Back to Spring Cleaning

The last bit of machine sewing resulted in a satisfying number of empty spools.

I do enjoy using my stash of resources.

I sent a swatch sample to the SDA Swatch Collection.

It is a piece of bed-sheet that was wrapped around a maple tree for over a year. I stitched it with the colours I observed on the tree during the February new moon.

Then I  went back to getting my studio in order.

 It was only while following this urge to clean up that it hit me  - I have spring-fever.

Amber, our son's girlfriend, gave me this delicious yarn last Christmas. She bought it in a Melbourne market cause it looked like me, she said.

Hand spun, hand dyed, chunky Australian merino wool by Hawthorne Cottage - hawthornecottage.com.au

I wound it into a ball and put it out to wait for it to tell me what it wants to be.

While cleaning up I came across this piece of light-weight silk. 

It said it wanted to be with Amber's yarn.

Now they sit there together - waiting.

Synesthesia #23 Orange-yellow #2

I had to make another #23 because a friend bought the 1st one I made.

This time I used the cut-back applique technique.

I like using worn clothing in my work.

My old brown linen pants are just the right colour.

I am waiting for the day when I cut out a piece of fabric from the garment I am wearing because it is just what I am looking for.

Here are the fabrics I selected.

Ooooooow - Goggle's 'auto correct' makes them look off.

This is the 2nd go, I must confess. The first one had to be rejected because I stacked the fabrics in the reverse order. Am I making these mistakes because I didn't stitch much while I was studying and I have to get my brain up and firing in a different way again?

Viola - Synesthesia # 23 Orange-yellow, again.

It is hanging in the Tulista Gallery in Sidney, in the Small Expressions exhibitions, on until the end of March.

Synesthesia #22 Yellow-orange

After completing my studies and starting to cleaning up my studio I was keen to get back to making.

I decided to take a break and make a couple more in the Synesthesia series - a collection of  24 small works about how I feel about different colours - what their individual energies feel like.

#22 Yellow-orange was next. I knew the feeling I wanted to evoke so assembled the threads and fabrics.

I made a quick sample...

...and started. But I was fighting fires the whole time. The first mistake was laying down too much 'dark'. Working over it with a lighter thread turned it a greeny colour. The circles persisted in forming straight lines...

Eventually I gave up and started again. I took the time to establish the values and their range then made decisions within those parameters to get the right feeling/energy.

Finished.

I think of a fermenting, bubbling energy when I see this colour.

Mending, Shovelling, Putting Away

In between sorting and putting away resources I would go out and shovel.

One time, after coming back inside, I found the mending pile had grown to toppling height.

I dealt with it.

More shovelling but the sun is helping.

Awkward Selfie: I found this carpenter-type apron and have been wearing it to see if it would be useful.

It is. I could make one in an interesting fabric.

Studio Tidy-up Time Continues

I am taking my time cleaning up my studio because it is giving me time to think - the type of thinking that goes on when my hands are busy and the music is up loud. The ideas just rise to the surface and all I have to do is jot them down for later contemplation.

One of my recent treasures a friend picked up for me is an old Gray & Dunn biscuit tin full of silk threads...

...on wooden cotton reels.

I will wait to see what they want to become.

Done & have the paper to prove it!

My drawing desk. 

Notice the drafting board is empty.

 I completed the final assignment, presented it....

...and graduated.

For the past couple of months I put everything else more or less on hold and focused on this program. 

I feel a great sense of achievement and also pleased I am able to return to my 'normal'.

I took the following week off to do nothing in particular - sleep, read, sleep, eat.

This week I am back in my studio.

 First I want to put away an accumulation of materials: project left-overs, acquisitions, gifts. 

While doing this annual task I enjoy getting reacquainted with my resources. I keep a pen and paper handy because the activity always generates a heap of ideas.

More Christmas Knitting Completed

Amber's Christmas knitting is finished - for the 2nd time. I guessed her head size and made it too small the first time round.

It is Fleece Artist's Ana Bandana in their luscious Woolie Silk (65% wool/35% silk).

