unwrapping fabric bundles

The wrapping of these fabric bundles occurred throughout November. As each package formed it was placed into a hanging basket and the rest was left to time and the sun. I've previously dyed fabrics using rusty objects and have also explored how onions skins and beetroot colour fabric but was quite taken with the idea of extending it to utilise items and foliage from one's immediate surrounds, ie our garden. The inspiration for these bundles has come from the book "Eco Colour" by India Flint and in particular the chapter on solar dyeing. 1. detail shot of fabric number four 2. cactus cloth - peach leaves, rusty items, vinegar 3. PFD Kona cotton - fallen macadamia leaves, coffee, vinegar, rusty wheel 4. PFD Kona Cotton - geranium leaves, coffee, rusty coil, rusty bolts, vinegar 5. PFD Kona Cotton - fallen bamboo foliage, rusty items, coffee, vinegar 6. detail shot of the cactus cloth (this piece was only outside for a little over a week). The first bundle was unwrapped on Christmas day, what a wonderful treat. There are still a couple more bundles to unpack, and of course, I've made up a couple of new ones which I'm looking at uncovering around Australia Day (end of January).

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a few moments from "Sunday Drives"

Gathering together a few of the moments so far

Exhibition concludes this weekend, it's been so nice to see it all come together and many many thanks to my visitors and collectors. Exhibition continues until 4pm this coming Sunday 26th August 2012

at Gallery 159, 159 Payne road, The Gap, Brisbane

Gallery open Saturday & Sunday 11am - 4pm

Hooray, we hung my solo exhibition today

Wonderful husband and I went across and hung my first Solo exhibition - "Sunday Drives" today.

It's so good to see it all come together. The exhibition opens tomorrow 4th August and continues through to Sunday 26th August at Gallery 159, 159 Payne Road, The Gap QLD Australia.

Gallery open Saturdays and Sundays 11am - 4pm

 I'm looking forward to the opening night which is this coming Sunday 5th August 2012 at 3.30pm

Hope to see you there

All welcome

 

on the studio wall

Currently on the design wall - I'm enjoying working on a piece inspired by our macadamia nut tree.

Photos printed onto fabric combined with hand dyed &, painted fabric, commercial fabrics and also created some rubbed fabric with Shiva Oil Sticks using the different textures and natural knots on the trunk & branches

product play - tumble dyes

A few weeks ago I purchased some Tumble Dyes and a couple of stencils from Susan Pietsch of  Essential Textile Art while at the ATASDA social day. It was a really nice day we met up at Mount Tamborine in the Gold Coast Hinterland area. We enjoyed a couple of demonstrations and lots of wonderful show n tell by members as part of the show case table. I've been exploring how the dyes work

the dyes come in spray bottles the instructions on the back of the bottles are very clear

But you basically just pick your color, shake the bottle first and then start spraying  

 and of course I went over board with the first piece and used every color and stencil purchased

and didn't allow drying time between overlapping the colors so it became a little murky - but I had a ton of fun creating it. And then I became a bit more focused

using a tree stencil and the carbon colored dye I sprayed the first tree, 

lifted the stencil covered the area with a piece of paper and then sprayed the next tree

using the tree stencil again and laying it onto a piece of light weight Lutradur I sprayed the piece using the carbon colored dye. When the piece was dry I've laid it over a couple of my digital images of our macadamia nut tree that I've printed onto fabric

 This time when I was cleaning up I had a few squares of cotton fabric which I slightly pressed to the top side of the stencils before lifting everything off. I quite like the softer image that results. 

 I've enjoyed using the Tumble Dyes and envisage using them again. 

Susan has a couple of examples of how she's used the Tumble dyes on her blog.

small change

 I received the sample of a fabric I've been designing

and made a coin purses with it. The coin purse frame is 3 inches 

 

The above fabric used and now available through Spoonflower was inspired by papaya halves that I had taken photos of as part of my weekly photo project and then modified the colors

and I had a small piece of the stenciled fabric I created a couple of months back

so now I have a purse to go with my bag

 which I made at the end of last year

 see the bag's story in it's blog posting

Beneath the Southern Sky

A snippet of my selected piece "A Hundred Tales"

Three more sleeps and Beneath The Southern Sky will have it's premiere showing at the

Craft and Sewing Show in Sydney 8 - 11th March 2012.

Curator Brenda Gael Smith will be holding daily floor talks at 12.30pm.

