Wednesday 20 July 2011

Exhibition coming up at the beginning of August

Kindred Spirits is a small group of four, and we have our third Exhibition coming up at RHS Rosemoor in Devon, at the beginning of August.  We have each made five pieces, inspired by our chosen theme 'Following the Footsteps ...' .  Vinnie chose 'pattern in glass'; Dot chose 'still life'; Sarah originally chose 'pattern in old lace' but has digressed I think (!) and I chose 'fantasy' (obvious choice really!)  I love the Art Nouveau with the lovely natural flowing lines, did some research into illustrators of childrens fairy stories, and came up with several brilliant artists, but was struck by two in particular, Kay Nielsen and Edmund Dulac.
Both of them were influenced by Japanese art of the time, and both created beautiful fantasy trees.  I have been greatly influenced by both of them in the fve pieces I have created for our Exhibition, and thought I would share pictures with you over the next couple of weeks.  All my pieces are 20" x 30" and are mounted over wooden frames.

This is a closeup of the middle section, showing the castle ruin.  I actually took a photo of the concrete outside my back door, changed the colour in Photoshop Elements, and printed it out on fabric, to use for the stones.  I also took a photo of some ice on a window, edited it and used it for the wall beneath the steps, to denote brambles!
This is the whole piece.  There are an awful lot of french knots on the top of the tree - of which I am very proud, as I don't do a lot of hand stitching!  The rambling rose creeping over the ruin is embellished (with the embellisher machine) hand dyed strips of silk, and the roses are free machine stitching.   All the fabrics I have hand dyed or painted.
If you click on the picture you should get a better view, hopefully!
Till next time ......

8 comments:

Heather said...

This is so beautiful Val - I love it - it is very dreamlike and magical. It's so interesting to read of the various procedures you went through to reach the final design. I really will have to stop being a computer wimp and have a go with Photoshop and Paintshop one day.

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Looks great Val! I expect to see Rapunzel at that window any second.

Mandi said...

Fabulous Val! Van't wait to see the other pieces :)

Doreen G said...

You are an amazing artist Val-I stand in awe of your work.

Catherine said...

Wow! Am totally in awe of your work. Loved reading your inspirations behind the piece. Look forward to seeing pics of the other creations.

Creative cloth doll makers said...

What an amazingly talented woman you are. I had a great time browsing through your blog.
Thanks for the lovely comments for our doll club. We are so lucky to have some very talented ladies in our group.

Suztats said...

Wow! This is absolutely gorgeous, Val! I love it!

Shirley Anne Sherris said...

A beautiful art quilt and I love your macro work.
Whose white acrylic ink do you use?
Cheeers
SAS