Sunday 24 February 2013

Arts week preparation, and foxy projects...

Well it has been an eventful week.

One cat less than we began the week with. It was a horrible decision that I had to make at the vets and then I had less than hour to come up with the right words to tell the children about it when I picked them up from school; the fear of their upset was worse than my grief. So imagine my surprise when their response was "Oh OK, have you got anything to eat?". So now my only regret is that I didn't think to get a big handful of his fur to use in my felting. Is that too weird to mention?

The North Somerset Arts Week thing has really taken off and I have very busy meeting all the artists in the Nailsea cluster to get the proofs signed off for the brochure. I have met some wonderful and extremely interesting people, got all sorts of hints and tips and I am just beginning to grasp how helpful this will be in terms of contacts and networking. Encouragingly nobody has sniggered or frowned when they've asked about my art and I've shown them it. As a result of all the people I've met, I now have two people to talk to about framing my pictures for the arts week, a recommendation of some printable fabric sheets (more to come about these below) and a tip-off about the South West Textile Group, sounds like it might be a good group to join.

As for felting itself, I've not had time for anything but my next project has become clear. World Book Day is looming and like so many other schools, ours has decreed that children should dress up as a book character. My 7-year-old has decided that he would like to be a fox, either Fantastic Mr Fox or the fox out of  the Gruffalo and I have a vision of a headdress complete with ears and long nose. It is an ambitious project to say the least. Yesterday we went to the wonderful Spinning Weal in Clevedon and he helped me pick out the raw materials: orange, white and black wool and a piece of black thong for whiskers:-



On Thursday I saw a very good friend who also loves to felt. We had done some felting together the week before; it was Valentine's Day and something in the air, along with the vibrant colours in her wool stash, got to me and I made something quite out of character:-



I don't like it very much at the moment but we had the idea of printing some words onto fabric, cutting them out and sewing them onto it, so I was really glad to hear a recommendation of EQ Printables inkjet fabric sheets from one of my arts week contacts. They have been ordered and I will give you an update soon. But in the meantime let me just show you the amazing picture my friend Laura started while I was messing about with red and pink kitsch; I had introduced her to the wonderful world of Rosiepink and I think it had a profound effect!

Tuesday 19 February 2013

North Somerset Arts Week, and baring my soul

Well this is proving to be an interesting week so far. A few months ago a friend asked me if I would like to exhibit some of my pictures at her beautiful and huge parents' house, along with another friend (three of us with three different things to offer: felting, patchwork and jewellery), during North Somerset Arts Week (in May 2013). It involved paying for copy and photos in the brochure but we all felt this would be worthwhile as it seems to be a bigger thing every year and the brochures (beautiful in themselves) are to be found in lots of outlets. It all went quiet for a while and then last week we had an email to say our local coordinator was now unable to volunteer, and to ask if anyone else had time to devote to it. Without thinking about it, I found myself replying to say I could; and as a result I am getting messages from artists to ask when they can come and check their proof in the brochure! I haven't managed to meet Georgina (the Framing Fairy) yet who will talk me through it all, but it should be an interesting journey...

I was fiddling about with this blog a couple of days ago and my little girl looked at it and started laughing. "Mummy's naked!" she giggled. And yet I had all my clothes on while I was typing! She knew about something that you don't (yet). I have been deliberating a lot over whether to display my last picture to the world (including friends, family and acquaintances who might really not want to see any more of me than they already do). You can see the head on my profile photo at the right but not the rest. Maybe if I write about it to you for a while it might clear my head about it all...

After I wrote to Fizz Gallery in Clevedon and had the distinct and unpleasant impression of having taken all my clothes off and then asking for an opinion, it got me thinking. One Saturday morning I woke up and started thinking about whether a felted nude would be possible. The felting process is an unpredictable journey. In case you don't know about it, it involves getting fluffy dyed wool and placing it into the desired design, then getting soap and warm water and very basically rubbing it like hell. There is a lot of shrinkage as it stops being fluff and joins together to become one piece of fabric. This can make shapes distort, areas get larger or smaller and nothing ever ends up exactly as you were expecting. This could be risky when a naked body is involved! But I had a vision of a slightly portly, amusing Beryl Cook style of lady, in which case distortion and unexpected bulbousnesses would add value rather than look scary. I thought I would give it a go.

And the really weird thing is that this time nothing really distorted; everything stayed where it was meant to be and the lady's proportions remained, well, ladylike. The only thing that changed was that the nipples had shifted a tiny bit upwards, but in reality isn't that something that those of us over a certain age would quite like?! So I started stitching over the top, telling myself that if I got the lines a bit wrong it would add the comedy aspect that I had envisaged. But it didn't happen. And the weirdest bit of all was that one or two of the lines I stitched seemed extremely and uncomfortably familiar to me. Then the children came home from school and asked "Mummy why have you done a naked picture of yourself?". My other half saw it and said "It is you, isn't it?". When I have shown it to a few select friends I have had to cover my face as I have unveiled it. So am I going to show it here?

Maybe I will... sorry if I put you off your lunch. This really isn't something I normally do!

Sunday 17 February 2013

More pictures...

