Seaweed patterns

And whilst photographing patterns in the sand ....there was seaweed too - which may lead to a textile piece...and maybe I should have picked some up to press and dry, so that I can print with it....

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.

Whitbarrow embroidery

A rather uncharacteristic piece of work form me: a detailed, hand stitched embroidery. Inspiration was  the top of Whitbarrow Scar in South Cumbria.

The top of Whitbarrow.

The finished piece with detail below...

Limestone Pavement

Having finished my Meltwater textile piece I need to start thinking about what to do next....

This is a sample piece which may, if I have the patience, lead to a larger gryke based 'thing'! The sample is carved and needle-felted foam with stitchwork and an attempt to make Maidenhair Spleenwort. 

Meltwater : finished!

A while back I posted about the work that was going into my 'Meltwater' textile piece; click here to read that. I've been rather busy, so it's been a bit of a long haul, but it's finally done. All the glass pebbles that are supposed to represent the 'wet' pebbles and the 'dry' felt pebbles have been securely attached, and organza 'water' trickles added together with 'bubbles' and more... Seeing it outside made such a difference to the colours - far more glacial than under artificial light...

Left: the planning stage with some detail and right: finished. 

..and some details ...

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...

Textile Grykes

A rather random post, just catching up with photos of artwork ...this  piece was inspired by grykes - specifically the ones at Moelfre on Anglesey. Gelli prints made onto wet strength tissue paper were cut and layered before machine stitching. I really enjoyed this process and it is one I need to develop further. As it was just a sample piece I didn't really think about framing. When I'd finished it I found I really liked the irregular outline and the stitching that goes off the edge - something to consider next time...

Detail ...

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?