Colour, Colour, Colour

Life has been busy - working with many textile projects that were interupted with a spate of colds, coughs and illness in the family.  I was sorry to have to miss the recent opening of Quilt Art's Dialogue exhibition in Heidelberg at the end of March and could not attend, due to illness.
My piece for the exhibition is called Reality and Rhetoric and is 2.7m wide.  The slats of transfered image hide the dialogue that reflects the history and economic life on the Somerset Levels, especially after the flooding of last year.

Back to my roots

When we moved to Somerton, we joined the Bruton Art Society which is a skilled group of painters who love all aspects of fine art, andwe can attend lectures, outdoor painting sessions and workshops. I recently did a workshop with Annette Burkitt an artist from Frome and we looked at Abstraction and Colour in the Landscape with reference to Gaugin and Kandinsky.

Well...
Getting a brush in my hand (except for painting paper and cloth for collage in stitched textiles) was wonderful to revisit.  Especially using Gouache which I used for illustration when I worked in publishing, years ago.  I had forgotten what a great medium it was.  Vibrant yet forgiving.

The first day we took the painting by Gaugin called the Talisman and looked at colour and shape.  This is not exactly like the original but I love how 'freeing' it was to just look at an artist's work for inspiration.

I have used this practise myself in textile teaching and really loved the experience of just giving myself over to another work of art.

Then, later we took our own inspiration and developed two paintings, again looking at the vibrance of colour, shapes and marks on the surface

A winter lane near Ilminster

Hills north of Somerton

Now I surprised myself at how colourful these paintings were. Not my usual pallett.

I am loving revisiting 'art' again and really want to do more painting - work, just for me.  None of these will necessarily find their way into stitched textiles, but I am keen to explore so much more 'art' practice and really having fun. 

So watch this space.... I'm busy filling sketchbooks now with new directions and will post more pictures soon.

Thanks for reading 

Facebook Challenge

I have risen to the challenge of 3 pieces on the Facebook Art challenge for 5 days and it has been fun to see so much creativity.  I am writing blog entries on my new website, so for now, will try and do the same for entries for Art Space.   Here is Day 1 and Day 2 so far if you are not a facebook viewer.

The first, current work based on the Somerset Level Flooding and the 2nd drawings and marks that inspired the Last Silence work as wall hung and 3D work.   Watch this space for more entries.

On another note...
I am planning to offer short mini idea/workshop suggestions in future blogs. They will mostly include drawing, collage, and imagery for inspiration, art and stitch practise.
I know there is so much 'out there' online and not sure if there is a place for it, but feel that as I am always creating and filling sketchbooks as a starting point for my own work, it might be good to offer some suggestions for others who may not be able to take classes so regularly.

As mentioned - the ArtSpace (the same name) blog part of my new website will have up-to-date information and news and I eventually hope to introduce flip page mini workshop approaches in the future as well.  Please keep an eye on the website   www.sandrameech.com  as well.

Thanks for reading.....more to come.

A new year and NEW WEBSITE

I hope you all had a good Christmas and we are now into 2015.  Can't believe when I write that.

Life has been full since last writing.  Open Studio for Somerset Art Works was successful, based here at my home gallery and studio with Vera Sheaf, a painter/printer friend from Somerton. It was fun to work small with framed pieces - all based on my new work about the flooded Somerset Levels last year.  Please have a look at the New Work section on the website.

I have been busy working on new pieces for upcoming exhibitions this year at the Festival of Quilts, Bilston Hall, the Museum of Somerset, (Taunton) and especially Quilt Art's 30th anniversary Dialogues and Small Talk touring exhibitions.

A big change for me is creating and managing my own website at  www.sandrameech.com 
Please have a look.   Even switching domain names (a challenge for a novice tech person like me), but very pleased I could do it.

I am really wanting to be more pro-active with this blog (there is also one on my new website) and hope to bring more news, views and mini work shop ideas to both sites in the future, so stay tuned.

Thanks for reading and will be in touch.