Where has the Summer gone?

A wonderful stretch of beach in Ontario..... can you believe how white the sand is?

My feet haven't touched the ground all summer - Tell a lie.... I did watch plenty of wonderful Olympic coverage in a seated position and.... wasn't it wonderful.  Team GB (and  I am entitled to cheer for Britain after 35 years living here), did fantastically well and worth all of the accolades and gold medals for all of their years of hard work.  They did us proud! Of course my next favourite team was Canada, and although we had a very British coverage did manage to catch some victories.

Despite the miserable cool and wet summer here in the England, it was a very busy time for me teaching and getting ready to move house....More about that later.

Apologies for not being more frequent with my posts, and I promise in the future to add more news on a more regular basis.  I also want to include more design, composition, sketch and stitch hints for art textiles. So, watch this space.....

I had planned to share some pics and memories from a wonderful week in Halifax at the beginning of the summer, so this is long overdue.  I was teaching for the Canadian Quilters Association in Halifax, and although this happened back in June,  it was wonderful for me to visit this part of Nova Scotia for the first time, and combine it with a trip to see family in Ontario.  Here are a few photos - the dockside and 'Murphy's' - a great place for Lobster ( and oh .... did I have lobster) with my good friend Maggie Vanderweit who was also teaching for CQA.  What fun....  a great textile teacher.... and experienced lobster gormet... so the class continued.

A few glimpses of Halifax and work from one of the CQA classes

The students in my two workshops did some wonderful work... one of the classes was creating bound sketchbooks with design and composition exercises.  The CQA continue to have these wonderful residential conferences across Canada, giving so many quilters and those interested in art textiles a great opportunity to meet, exhibit and share ideas with friends AND visit new parts of the country.  Have a look at their website and see what is happening in quilting in Canada   www.canadianquilter.com.

Urchfont 2012

URCHFONT Summerschool

In July I had the opportunity to teach a summerschool for Sian Martin's Distance Learning program at Urchfont.  I hadn't been to this wonderful country house adult education centre in Wiltshire for many years and it was wonderful to be back again.  The class was about Digital Imagery in Stitched textiles and we learned about using personal themed images as a starting point for not only future design, but how to include transferred sections into contemporary work. Sadly, as the home and gardens are being sold in September, 'Urchfont' as we have known it over the years (stitched textile classes in adult education by some of the best embroiderers in the country) will no longer exist, but the memories, inspiration and creativity that came from these walls will be remembered for years to come. More information about Sian Martin's Distance Stitch Online program can be found on http://www.distantstitch.co.uk/

Stay tuned.....  More blog entries to come very soon - Information about my new book 'Connecting Design to Stitch' and a house move from Berkshire to Somerset.

thanks for reading.  

Spring travels

Early this year was the proof  stages of the new book 'Connecting Design to Stitch' and when it finally got to the printer, I could concentrate on other teaching and textile commitments. So, apologies for not updating this site.
In March I visited Puglia, Italy at the Masseria for Twisted Thread teaching 'Design to Stitch' to a great group of ladies from the UK, Israel and Italy.  We visited Polignano a Mer, a wonderful seaside town, - and Alberobello a world heritage site full of historic and regional buildings. The 'Truilli' houses in the whole town were an amazing site. Do you see the blue skies?  The light was wonderful and I wish I could have brought some of that weather home with me to the UK.

It was great to take photos again and what a wealth of different colours and textures to choose from. The spring blossom was a bonus.

The students did some fantastic work and we made bound art/sketchbooks filled with photos, design and collage ideas on their own personal theme.

I will have wonderful memories of that week in Italy - Must get back again to Puglia - there was so much to see.
On the home front - we have decided to move house - Somerset or Wiltshire, so in my spare time  I've been sorting through 16 years of accumulated textile and teaching materials in preparation for putting our house on the market. What a job....
Stay tuned...... and thanks for reading.

More News 2012

Here it is mid January - no snow....and the daffodils are just peeking through.  It may not last for long as it is meant to get colder soon. So far this year I have been involved with two exhibitions

The first was the winter exhibition of the Society of Designer Craftsmen at the Mall galleries in London and it was a big success.  It is always nice to see a small collection of one's work in such a good gallery space.  My 'Meltdown' series based on global warming was the work that featured this year.  This is some of the smaller pieces.  For more on this series look at 'My work' on the blog.

The other exciting exhibition that is on at the moment is 'Voices' - Quilt Art (the international group) of which I am a member.  It opened at Bovey Tracey, Devon at the Devon Guild of Crafts gallery last week and will be there until the end of February.  A wonderful location and well worth the visit.
http://www.crafts.org.uk/     or visit our website at    http://www.quiltart.eu/
We have produced another little gem of a book to accompany the exhibition.

Latest news -  
Connecting Design to Stitch class
There are still places left for the textile retreat in Puglia, Italy, sponsored by Creative Exhibitions (Festival of Quilts and the Knitting and Stitching shows, UK) http://www.twistedthread.com/
It will be 5 wonderful days in a superb setting - a villa in southern Italy. 

