twenty to life...

I can't let you guys have all the fun! though I can't come close to being as clever as the drawings Laura is doing and my subject is a lot less hairy than Hilary's.
I'm not sure if this is cheating but it was life night on Wednesday so that's where my drawings are from this week ( and maybe next as well)  but they are timed drawings...I hope you all won't ban me from the challenge!?

This is  Debbie...both 20 minutes with charcoal pencil on newsprint.

second 15 minutes

I am loving this - well done Marie/Annabel for the suggestion. It's the time limit that is making it so great for me - it makes it do-able timetable wise and stops me fussing. My boy again and this was hard - and I haven't got his eyes/face quite right ... but that is why we are doing this isn't it? - to improve. I just know these sketches are going to feature in work in the future. And now, having just been wowed by Laura's, I am going to have to put an ipad back on the birthday list!

Today's drawing

Well actually it was last night's quick drawing. We've had Brushes on the iPad for ages, but I've only really played with it once before. Of course with Hockney's work being the thing of the moment I was reminded about it and thought I'd have a bash. It is not easy! I did think the sort of marks that are possible to make would translate quite well to stitch though.

Bye for now,
Laura

Here is my first 15 minute daily sketch. Those who know me might have guessed that sketching animals is something I am very keen to be able to do profficiently. This is my best boy - in pencil and from a photo as Dixter never stays still long enough, although I would love to be clever enough to capture him in those few seconds ... but one thing at a time! I can see all sorts wrong with it, but I am actually quite pleased with it for a first attempt. It has got something of his essence. I am very excited to see how this develops and hopefully my skill increases as the days/weeks go by ... and 15 minutes was easy to find - Hilary x

Second Pot

Hello everyone - I'm delighted to report that I have finally got my second pot piece finished. As it has been quite a while, I thought a very brief re-cap might be in order. So below is roughly where we started with this one:

Which was then worked on and adapted a little, quilted and some painted bondaweb and foiling added - all aiming at pulling those disparate fabrics together a bit. So that got us to here:

I then went on to add the pot and tree in raw edge applique, together with some japanese lettering which reads 'Bonsai'. The quilt was then backed, bound and mounted on a board, as with quilt one. So here is 'Oriental Pot 2: Bonsai':

You have to love my titles don't you? I view them as ironic (not)! Here is a detail which hopefully helps to see the effect of the painted and foiled bondaweb 'moon', although you have to see it in the flesh to get the glimmer:

And finally - here is a quick shot (not well composed - sorry, it was raining) just to give the idea of how the two pot pieces will sit together. There will be a third, which will sit on the right and balance them up - at the moment I think it will be orchids, but that might yet change! - Hilary x

First drawing for the challenge

Okay, now you know why I need this challenge! Graphite stick on watercolour paper.

Drawing Challenge

Did someone throw down a gauntlet? Did I say that I was too busy to join in? Oh well, don't believe everything I say. Fitting things in is all a case of priorities. We have nothing ready for dinner tonight, but I have a drawing to show you.

 Don't know how you want to work this, but for the record here's a bit of info. It's the first prep study for the drawing that needs to go on my birdcage quilt for Orientation. It's worked across a double page spread of my A4 sketchbook using graphite pencil. Spent about 40 minutes on it. Guess that's why I love drawing so much more than quilts sometimes, you've got to love the speed you can get things down.

With this drawing done I feel more confident now to draw on the quilt top. I'll do this direct, probably with Inktense as they'll be the more permanent than graphite, but I might add some fine pen too if I've got some.
Looking forward to seeing the results of what everyone else is working on!
Bye for now,
Laura

Congratulations!

Congratulations, Hilary and Stephanie, both winners at Uttoxeter!
I had a splendid day out and spent very little! The embroidery exhibition was truly inspiring, some exceptional work, or have I just not been looking closely enough?
Anyway, it was worth the journey, even from here in Herefordshire.

Just fiddling

Sunday was wet and miserable, and I didn't get any choccy eggs (just as well!) so I was at a loose end. As I get older I get less and less able to just sit and do nothing;  I twitch and get irritable, and need to be doing!

So I just had a play with some Chinese artefact photos that Hilary kindly sent me a couple of months ago, following a museum visit she made.  They are simply copied onto fabric and appliqued to cream silk, and stitched.  It was very satisfying working on something small, but I don't know what I'll do with it!

I also had another attempt at the red teapot on the tiled floor with bamboo, but to be honest, it was so ghastly I couldn't look at it anymore and put it in the bin!!  :))

from skirt to quilt, well nearly

Hi everyone,

I know this isn't very thrilling, but I thought I ought to show you all what I've been working on this weekend. Do you remember the skirt from the fashion show that got cut up? Well, I assembled all the pieces on my design wall and when they were in roughly the right places I held them in place with some temporary spray adhesive. Last time you saw it, it looked like this:

The benefit of using temporary spray glue is of course that it is temporary so I had to get right on and stitch it together permanently.

Everything is simply laid down raw edge and I've held all of the pieces with a simple running stitch worked near the edge with a hand dyed thread. 

I'd really like to hand quilt this whole piece, but life (or deadlines) is just too short this time so it'll be machine quilted maybe with a bit more hand stitch detail if it seems appropriate.

Because this quilt top is something of an assemblage the composition doesn't make sense anymore. The ribbons used to reach the waistband of the skirt but now they stop dead and the cages and birds hang in mid air! The idea I have is to extend the drawing of the ribbons to reach a large key ring (with lots of keys) held by a hand. To that end I've taken some photos today which I hope I'll be able to work from. These are about the best (it's a rubbishy grey day for photos).

I'd quite like to add in lots more cages too. I'm thinking of the masses that you see in bird markets in the Far East. When I looked for a photo to post here from the web they all seemed to be copyright, but you know the sort of thing I mean. Next step will be to start the drawing of the hand, keyring and extra keys. I think I'll use a fine black pen, but I'm worried it might not be bold enough. We'll see.

Bye for now,
Laura
P.S. I've started blogging on the Fingerprint website too. I've kicked it off with the first part in a bit of a series about the digital printing process. There's a link in the sidebar or you can get there from here.