Kilmartin Rock Art Textile

It had to happen - after our visit to Kilmartin last month - some Rock Art inspired work......

The inspiration...not necessarily this pic, but you get the idea....

The finished piece...

And the detail...

Karst: an artistic response to limestone scenery

Over the last few, well several, maybe even many, months, I have been working on a collection of textile pieces for a collaborative exhibition based on Karst landscapes. I have been working with Kay Leech who is a well known textile artist and today we got to hang the exhibition at Shambellie House, just outside Dumfries. So, here are the videos and photos of our work .... Now the eagle eyed will notice there aren't any labels yet - there will be by the time the exhibition opens on September 18th. It runs until 4th October, open daily 10 - 4, entry is £5 and includes tea/coffee and cake/ scone. Our exhibition is part of a much bigger quilt exhibition, so there's plenty to see. 

Purple Saxifrage Textile

Finally, another finished piece. This one uses layers of hand dyed and printed wet strength tissue, cotton and organza, with machine and hand embroidery. I really like using the wet strength tissue, especially layering it after it has been 'coloured' by taking random textural prints off a Gelli plate. First a couple of photos of Purple Sax on Pen-y-ghent. Sadly we missed our annual trip to see it this year, as the weather was rubbish! 

Playing on the computer to get ideas ...

The finished piece that will soon go off to be framed.

And closer too.....

County Sligo textile...

You may be thinking that I haven't done much artwork, but this last textile piece has taken a while - not so much in the making time, but in the having confidence to try it time! Anyway once it was all cut and pinned, after some initial stitching the fun bits began. 

The piece is inspired by the coastline of County Sligo in northwestern Ireland. I was lucky enough to be able to use very high-definition drone photographs from a scientific paper: Sedimentology and geomorphology of tufa barrages on rock shore platforms by Thomas W Garner, J. Andrew Cooper and Alan Smith. 

The paper focuses on the structures and shapes of tufa on a rocky shore platform. These are formed, in very simple terms, by water from the land, that is carrying calcium carbonate, seeping across the shore platform. As the water slows down it deposits the calcium carbonate, in the form of Tufa, in a range of formations. The shapes of these cascades and barrages are influenced by a range of factors that are addressed by the paper. 

The piece was made from hand-dyed and gelli printed, layered fabrics that are machine and hand stitched, as well as having some paint added to them. 

and below...some close-ups.

Meltwater textile

It may appear that I haven't been doing a lot of artwork, but when I can, I have... My current project has involved a lot of thinking - trying to do things in the correct order and fusing glass!  So here are a few photos of progress so far. I began by printing the back cloth - using a large sheet of polythene; rolling acryllic paint onto it, mark making with in it, adding acrylic inks and then taking a mono print on cloth. This was then quilted - by machine stitching and hand stitching ...I have planned where fused glass pebbles go on it, to represent the wet stones within the meltwater channel as well as felt pebbles, for the drier pebbles....there's quite a long way to go, but the photos may give you an idea of progress so far... There are organza layers and plenty of hand embroidery to be added yet as well...

Watercolour splashiness

I don't often do watercolours. Apart from sketchbooks, I only do one, for Hesket Show, every year - so it was slap some paint down and see what happens...to be fair I really enjoyed the afternoon sploshing paint around and may well do more! These were based on South Uist, a misty moisty day! The bottom one was my Hesket Show entry ...and it did get a first...although it was rather close run with Tom's technically brilliant painting of a 'Reconstruction of the early paravian dinosaur Microraptor on Ginko from early Cretaceous China, in the compostion of a Audobon's Bird's of America plate', gaining second. To be fair, it came down to the judges taste...I may be forgiven at some stage! 

Tom's watercolour.

Dark Red Helleborine Textile

Following making my Dark Red Helleborine book click here to see it, I have finally finished the textile piece it inspired. The fabric was coloured using gelli plates with hand-made stencils, watercolour was added and then it was patched and sewn/quilted. It took a while to make! 

Dark Red Helleborine and habitat.

Sample pages from my design book...

Printing and colouring the base fabric....

The finished piece and details below....

What to do next? 

A couple of oils...

At the moment I'm taking a break from leading workshops and being at Crafts of the North. This is so that I can travel more and also focus on doing what I want to do as far as artwork is concerned, rather than worrying about what sells. This first oil painting though was a pleasure to do as a commission, as I like snow, found it challenging to paint and I know the place well...

Skiddaw from Powter Howe.

And the painting below, was the first one I have done just for me, for many years - literally! It's from our visit to Shetland and the wild, wet and windy day at Hermaness on Unst, crawling to the cliff edge to watch the Gannets and admire their flying skills, before the next squall arrived! 

Hermaness, Unst.

Limestone Ferns

Finally a chance to finish off this textile piece - a mixture of hand dyed fabrics, silk painting and batik techniques, gelli printing, fabric photos, patchwork, quilting and machine embroidery. 

Piecing my fabrics ...

The end result...details below.