We will explore representational and abstract design, first in mixed media collage, then with fabric and stitch. Digital imagery, sketches, writing, painted paper and other surfaces will be explored in addition to wire form for dimension.  Many of the exercises will be compiled in a hand bound sketchbook for future reference.




Landscape Imagery in a stitched book, in Burgundy, France - in mid 9-15 September  
http://www.thereallybigdreamcompany.com  Taking inspiration from the local countryside as well as one's own personal theme, students will be creating a sketchbook and several stitch pieces learning about design and composition and using imagery and mixed media collage.  Sounds like fun!!   It will be a perfect time of year for great food and wine as well as creativity and inspiration.


Visit the workshop section on this site, for additional class information - 
I will be in Halifax, N.S, Canada for the Canadian Quilters Association conference end of May, Cowslip workshops, Launceston, Cornwall in July, and at the Distant Stitch Summerschool at Urchfont Manor, Wiltshire also in July. http://www.urchfontmanor.co.uk 
And don't forget to visit me at the Festival of Quilts in August, where I am introducing my new book Connecting Design to Stitch.


An exciting year ahead......     Thanks for reading.

Happy New Year - Never too late!!

It has been some time since I wrote last - Too many things happening and it's all good. Where to begin.
        A September trip to Ontario visiting family with side trips to Cape Cod, Princton NJ and Maryland to see friends has kept my computer busy with hundreds of photos.  So many, I just bought a 2TB hard drive to keep up.  Many of the images I wanted to use for small stitch compositions.

Images from Cape Cod and a stitched textile inspired by our visit.     

 The biggest news is writing a new book ' Connecting Design to Stitch' (Batsford - August 2012) and it has been my main focus for the last 2-3 months.  It will address design and composition through the eyes of a stitched textile maker- not just for contemporary quilters but embroiderers or anyone who loves fibre with mixed media and stitch. Similar to Connecting Art to Stitch, it will be full of wonderful pieces of work from international art quilters and embroiderers, composition collage exercises and design workshops.  Hopefully, something for everyone.  I will be at the Festival of Quilts in August (the NEC in Birmingham) with a small stand to introduce the book, so if you are in the UK and planning to attend, please come and see me.  

      One of the main sources of inspiration this time has been images from the Jurassic coast in Dorset - that 135 km stretch of ancient coastline.  Cliffs, beaches, boats and the sea  from West Bay to Lyme Regis feature often, and of course the classic fossil shape - the 'spiral' as it relates to the 'golden mean' - perfect proportion in nature. The 'rule of thirds' a simple version  of this, helps us to practise good composition in both fine art and wall hung stitched textiles.

Here is a glimpse some of the new work that will appear. Inspiration throughout the book will come from photo images based on a theme, world textiles, architecture, the landscape, nature and many more subjects of interest. 

Work from dozens of well known fibre and fine artists will be showcased in addition to my own latest art quilts and textiles. And... a  design class devoted to creating a stitch bound book, - full of great collage and composition exercises to try.

Apologies again for taking so long to write .....  Life overtakes....  I continue to teach, make and exhibit has kept me quite busy.
Look for another blog very soon with the latest news for the New Year.
Thanks for reading....

Festival of Quilts and Studio21

I have just returned from 3 busy days at the Festival of Quilts with a breather before going back tomorrow.
The fibre-art, stitched textile group, Studio21 have been going strong since 1997 and we are all Stitched Textile Diploma graduates from the Windsor School of Textile Arts, over the years.  We have an exhibition called 'Continuum...A Sense of Place' on stand A58, so if you are reading this, and will be at the show, please drop in. There is an interactive area where we are encouraging visitors to apply  fabric and stitch marks by hand onto a very long piece of cloth that began at 40m in length and is still growing. By Sunday, when the exhibition finishes it will be fantastic. Here are some quick photos I have taken so far.  More 'interactive' photos are on  www.studio21textileart.co.uk
Another highlight for me was the opportunity to spend time in the Art Quilt category and there were some amazing pieces. (see below).
The winning quilt by Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga from the Netherlands was breathtaking, and other strong pieces included work by C June Barnes, Linda Barlow, Maggie Barber, Turid Tonnessen, Sheena Norquay, Janet Twinn, Hilary Beattie, Jane Ashe and Carole Belfield to name only a few.
(I hope the makers don't mind me sharing some of their work). I will be visiting the Festival again tomorrow when I will have the chance to see many more of the competition quilts and other textile galleries.

Teaching a one day class on Digital Imagery in Stitched Textiles kept me busy yesterday.  Students brought a personal theme with black and white and colour imagery that was painted and collaged together. A short basic lesson in Photoshop Elements explained how their collage photos were edited before printing on t-shirt papers. The final heat transferred cloth could then be used as a fabric for stitch in a future piece of work.
Here are a few of the collages that were done. Thanks to students whose work is shown.

