Australia Panel

do you remember all those papers I painted? well here is the next process in my developement of my wall panel. I was really happy with the papers and so tore the papers to create different collages until I was happy with the results




notes on the wall panel




possible layout
The more I played with the papers the more the ideas seemed to flow, until I felt I had enough to work with ~ here are the three pieces I have chosen ~ the panels will be separated with cotton organdie or scrim with trapped words; memories etc


Now I had to figure how to get the colours and textures of the papers onto fabric. I started by mixing up dylon dyes and did sample tests on a variety of fabrics








I also tested liquid acrylics on fabric


I painted bondaweb to create texture on the surface of the dyed or painted fabric


and finally some possible quilting and sewing lines

***********************Update***************************

The fabric is dyed and painted and already in three separate quilted pieces~ today I have printed my words and memories onto cotton organdie ~ wow super expensive ~ but necessary as it has good 'body'. And now Im off to work on the panel again.

Say hello

To all those mystery visitors ~ go on say hello ~ its good to know youre stopping by and reading ~ let me know what you think. I dont bite! Judy :)

mono printing

I now have another technique that I love!!! This week we mono printed ~ never ever done this before but it was brilliant, we used special ink and rollered it onto a smooth surface usually glass, we used laminated sheets which worked just as good as glass. Then we used tissue, newprint and cartridge paper ~ we used lots of texture too ~ from our tutors amazing box of goodies and made lots of papers. I love making papers ~ it must go back to childhood ~ I was always drawing and crayoning! We always had new crayons and paper at Christmas time. Anyway Im going off here ~ here are some collages I made with my papers



I also did some mono printing on fabric using acrylic paint and manutex this takes a little practise!!!

Also been doing more ink to stitch designs

Line

The next part of our course is Line, we had (I had) a brilliant time drawing with charcoal, ink and kebab skewers (Im now hooked on ink and skewer drawing!!!!!!) charcoal on a very long bamboo stick, all kinds of pens and pencils and drawing without looking at the page!!!! BRILLIANT

charcoal and ink

ink using pen and kebab stick!

Ive also turned my designs into stitch which is just like doodling with the machine ~ love it too.

design in stitch

Ive far too many to show you but these are afew of what I've been doing!

small designs in ink

ink pen and kebab stick!!

strips and strata cut into three and moved!

working at home

Ive really enjoyed the colour study we've been doing and decided to do a little more work with colour using photographs I found; one of my own and one from a photosharing site. The rainbow lorikeet is so bright and beautiful and like its name has all the colours of the rainbow in its feathers.

two of many painted pages!

I painted some papers in beautiful rainbow colours and using these I did some little design exercises.






I played around with the painted papers and made collages and painted the pages in my sketchbook to match ~ I cut some designs from my pages ~ Sandra Meech style, I love her books and she has some brilliant ideas in both to make your sketch books sing!! and worked away with the bird and feather shape

design with wing and feather shapes

wax crayon resist

strips and strata

strips and strata

front of book
wax crayon play, photo, paper weave, square in a square, strips and strata

back of book
wax crayon play, design, design, embellished wool tops, painte papers
back of book

I will definitely use these design pages in the future to make something bright and beautiful

week 5 - time to focus

Already its week five!! We had a break and returned yesterday, my brain is too full ~ nobodys fault but my own ~ it goes over and over and over even when I should be asleep ~ I know its good to have lots of ideas but sometimes its too much.

I need to focus and so its with a smile on my face that I can say I am focusing!! Hahahahaha I can hear my friends say yehhhh right ~ I am going to try really really hard. My brain does play tricks with me though. So I had to pick a photograph, picture or something that appealed colour wise ~ how hard can that be ~ but for me it was too hard to pick just one. My pictures are from Australia ~ from visiting my son and his wife last year. I had photos of rainbow lorakeets to beautiful seascapes very different but my choice was easy in the end because before we finished last term my tutor suggested we write down words which represented the photo, my words were all about the sea and the sand and the glistening waters and dustiness and muted tones and the heat and so my picture is chosen!!!

this is one of my own photographs, I remember the heat, the glistening water as if a million diamonds were sprinkled on the surface. Empty beaches and a horizon that never ends.
The sun and its warmth and the sound of the waves hitting the shore,
Peaceful calmness happiness.

I have another photograph to show but it belongs to an awesome award winning photographer ~ I have emailed him to ask permission to show it here so keep your fingers crossed that he says yes. His photograph really represents the colours I remember, where mine is too subtle.

Painted papers are the first thing for me to do now ~ I've got to try really hard not to think ahead to how the finished piece will look ~ I must let it evolve through the design process and NOT work backwards. Here are some papers I've made today working with wax crayons, oil pastels, candles, acrylic paint, brusho, inks, brown paper, tracing paper, baking paper, watercolour paper etc etc

My first project is going to be an expandable book I want it to be alive and a real piece of three dimentional art both on the outside and on the inside where it will be filled with treasure from my trip and will grow with each journey I make to Australia in the future.

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My tutor also talked about the history of colour showing us four of her favourite books. One of her favourites, The Craftsmans Handbook Il Libro dell'Arte Cennino D' Andrea Cenninia, a 15th-century handbook, written by a working artist of the day, it reveals the secrets and techniques of the masters in drawing, oil painting, frescos, panel painting, gilding and casting. Things that so many of us take for granted or dont even know about ~ all we have to do is go to the art store to buy our supplies; our tubes of ready made paint in every conceivable colour and medium, canvas already stretched, pads of papers in any weight required, some even available in supermarkets, or we buy numerous books and magazines on techniques or go to weekend workshops where we learn new ideas with soldering irons, tyvek or heatguns. Of course Im at the work shops and I buy the books (too many) and even use the internet but listening to her talk makes me realise how little I really know about Art and the amazing artists that went before us, she is passionate about her subject and a real pleasure to listen to and I think its about time I started reading. My shopping list has started!

Next week we study LINE ~ we are going to draw.

24 September

I'm still studying colour with painted pages, magazine pages and threads, images are from my sketch book. I've spent more time on these at home too as I really want to get to grips with colour theory, I've played around with paint and how it mixes when really wet and then painting different types of papers and weaving them.




photograph from my garden and painted pages

zig zag sampler using a triad of colours.


What an amazing and busy day we had, last day of term and we did shaving foam marbling


and transfer dyed papers.

transfered design onto fabric

I used ready made fabric dyes which are beautiful for colouring paper and give really jewel like colours.

design exercise using dyed paper and painted paper and wallpaper

And finally I've to choose a photograph, picture or postcard with colours I love for the start of our first project we we return after the hols.