fabric. |
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| A compilation. |
Another pop into Wedholme this afternoon and after the mornings visit to the Libby Edmondson exhibition (previous blog), I was looking at colour - and texture. What to do is the question - threads have been sorted and a few more purchased ...so to start planning a textile piece!
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| The iconic outline of Skiddaw. |
A chance to enjy this exibition, this morning, with our local art group. Showcasing 270 paintings, this is what I would call a 'proper exhibition'; something sadly lacking much of the time in Cumbria. It runs until November 26th. So if you are local pop in!
A few photographs - and I am still mulling over how these imageds inform my own practice. Some personal thoughts on an excellent exhibition.
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| Liking the composition here, compared to one of the same view without the posts. |
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| A view I know well. |
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| Powerful and bold - interesting in the lack of shadows especially for the left hand tree and the lack of detail in the wall...but it works ...and maybe if I want to go larger, a triptych is the answer - I can carry individual panels upstairs when I need to clear the kitchen table to eat - rather than struggle upstairs with a large piece! |
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| Red underpainting gives warmth and contrast... |
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| ..and if I could have taken one picture home, it would be this one of Pavey Ark ..again a view I know well. |
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| The eye is drawn to the back crags.. |
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| I'm not sure if this is the original or the print - the original was the best - but what I noted was how a flat colour sky made you focus on the far fells and the melting snow lines lead you in to the picture. |
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| Maybe a way forward for me - going back to those acrylics and oil pastels for working outside... to get a sense of movement. |
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| I need to revisit Castlerigg to see how, or if, perspective has been tweaked to get the two iconic focusses - the stones and Blencathra - love it! |
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| Looking up to Sail...... |
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| and down to Force Crag Mine. |
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| Classic views from somewhere between Sail and Eel Crag...and below! |
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| Another classic view! |
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| Descending into the dry and visible at Coledale Hause. |
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| Looking across to Oughterside and Barrow the sun came out - before more dampness drifted in! |