Amber lives in New Zealand and there is no rush to send it to her because it is summer there. I am sure she doesn't want to be reminded winter is coming, just yet.

I was successful with an auction bid for this copper kettle and tankard.

Now I am set to do some natural dyeing with a copper mordant.

Composting Up Close ....

We make compost in wire sleeves held together with twist ties - real simple

But in our winter-wet climate the pile gets a little too wet.

I need to make some winter hats for the piles.

We took 1 pile apart to feed the camellia at the front door.

 It is having a rough time this winter. With the 1st lot of heavy wet snow it had fallen over.

Luckily there is a sailor in the house who knows knots.

I think it is the engineer who added the containers full of water as a counterweight.

Its not pretty at the front door but it appears to be working.

The camellia needed compost & mulch because it has woken up already and is working on its flowers.

Once it has finished blooming we can prune it back so it can stand up on its own again.

Ready To Make Compost

Ever since Ron & I did the Gaia College Organic Master Gardener course we have made compost together - not the most romantic of dates but always most interesting.

The key is to have the materials on hand before a compost-making session.

We have been collecting and will be ready to make compost once things warm up a bit.

Above is a pile of our wood chips produced when we had a pile of small branches shredded.

A pile of horse manure that is maturing nicely.

I collect it in my car, not Ron's, from a nearby stable.

The reason why I have to visit coffee shops is to collect their grounds.

All of our 'non-shiny' waste paper gets collected in a pile outside to start decomposing.

As does all of our 'non-shiny' cardboard.

I have been know to raid our neighbour's when they put it out on recycling day.

And most valuable of all, our raked up leaves.

Now if it would just warm up a few degrees so we can use the compost we have and start making some more.

We know how to have a good time together.

More Christmas Knitting Completed

Take some delicious yarns: (left) -3 ply wool & silk hand-dyed by Fleece Artist & (right) Diamond's lace weight pure silk...

... add needles & follow Fleece Artist's Ana Bandanna pattern.

The 2 yarns blended together so well into a softly draping sunset-looking fabric.

Younger daughter modeled it before it was packed up and sent to her older sister.

The pleating at the back looks like origami.

I have heard it fits well.

'Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters' in Saskatchewan

The 4th showing of Articulation and Material Girls' response to the Bay of Fundy and the River Thames, respectively, will be shown in its 7th exhibition - 3 in the UK & 4 in Canada.

This time it is in The Gallery on 3rd, Watrous, Saskatchewan. 

It is the last time before the individual works will be boxed up and returned to owners in the UK and across Canada.

This international collaboration has been an exciting and rewarding project for both groups.

Feb 19 - March 10, 2014

Opening Reception Feb 20, 1 - 4 pm

Gallery open Thursday to Saturday 1 - 4 pm

Articulation member, Donna Clement has designed all 4 posters for the Canadian exhibitions. This last one features one of her works, 'Erosion as Joggins Fossil Cliffs -"Ammonite".'

Carole Sabiston 'Everything Below All of the Above'

There are 2 galleries full of Carole's work.

This one gave me a start because I used the same PK Page poem in my degree studies. 

'Planet Earth:after PK Page' 2013

It was so interesting to see how Carole worked with the same words.

'Connecting Threads: Arc of Carol Shields' 2013

This is a tribute to her friend, Carol Shields, the Noble prize winning writer of short stories.

This image doesn't do justice to the complexity of the silk layers.

3 friend, Esther, Kati, Sarah, all artists, enjoying looking through the large 'Touch Book.'

It is a large exhibition with lots to see, so I have visited twice so far and may go again.

Carole Sabiston Opens at Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

We attended the opening of Carole Sabiston's exhibition at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, a retrospective solo called "Carole Sabiston: Everything Below All of the Above"

Curator Pat Bovey, a former director of the gallery and now from Winnipeg, spoke to a packed audience about her long friendship with Carole and her observations over the years as Carole's oeuvre grew.

Left: Pat Bovey, Carole Sabiston, Jon Tupper, Director

Pat's text panel.

 Hope you can read this.

http://aggv.ca/exhibitions/carole-sabiston