I am back to Festival tomorrow on the Studio 21 stand, so come by and visit if you manage to read this in time. There are more exhibitions to visit - Jette Clover, Mary Lloyd Jones, Gillian Cooper, Jennifer Hollingdale, Texui, Pia Welsch, Yoshiko Katagiri, and many others including the Quilters Guild challenge and collections...... and the traders of course.

Thanks again for reading and I will write again soon.

Summer is Here

Sorry to have been so long in writing this -  Life has been very full and when I thought there was time to rest and 're-group' after the big trip 'down-under', I found myself busy with many more commitments and travels.
     I have been busy writing a new book and it is taking shape nicely.  It will be called 'Connecting Design to Stitch'  - how we can find confidence in design and composition decisions in textile art.
It certainly has been a challenge - keeping the mix of a basic knowledge of the principles and elements, design styles to inspire, finding good composition and including a wide selection of artist's work.  The format will be similar to 'Connecting Art to Stitch' - a self-study guide that includes Design classes and a great number of shorter exercises to try in each section.   Watch this space....


I did have a chance to go for a holiday to the Dordogne this month.  It was great to do some writing in the quiet of a peaceful cottage in the country, as well as be inspired by so much colour, pattern and textures of the weekly markets and the towns nearby.  You will see many of my photos as starting points for pattern and design exercises in the new book.  Despite the cool and sometimes wet weather in Beaumont-en-Perigord, it was a great break.  Here are some of the wonderful views and textures nearby - I came home with so many wonderful images to inspire the book - design and composition exercises with line, shape, pattern, texture and colour.

Other News -
Studio 21 http://www.studio21textileart.co.uk/wordpress/  - our new website.
We will be at the Festival of Quilts  http://www.twistedthread.com

Studio 21 is a group of professional stitched textile artists from the UK and we have an exhibition at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in  Birmingham next month.  Our exhibition is called 'Continuum...a sense of place'.  Most of the space will be our exhibition but we also have an interactive section where we hope people will join in, adding to a long thin landscape piece with their own inspiration.  Join us if you are at the show.

A detail of my 'Meltdown' piece for the exhibition

Teaching -  I will be teaching at Masseria della Zingara in Puglia, Italy next spring and can't wait.  I have heard wonderful reports of the villa and the workshops provided so I am very pleased to be taking part.  You can get more information from www.twistedthread.com. My course will be called 'Connecting Design to Stitch' and include design and composition with collage, imagery and stitch based on a personal theme.
Please see additional courses I will be offering in the workshop section of this blog.


WSTA - the new Windsor School of Textile Art - is open for enrolments now. Please visit their website at
http://wstatextileart.blogspot.com/  for the latest information on courses.  It is great that this established and creative textile school has relocated to the wonderful venue of South Hill Park, Bracknell, Berkshire.

More from Australia

Not quite the last post from Australia but long overdue -  After Ballarat, I travelled to Melbourne then on to a week of holiday on the Great Ocean Road in NSW -  another beautiful part of Australia I had not visited before.  Made of sandstone the coastal cliffs have been eaten away by strong waves that constantly beat the shores.  A surfer’s paradise - huge waves and beautiful sandy beaches as well as the most dramatic scenery I have seen in years.  A stay in Port Campbell for 4 nights gave us an opportunity to take day trips along the coast.  Here are a few of those views including the 12 (-1) apostles, the bay of islands, London Bridge and the Loch Ard gorge.  Quite wonderful!!!.

 

Then, on to Hobart, Tasmania for a week that included more sights like Port Arthur, the famous convict colony, and numerous highlights along the coast.  Such a beautiful part of Australia, so lush in vegetation as well as dramatic in history and coastal scenery.  Bruny Island was especially terrific and we took the boat cruise around the tip which was a fantastic experience.  The most southerly tip of Australia…. Next stop Antarctica.

I would recommend the island cruise if you get to Hobart.  We were blessed with a sunny bright, but quite cool day and you can see from the photos how fantastic the scenery was.

Port Arthur was also a great experience. Understanding the life that convicts had when they arrived in Tasmania over 100 years ago was quite a revelation.  Many of the buildings are derelict now, but set in the most beautiful scenery you could imagine.  It was hard to comprehend what life was like for many who found themselves so far away, banished for petty crimes in England.  It is certainly worth a visit if you are visiting Hobart in the future.  I could see so many textures and architectural images I am sure they will find their way into future work.

We also visited the 'Tesselated' pavement on the Tasman penninsula east of Hobart and I was amazed by even more natural pattern.  These 'pan' and 'loaf' formations seem unique to this area and full of rock pools and wildlife.

 While in Tasmania I taught a 3 day workshop to a wonderful group ‘Stitching and Beyond’, a group I had visited before several years back.  A wonderful venue in Woodbridge gave us a great opportunity to explore art and stitch.  Here is some of the great work done during that workshop….well done !!  We even had inspiration from the Royal Wedding that happened the same weekend.  Thanks to the students who are allowing me to show their work.

 On to Brisbane and Sydney to ATASDA groups in both cities. 

                                                         Stay tuned and thanks for reading