I just realised I have some more pictures that I haven't shown you yet. Once I've got this out of the way I'll know that all my work is on here and I can calm down with the photos and talk a bit more (which may or may not be a good thing).

The first one for today is another version of the panoramic beach scene that is luxuriating in Artfellows until its new owner finds it. It is based on an actual place in Brittany but I can't possibly tell you where, as you might book up the holiday home we rented there when we need it! We spent two weeks there last summer and fell out of our back door every day straight onto this beach...

I'm not sure if you can see it in this photo but I used some lovely variegated metallic thread to highlight the effect of the sun on the sea; I was worried that it might be a bit too bling but I think it works.

I also have another meadowy one:-
 
And this is my latest finished article; I was in a foul mood one gloomy wet Thursday and thought I would try to snap myself out of it by doing something creative. I am trying to be a bit more arty with my titles too so in a particularly pretentious moment I thought of "15 Squares" for this:-


And that is it for now I think. I have a few others that are unfinished and one or two that really aren't worth showing you. And there is one more but I need to build up a little nerve before I unveil that one, for reasons that will become clear if I ever do...

Friday 15 February 2013

My latest creation

I just wanted to share my latest creation, this time nothing to do with felt. I am honoured that a friend (who is as far as I can tell the best cake maker in the village) has asked me to make a cake for her 40th birthday celebrations tonight. It is quite a responsibility. Chocolate, more than ever, was needed for the occasion. The cake itself - although quite delicious judging from the offcuts - has very obviously sunk in the middle but I remember seeing on a Nigella programme a terribly sunken cake and it was covered in all sorts of fripperies to disguise it. I'm sure I have a memory of her talking about sunken cakes being extra dense and rich and gooey and as this is her recipe I am sticking to that line. The chocolate ganache was thicker than I was expecting and so doesn't look as smooth as I was hoping. So I have gone for the "throw everything available on it" approach and I hope that it has enough bling, and that we have all had enough booze by the time it appears, to get a bit of a gasp when it appears. Happy returns Tamar!


And some more...

Back from sorting out lunch for three hungry children and myself, now I can dig out some more things to show you...
 
 
This was my first attempt at stitching on home-made felt and only took a few minutes. A friend who prefers abstracts says this is her favourite. I'm not sure but I think it could look good in a small frame.
 
 
And then we have this one... I made it for a very dear friend who is also very much into her felting. Maybe one day I can show you some of her amazing creations.
 
 
And below is one that I made for another good friend. We had a deal whereby I would be a case study for her Indian head massage course; it involved her giving me 4 head massages, such an ordeal, and in return I made her a picture. I think I had the better side of the deal! She wanted 2 pictures so there should be another coming soon: I just need to measure it and its frame again to make sure I make a pair for it. I haven't tried to make felt to a certain size before so that in itself will be a challenge. She wants daisies in the second one, should be good. 
 
 
And then there is my paisley pattern...
 
A while ago I built up my nerve and rang Fizz Gallery in Clevedon to talk to them about taking some pictures and Sandy, one of the owners, asked me to send her some photos by email. It was really nerve-wracking and I likened it to taking all my clothes off and saying to her "Well what do you think?". It was especially hard as it is  the one place I have always had in mind when I have been making all these pictures. I waited and waited and have heard nothing but they are having some big upheavals of their own; my timing has been poor and I am having to think about my next move. Sometimes I guess it would be too easy to have your dreams handed to you on a plate and if I really want this to happen I need to really fight a bit harder for it.


First things first...

Hmm so here it is, my very first post on my very first blog. It is a bit like having an empty piece of paper in front of me and not knowing what to draw. Shall I start with the story of my feltmaking before I start on some other random rant? OK here goes: I did my first bit fo feltmaking a few years ago at the wonderful Spinning Weal in Clevedon and was to be honest not that inspired. The breakthrough came last year when I bought a new sewing machine; I wondered what it would be like to machine-stitch over my felted pictures (which were a bit fuzzy and needed a bit of stitch-led definition). I thought it worked and so did a lot of friends and family. After a lot of positive feedback and a summer to think about it, I thought it might be good to try selling it - not necessarily for the money but just to see if I could, to get a buzz from the feeling that somebody out there liked it enough to pay good money for it. Well that hasn't happened yet but I am trying to remain quietly positive. It has taken a few months to get a "portfolio" together of some of my favourite types of pictures and of some new ideas, in the hope that I have something that might appeal to anyone, and in the process getting some more experience with some different techniques. Below are a few...

This was inspired by some flowers I photographed all on the same day last September.
Sea pictures are my very favourites; I could do these all day every day and I love the way the felting process makes everything move around in an unpredictable sea-like way.

 
I did one after being really inspired by Moy Mackay's art:-
 
 
 
Then on a bit of a floral theme I went for some nasturtiums. Just should have used some brighter colours I think...

 
I am really lucky to have a brother with an amazing framing workshop and gallery (Artfellows in Fakenham, Norfolk) and he has three of these waiting for a prospective owner but no takers as yet. I would like to think I am not barking up the wrong tree as it's taken me ages to find a medium I felt happy with and I'm sure this is it. I have more to show you but this will do for now...