Stepping away from the thinky thinky

As I said last time, I've been so busy, and while it's all be wonderful and exciting, I'm really feeling the need to take some time out to consider my own creativity. Everything has been very outward looking, and keeping the plates spinning has meant it's all been very thinky thinky! 

I need to refill the well, tap into what makes me come alive, what I love. I want to go deeper into what I want to do and where I want to go with it all. I'm conflicted between loving the fabrics and threads, being frustrated with the fabric and threads (mostly the storage issues, to be fair), and the urge to do something more immediate - my sewing machine is fast, but paint is faster still!

There's was a bit of sketchbooking and sketching during lockdown, but now the fields are infested with men in hard hats there's been a lack of sources of inspiration around here. Even the woods aren't safe, as the dust from the the diggers floats like a cloud over everything. My husband has just written something for the little men in their diggers! Very tempting to print it out and fix it to their silly fences.

So I've enrolled on a rather wonderful art course. It's not exclusively for painters (which is good, because I'm not) but it does involved getting messy with the stuff to work through the exercises. 

This first exercise was fast and fun fun fun. Just what I need!

I cleaned my palette, with the unused blue paint, by wiping it onto sketchbook pages with a knife - and a seascape emerged!

I've combined some of my sketchbook inspirations from the fields with my most recent paint play, and this was my favourite so far - spot the bracken frond!

There has been a lot more experimenting since I took these photos, far too much to photograph and document - even on my arty instagram page (I keep this separate from my textiles instagram grid)

I'm having fun. I'm going back to the textiles soon as I have other things I want to do. Ideally I want to find a way to combine the two - paint first, interpret in fabric and stitch? Paint on fabric, then stitch? Stitch, then paint? Add fabric and stitch to paint?! 

It's all good!

PS Should I keep my painty instagram separate from my textile instagram? Should it all be one and the same? All the time I'm not sure what I'm doing with paint, I'm not sure. Thoughts?

PPS I'm doing the thinky thinky again! Oops!

Basket 2

Another evening course with Ruby Taylor and another basket

Definitely not one for the hayfever sufferers.  I was covered in tufts and grass-seeds, and had quite sore hands afterwards.  But I am deeply chuffed with my little basket.  It's surprisingly sturdy and rigid.  

Ruby had already started us off with the base, so we just coiled and stitched.  I feel the need to harvest grass stalks, and a hammock in the sun to dry them in...

Here is another little thing I made in between invigilating exams.  It's sitting on the edge of the basket (a) because it can (b) to give an idea of scale

Here it is by itself

Remarkably wiggly, all of it's own accord

What I really want, to finish it off, is one of those little pins with the butterfly back - the sort of thing you get on a lapel badge.  Anyone know where to get them, and what they're called?

Finally, I've been preparing some foiling samples for our next Embroiderers Guild meeting, following ideas in a book.  The book told me to get the soldering iron out to cut shapes out of pelmet vilene.

Who knew?  Well, probably lots of people.  I'd just never tried it before.  Now what?!  Never mind the foiling, any other ideas on what to do with cutwork pelmet vilene?

I shouldn't really be getting distracted with yet another idea....it always happens, every year.  I get busy with Work (exams) and as soon as I haven't got any spare time because of having to go and do the W word, I suddenly have lots of ideas....

Anyway, that's also why I'm a bit quiet on here at the moment - the old problem of fitting multiple tasks around a finite amount of time!

'Speriment

Not sure what it is, not sure if I like it, but it has kept me occupied...