Beneath the Southern Sky is a travelling exhibition -  the online gallery and full exhibition program can be seen on the official Beneath the Southern Sky website. 

going nutty

Currently working on a textile piece inspired by the Macadamia Nut Tree that's in our backyard. I had previously taken a few photos of the leaves and had them printed onto a length of fabric by Spoonflower. But I also wanted to do something with the nuts. I like the shape, layers and textures of the nuts, especially the interior of the fallen/forgotten nuts slowly decaying. Firstly I took photos and then created a couple of sketches. Through further adaptions and explorations of the sketches a symbol evolved which has been used to make up a stencil from freezer paper. Using 'Shiva Sticks' I stenciled the fabric (the same technique that I used when making up the fabric for my bag)  

As I work on the pieces I lay them into the basic layout, the layout alters several times throughout the process. Once I decide on the layout I then prepare it for stitching and quilting. 

mailart

Photos, paper, magazine, oil pastel & stitch

fabric, stitch & mixed media

fabric, stitch, paint, ink jet printed & mixed media

Enjoyed creating a couple more postcard size (4 x 6 inch) pieces.

Inspired by

Finished putting the final touches onto my little bag tonight. I'm part of a small group and we meet every 6 weeks or so and enjoy sharing ideas and setting ourselves little challenges to expand and grow. On this particular occasion we went along to the Queensland Art Gallery and picked one of the exhibitions that was on at the time which happened to be Paper Skin - Barkcloth from across the Pacific. 

The mission was to draw inspiration from a current exhibition

We made lots of notes and then explored and expanded from there. Initially I explored on paper and into my visual diary. I finally drew a pattern directly onto freezer paper and then cut out sections to create a stencil. Ironed the stencil onto cotton fabric and then using a stencil brush and Artists Paintstiks I stenciled the fabric, repositioning the stencil several times. Once I had finished, I allowed the fabric to rest for 24 hours before heat setting it. The fabric stayed that way for a few months and just recently I finally drafted up the pattern for the bag and assembled it. I've used upholstery fabric for the handles and base and hand dyed cotton fabric for the interior.  

fun with the sun

 Sunday last week was hot, sunny and humid but a great day to have a bit of fun with painting fabric and doing some sun printing. I've used transparent paints by Hi-Strike and Pebeo Setacolor . I've also mixed through a couple of metallic fabric paints. I first learnt how to do this technique in a workshop with quilt artist Gloria Loughman and really enjoy returning to the technique.

The fabric used was white homespun and pre-washed. Damp pieces of the fabric were laid out onto my work surface. I then paint the fabric pieces with paints which I had diluted. Once the pieces were painted I laid the macadamia leaves across the top of the painted pieces. Everything is left in the sun to dry, the leaves act as a resist. It's fun to play around with different shapes laid across the top to get different effects.

meet the artists

I was so excited when both my entries were accepted into the State of the Art Quilt Juried Exhibition.

The collection also features pieces by artists: Ankie King, Jan McPike, Ros Ward, Margie Creek, Sue Dennis, Linda Robertus, Julie Tasker, Alison George, Felicity Clarke, Helen Kidd, Sue Duffy & Tricia Smout.

The collection has been on tour throughout the year and will be on display at

Gallery 159 opening at 330pm on Saturday 12th November 2011

the exhibition will continue at Gallery 159 until the 26th November 2011

open weekends 11am to 4pm and weekdays by appointment

Gallery 159 is located at 159 Payne Road, The Gap, QLD 

mailart

Enjoying the moment - playing, exploring & creating

Undercurrents - Collaborative Exhibition

The postcards for our up-coming exhibition arrived today. I can't believe it's only a few weeks away now. A collaborative exhibition with Felicity Clarke, Tricia Smout and myself. This is the first time we three unite in exhibition. Felicity has been involved in art for a number of years and her pieces incorporate various practices using modern synthetic fibers and illumination juxtaposed against classic felting techniques. The human figure with all its flaws and beauty are also featured in her works. Tricia's passion is calligraphy and lettering(of all shapes and forms) and she loves exploring the tactile qualities of papers, fibers and the fabrics while playing with different texture and color combinations. Our exhibition opens on the 9th September and will be open daily (10am -4pm) until the 14th September 2011 at the Art Factory Gallery - cnr Merivale & Glenelg Streets, South Brisbane. The opening night celebrations are on Saturday 10th September 4-6pm.