Lost Days

Hah! On reading the beginning of my last blog, I find it humorous to note that “I am really enjoying working on my first body of work”. My, how times change. I guess everything stopped ‘flowing in the right direction’, because the last few weeks have been quite the struggle. I lost all drive – everything became too hard. Even if I had a good idea I couldn’t be bothered to do it. Basically, I’ve been in a funk. However, I seem to find myself now on the other side of that emotional storm, which was possibly influenced by the bizarre state of the world at the moment. I’ve been kind to myself, and have kept chipping away, and lo! joy in creating is once again found! So here’s what I’ve been up to:

 Free motion embroidery on organza, which I then burn out over a candle, and dye to become a lovely green lichen. Until I break my good embroidery hoop, as well as my rubbish one, the lightbulb blows in my machine, and the knee-press finally drops out.....

When you need to do some work but don't have the enthusiasm, do a piece where you don't have to do something new and you know you'll like the result. Stitching this leather ready to be laboriously painted was quite therapeutic, and I am pleased with the result. Also, now I have something to paint, and I have discovered that I very much like painting. Indeed, I keep asking myself why all these things I'm making aren't paintings.....

 Maybe because I can't get these beautiful random dye patterns with painting! This is unique to the fabric/dye process. This dyed and embroidered silk is to be a simple rock background for a textured leather piece.

 I'm trying to emulate this beautiful crayfish shell, inside and out, so tried painting and texturing Tyvek. This piece is currently in stasis - a phase they all seem to go through. I think it's so I can be exposed to them day after day and just have the image simmering away in the back of my mind until I know what to do with it.

On the days when I just couldn't make it into the studio, I spent time writing - articles, applications for residencies (responses pending) and applying for the York Botanic Art Prize - a similar process to applying for a residency! As things started to turn around, I was boosted by my proposal for the York prize being accepted. It's a new venture, and it is great to see a whole range of media being encouraged, as well as an innovative approach being taken to botanical art. The subject must be a native flora of Western Australia, so I searched long and hard to find a correlation between a seaweed I had photographed on King Island, and one in WA. Finally, I found Ecklonia, which I am moulding in leather, currently soaking in dye.

Interestingly, one thing that helped me during my lost days was looking at what I had written about this project with enthusiasm. It reminded my that my love for nature was my driving force, and was all that I needed to be reinvigorated.

Creating a body of work

I’m really enjoying working on my first real ‘body of work’. Having found the overarching theme that ties it all together, I exult in watching it come together little by little, watching connections form, living the experience. There are many different pieces in creation at one time, in many techniques, and they all reflect on, and inform, each other. Amazingly, despite not having work commitments, days can easily disappear quickly, so often just one little task or some preparatory work gets completed, but it’s the constant daily flow in the right direction that really creates the feeling of immersion. 

I say my first, although I had two exhibitions - Morphology I (2009) and II (2011)  - ‘exploring the fascinating surfaces and forms of fungus and lichen through contemporary textile practices’, featuring felting, dyeing, shibori and free-motion embroidery. Yet this feels quite different. Partly no doubt, because it’s a decade of experience on, it’s solo, and it’s based specifically on my five-week artist residency experience on King Island. It’s my main focus, my number one priority, it’s what I think about night and day.

It’s also very different for me to no longer be working on body-based sculptural pieces. I tried very hard to do this with Morphology, but just couldn’t manage it. It simply would not work back then; now it’s coming together almost effortlessly. It’s really different to living with just the one idea for many months, as I have for my previous wearable art works. I’m living with hundreds of ideas and techniques at the same time, and surprisingly, working within the bounds of natural colour. So many firsts. Below is a rack of backgrounds I am working on - all on solid felt backing.

Another is the use of synthetic material. Normally an anathema to me, for this series I was looking to use materials I already had, as well as those I could find second hand.  Bags of bridal fabric scraps bought years ago had been pillaged for the beautiful lace, silk, and tulle, with polyester satin begrudgingly stored in hope of future use somehow. These came into their own, teamed with Polysol dyes, for creating large background covers. Being polyester, I felt no compunction in painting over them, piecing them together – making the most of them in general.  The dyes have also been a challenge to work with, as they don’t appear true in the pot. To summate – they are murky buggers that remain a bit of a mystery until they come out!

The beauty of this though, is that I finally get to work through this stash of both artificial fabric and the dyes for them. Another way I have found of dealing with synthetics materials in a non-wearable environment is being able to paint in watercolour, as laundering is no longer a consideration.

It’s also really nice to be revisiting the free-motion embroidery techniques which initially brought me into the textile art world, learned in workshops from Ken Smith and Carol Wilkes. I really value the notes and samples I have from these times – from inspiration, to technique notes and machine settings.

 I always remember thinking in high school “if only I could concentrate on one thing, just one discipline”. University disappointed me in this way, but finally, given full free reign, and the years on me to care little about other possible restraints, it’s a joy to be immersed in this work.

Leather Kelp detail panel construction

I took these photos of this work in progress today, imagining I'd be able to do a fun, quick, wee slideshow video of the transformation, but noooo, it's not that easy! So here y'are!! Red leather, sewn onto the backing, ready to be stiffened with glue and then painted.
Inspiration:

*** Lovely lady from the Northside of Brisbane who gifted me all these offcuts of grey and red leather, I have searched high and low for your email address to thank you once again. It was quite a few years ago, and for a while I thought I would use these in a WOW entry, but now they are really coming into their own in my exhibition work. THANK YOU.

