Fabrics, fibres and fibre optic!!!!

I intend for this to be a short blog tonight. Having said this, by the time I have waffled on for 10 minutes, I suspect it will be the usual ramblings!!

Fibre optic first - I am so fed up with my broadband failing hundreds of times each week and failing to load pages for what seems like hours on end. Fed up with typing words which don't appear on screen for ages and then when they do, half of them are missing!! Fibre optic broadband signing up was my first port of call today, yes even before I loaded up Facebook!!

Fibres next - well I finally finished what is currently named 'Abstract No4'. It is a silk painting on silk which is intricately machine embroidered and contains many silk fibres. It is advertised for sale at http://www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/Claire-Barrett-Smith/artwork/30921?return=art-for-sale

The finished piece 'Abstract No 4'

 

Last but not least 'Fabrics'. Today, I have continued to explore the different ways I can combine fabrics with print, photocopied images, drawings and patterned papers. This is following on from the Cas Holmes workshop last week. Here is the beginnings of my mixed media piece, a work in progress with lost more machine embroidery to follow!!

Moving on - feeling more confident

Today, I made my best effort to remember all I learned from the brilliant Cas Holmes last week. Pulling all the pieces of the composition together and having a good feeling about how they work together is a skill. One that I don't always feel that I have if I am honest!!

Getting all my bits and pieces together (well strewn across the table) was the easy part. Photocopies, prints, drawings, off cuts of fabrics etc etc hmmmm a lovely big mess. I then had to force myself to make some decisions - 'Come on Claire, which are the principal pieces, put them down first, forget the itty bitty pieces'' (I remembered what Cas had told me). A colour scheme started to make itself known.

Purple and green with a hint of yellow

 

I glued all the pieces down, I was happy. Until.............................. my Aunt popped round and when I showed her my collage she said 'I like the piece at the bottom right corner (incidentally this is a piece Cas gave me). If it was the other way up, it could be a landscape with a Cathedral and skyline'. I could certainly see this now and wondered why I had not noticed before. A little later, I started thinking. Hmmm shall I change it round. After much debate, I started peeling back the sopping wet layers. A few tears occured in the thinner papers but I managed to turn the image round and rejig a few other pieces. 'Voila' - it was done mmmmm, I think I liked it better the other way round Grrrrrr!!! What do you think??

 

 

 

 

A busy weekend tying up all the loose ends!!

I couldn't wait to start sewing over the textile collage piece I made at +Cas Holmes Textiles  workshop last Thursday. Finally this Saturday I had a little free time with hubby out on his bike and my little boy playing with his cars, the sewing machine was whipped out in a flash and coloured cottons were soon strewn across the dining table!!

I used my embroidery foot to free machine some natural forms into the work. I tried to repeat forms I had already used in the collage, e.g photocopies and drawings of witch hazel and cow slip plants. I tried sewing with two different coloured threads in the needle for the first time and it worked a treat!!

Details of 'Lee'

Finally after much sewing, I decided the piece was complete. As this is a very personal piece for me, having a photo of my brother in as a baby, I framed it and hung it in my bedroom. It looks fantastic. I am very pleased with the final result and I have plenty of ideas for the next one including what I need to do to improve next time!!

A wonderful workshop with Cas Holmes

24.01.13 - Wow whee, where do I start today. I have had such an amazing day, the ideas I have flying around in my head right now are going to take some taming over the coming weekend!! Do I really have the time to go to work tomorrow? NO, I need to work on my sewing machine. Hmmmm, I wish.....

I had a chat with Cas Holmes last October at The Knitting & Stitching show at Ally Pally. I asked her about the possibility of attending one of her workshops not really thinking it would ever happen. I am soooo glad it did!!. I purchased her book and read through it a few times. I tried out many of the techniques she described and created lots of printed, dyed and painted pieces. All was fine until I attempted to put these pieces together in some coherent way. I was stuck, I gave up. This was October..........

Now, January 24th 2013, I am feeling so much more confident in my ability to create some kind of a coherent composition bringing together shapes, colours, patterns, drawings, prints, scraps etc etc. I learned so much today. What did I learn?? Hmmm, it is really hard to describe.... I learned to be less precious and to dive into the work. Not to worry so much, each layer can be changed, altered, built up, stripped back and added to. I also realise that sometimes working smaller is good. It allows me to fill the space more effectively with the beautiful pieces, rather than big spaces with bits that may be better left behind (for next time).

My workstation (messy of course!!!)

 

                                                                          My prints

 

Seeing Cas's work all around the house was amazing. I was stunned to see how much more beautiful it is in the flesh than the images in the book. Of course, photos just cannot convey the transluscent layers in quite the way the eye really sees them.

 

My work from today - I need to stitch into the layers next

 

The only problem I have with today is the realisation of how far I have to go still to be able to create anything even close to the beauty I saw today. The way I am consoling myself is that I will never, can never create a Cas Holmes. I am me and I will create a Barrett-Smith with hints of Cas Holmes!!!

Sounds good to me.

Thank-you for reading

A day off work and lots of sewing to be done

I am so lucky that I don't have to go to work on Monday's. It is such a nice feeling waking up and knowing that I can spend the whole day with my little boy. Lately though, instead of spending the whole day just playing games, I have something else on my mind............when will I get chance to do some sewing.....??

We spent a lovely morning together baking cakes, making a snowman and making play dough cars. After lunch my little boy wanted to 'chill out' and watch his favourite film Disney Pixar's 'Cars' for the two hundred and seventy sixth time. Finally, I had my chance...........

I continued working with the beautiful silk tops which I started yesterday. I then added organza and sparkly netted fabric pieces layering them over contrasting coloured silk painted areas. I find this layering of translucent fabrics adds a lot of depth and mystery to my work. I free machine embroidered around the fabric pieces and stitched patterns on them in contrasting silk thread.
Just as I started the contemplate the piece visually (for the hundredth time today) and began considering it (almost) finished, my husband walked through the door with a gorgeous set of new silk paints for me. What a lovely man!!

Oh well, work for the next couple of days and a much awaited workshop with the amazing Cas Holmes on my next day off, Thursday will mean plenty of time to look at the piece and make some decisions about how to finish it.
Back soon, Claire

My latest textile work

19.01.13 - Welcome to my first ever blog!!!! Today was a snowy day in Kent and in between making snowmen in the garden and walking around the lake throwing snowballs back at my husband and little boy, I managed to get down to some serious creative activities!!

I had already prepared a large piece of silk on a stretcher. It has been waiting about a week for me to figure out what colour combination I want to use and what shapes I want to paint. Finally today, after our little walk, it struck me. Purple and turquoise with a small hint of complementary yellow/ orange. Quite why it took me so long to figure out these colours, I don't know as purple is my absolute favourite colour and pretty much always features in my work anyway!! I guess, I just thought I might go for something different this time, or maybe not!!

Having painted the silk with silk dyes, rock salt and plenty of sprays of water, I was able to get down to some serious machine embroidery. I used silk tops which I gently rolled and teased out across the surface. I found that they looked like little bubbles if I stitched them in a circular motion. I am so pleased with this new effect that I found today. I just can't wait to get on with it again tomorrow........
I hope you have enjoyed reading my first blog. I will hopefully update tomorrow with a new image.

Thank-you for reading my ramblings!!