Sunday 13 March 2011

Winter's back

I don't mind a bit of wind & rain, keeps me in the studio working. As soon as the sun is out & it has been off & on this week with beautiful rainbows,  inbetween the sleet showers I've been trying to finish some pruning. My it's a bit chilly tho! There's snow on the hills down to a few hundred feet. The weather has flattened the crocus but I enjoyed them while they were upright. Working in the studio in turn keeps me away from the news. It's not often it brings a tear to my eye but the latest earthquake is devastating. Possibly not helped by the fact the middlest is in NZ & it was put on alert for the tsunami. He's fine, he rang yesterday but who'd have thought he'd be away for 3 weeks & there'd be 2 earthquakes? That's selfish - I wish there was actually something I could do. So I work.

The honesty is almost totally shredded in the garden so I used some seed heads that I harvested in earliy  winter. A few practices for my sketchbook.


gold 'brown' paper, dressmakers tisssue gold leaf & a piece of lace from a top I found in a charity shop made completely of different lace strips. I was happy to pay the £4 or £5 as it was for my work & quite a find but I can't believe the day has come when I can't afford, well, justify,  the prices in a charity shop. Everyone's trying to grab as much as they can before all the money runs out I guess. Rediculous.



More dm tissue, chocolate wrappers gold metallic organza with pattern - remnant bin YEARS ago,slubby silky fabric. I looks like an alien the way I built it so I turned it upsidedown & I think I prefer it. I don't like 'seeing things' in my work, specially don't want aliens creeping in ;)







Haven't used feathers for ages, seem to only be able to use white seagull feathers against the color blue - this is potato sacking, I think, I meant to hand stitch along the stitch holes that appear when ripped open. Need to make some more rusted paper & the background is some papers I stuck down ages ago didn't like it so as everyone was doing, I covered it with a wash of gesso, much better. Very stiff to stitch in tho, need to use weaker pva maybe.



purple burgundy shiny fabric, Liberty print , text, gold organza, little windows thru to the layers beneath.


This honesty collage has a linen ground with the gessoed paper & burgundy purple  fabric, a little bit of text & gold organza. I free machined (yes, me!!!!) around the seed heads thanks to watching a Talking Threads program with Colouricious last year. This episode had Di Wells on who is a quilter, uses 3 or 4 layers of tissue paper & stitches thru honesty seed heads/casings with lots of different patterns - she carefully crumples the tissue paper, rearranging & softening the fibres which is similar to what Cas Holmes calls Momigami, a Japanese process that uses a little oil  to change the paper makeup.  I 'crumpled' some  heavy brown paper normally found at the bottom of a banana box, as you do; nearly broke my hands, wish I'd known about the oil then! Di Wells makes really lovley delicate work. I'm not a quilter, nor am I delicate! I just got totally involed in rewatching the video when I was collecting the links, fatal that! & I forgot about her  suggesting using Acrylic Wax to soften for stitching &  protect the seedhead, much like I was doing with gel medium & the Acer leaf a while ago. Hmm,  who minds a bit of shattering ;) I'm so grateful to Colouricious, too as they are sending out all the episodes so we can see them again........for free. Go check them out, It might not be too late to join in. Lots of video snippets too.


Linen ground, gold 'brown paper & gessoed ground with gold leaf flakes, stitched of course. Oh & that wonderful gold leaf pen. I dread the day when that runs out!

20 comments:

Laura said...

We are all so shaken. I'm grateful your son is well and that you are finding ways to keep busy and find some inner peace despite the turmoil.

Jen xo said...

the news is devatating...hope all in Nz will be ok, at least they have warning....

love your collages...how do you mount them...ive been making some to take to a market and am not sure what to do?

ju-north said...

Yes it's getting to the stage where we wonder what will happen next. Poor Japan. Love your new work - very inspiring!

Anonymous said...

I am glad that your son is safe. Love the collages, especially the purple ones.

artymess said...

Emma I'm sure your son will be ok ..its best to keep busy .....my son has just returned from thailand and its a worry when they travel under normal conditions......
Loving the collages ......xx

Iz said...

I love honesy seedheads. Years ago at a previous house we had it growing in the "garden" as a weed. I wish I had some in my garden now!

Ro Bruhn said...

Love what you've done Emma. I've also been working my way through those wonderful free videos from Colouricious. We also grow honesty here in Oz which is an addded bonus.

Jill said...

Watched that video with the seed heads - yours look very successful.
Almost can't bear to look at the news, glad your son is safe, what an experience!

Jan said...

So glad to hear your son is safe. The news is devastating. Surely there will be something we can do to help soon. For now we can pray.

Your Honesty series is wonderful although your alien one still looks like an upside down alien. Sorry, just being honest;-) Take care.

Numinosity said...

I love this series. You're really on to something here. Beautiful.
Glad that your son is safe too.
xoxo Kim

suziqu's thread works said...

Hi Emma
I can only thank God we can turn our thoughts to our creativity with all this terrible grief, destruction and disaster surrounding us at the moment. Your new work for your sketchbook is fantastic - loving the shades of blues, greys, pinks and golds. Aren't those honesty seedheads gorgeous and the flowers a treat! Thanks for your comment about the journal - I don't think I'll bew giving this one away - well not yet anyway! You know what it's like when you first complete something you love but later on - well somehow it is not quite so important anymore?
Love, Suzy

Anonymous said...

Good to see you stuck in on these pieces. Wonderful work with the combination of materials and stitching, I am looking at great things from you my friend, fab. xox Corrine

Heloise said...

Glad your son is safe.

You have created some interesting pieces this week, I particularly like the second to last one.

Look forward to see what you do this week.

Jensters said...

Emma im so glad your Son is safe its a mothers worse nightmare....such stunning work here i love the burgundy ones x

Julie said...

I'm glad your son is all right Emma. There aren't enough words for the devastation in Japan.

You may not do delicate but your collages are just that and very beautiful. xx

layers said...

yes working in the studio seems the best way to deal with all the heartbreaking news and images coming our way- glad your son is safe.

bois-fleurie said...

Your new work is just beautiful and inspiring. I have been working filling all my spare time as I too find the news heartbreaking and can't get it out of mind. It also dreadful that we can do nothing to help.

Lynda Howells said...

Glad your son is well. i know how hard it is when something happens when one of your children are away in that country. My son was meant to be at the resturant,on top of the trade centre, the day it was bombed..he missed his flight from Nassau and so was late getting there. We didn't know he was safe foe 48 hours!! But at least now l never moan when he over sleeps nor does his new wife!Hax
Your work is beautiful. I hasve great difficulty getting honesty as l now no longer have a garden!x lynda!

Linda Vincent said...

Ooooh I lOVE these collages Emma! You have such a distinctive style. I especially like the way you constructed the 6th one.
I also saw the Colouricious video last week (now I want some honesty in the garden - trouble is you only get seeds the second year:-)
XX

Anonymous said...

congrats on your workshop... the seed head drawings are lovely... the feather on the blue ~ beautiful :)