Artistic progression

Since my last post, I've continued to play in the studio - including weighing down pva-coated leather as it dried so it retained a stretched format, painting and stitching on 'glass' organza, needle-felting over wire armature, botanical dyeing, and creating fragments with silk paper, cricula cocoons and thread.

Most importantly, design-wise I believe I have found a way to both explore the imagery I have of King Island and represent it in both a meaningful and an artistic way. It was hard to tear myself away from the desire to simply try and reproduce the magic of my photographs, although ultimately I knew this wouldn't work. Like most things, with time, it found it's own way. An overarching theme, within which I could include elements of my photographs, emerged. Suddenly, 20 or so images which were important to me found a way of coalescing into a series of work which made sense, and allowed for focus to be dedicated to the parts I was most interested in. I feel like I have made that leap from simply replicating an image, to using it to create a work which is uniquely my own.

Other images have found their way towards fully sculptural interpretation, which I look forward to experimenting with further. These are the ideas that float around at 3-5am! Suddenly, I seem to have created a vast number of sketches which need to be fulfilled! The book of selected photos I had printed when I returned has been a very useful tool, although it is amazing how often I look for an image that isn't there. Images I initially didn't rate as vital have now become so! The constant scanning through it, and the computer files, sorted into weeks and days can be very time consuming, so on my latest plan of work I made sure to note the file number on each sketch! And they say artists are disorganised......

It seems fortunate in many ways that I had pre-determined my wish to try and create this project with as much of my own materials and that which I could scavenge second hand. TST (These Strange Times) has now made that somewhat of a necessity, but I couldn't be better placed to not only survive, but thrive. I've uncovered amazing fabrics which I have dyed over the years, hand-dyed yarns I've bought, fabrics gifted from friends, dyes unused for many years now coming to the fore as I work through synthetic fabric off-cuts. I am almost entirely unaffected by TST, and once again recognise the fortunate umbrella I live under. Days spent sewing and painting in my studio are special, and I hope one day that the result of this this work will be seen as special by others!

Watercolour on Silk

I had a bit of a Eureka moment during the week when I tried out watercolour paints on satin and silk as a background to embroider over. I’ve always loved watercolour as a medium, but it is by no means as easy as it looks. I feel like I might have discovered another transitory point for myself now though, with painting on fabric. This whole crossover of mediums is turning out to be fun! It’s certainly working better than my last attempt to create art panels many years ago.

Another change is the way I look at and review my progress. Now, with Facebook, Instagram, a blog and a website, I feel obliged (the apps even remind me) to post images frequently. Apart from the time taken to photograph, caption, and post them, I am finding the process to actually be helpful. I create a solid record of my progress to reflect on and use as a resource. It has often been said that a good way of reviewing your work is to look at it in a mirror, or in this case, in a photo. ‘Framing’ my work in this way for reflection is both useful and gratifying.

Much has happened in the studio this week, so a good tidy-up is in order. I avoided that this afternoon by sitting on my table and painting my leather ‘kelp’ for hours. The single sculptural piece didn’t take too long, but the densely layered piece was endless! Still a long way to go on both, but I am happy with progress overall.

A little process work

Having endured my soul searching for the last few posts, today you can just enjoy looking at some fun stuff I've been playing with.

I made a screen to print through by dabbing on pva glue with glad-wrap to make an organic pattern as a resist. I wasn't sure if it would work, but it did, and also survived the clean-up, so I can use it again. I used fabric paint and squeegee today, but I think sponging some paint through would allow some more subtle effects. The image below is one of the last runs, as the paint was running out.

 When it was  dry, I free-motion embroidered over the print, with a thick felt base underneath it, and was very pleased with the result! I'm trying to build up a rock-like texture.

I placed a little piece of leather kelp I made during the week on it.

I made another small piece as a brooch to enter in Timeless Textiles Brooching the Subject exhibition, along with one made of silk paper and uv free-motion embroidery.

 During the week I also played with securing dyed fabric strips with overlocked edges around a frame and draping the rest in the centre to look like ruffly kelp.

 This was a piece of polyester satin painted with metallic acrylic through a flour paste crackle - I liked the effect but thought it was a lot of effort for the result, which led me to the screen-print idea!

When I was tidying up I found my stash of very fleshy eucalyptus leaves from King Island mouldering away between paper in a plastic bag. They made some wonderful marks, and look so beautiful themselves. They are now all dried out and should last a while.

Last week's yarn dyeing worked out well, as did my free-motion embroidery sample with it - sewn on organza on a hoop and burnt out with a heatgun - it shrinks a little, but it also curls up and creates a nice crusty texture.

The orange yarn went pretty well so I tried some different yarn with the lighter green/yellow colours.

This time I also fared better in the winding up when dry - there is a way to make an incredible tangle and drive yourself completely crazy! All in all a success week of work. I am definitely finding it freeing not to have to worry about washability - I can use any paint or process I like. It's also great not to have to consider sizing and openings. I can feel my brain opening up like a blossoming flower. Or perhaps an alien sucker. I guess we'll see.