A small gift for a special Friend

Each Christmastime I receive one or two christmas cards that really inspire me, and I now have quite a collection.  This particular little fabric and stitched quilt was inspired by such  a card I received several years ago, and reminds me somewhat of Zentangles.  The design appears to be hand drawn, and filled in with amazing detail, down to drawn lace and small embroidery lazy daisy stitches.  Anyway, my friend Alis was delighted with her little gift, and I would like to share the quilt wth all my blogging friends, to bring you all

Christmas Tidings. 

Here is the inspiration.  Unfortunately I do not know the artist, to be able to give credit where it is due.  I do hope you all have a lovely Christmas, and a very happy, healthy and creative New Year.

Fairy is finished .....

Following on from my last post, this is a scan of the painting actually, so it is a little larger than shown here - there is quite a few more leaves on the bottom and it is a bit wider. It is all water colour, except for the green background, which is layered acrylics.

This is also a scan of the finished Angel I posted some time back - now has a dark background, again using acrylics.
Bye for now ......

Getting there - slow but sure

Further to my last post, I've been working on this drawing I did, using a photograph of some toadstools I took for the background.  First of all I used a sepia pen to go over the drawing lines, then rubbed them out (very gently!)

I then added colours to various parts, using water soluble wax crayons mostly, then started to put the details in, plus some shadows.  The fairy is only very lightly coloured (nowhere near finished).  I am concentrating on the leaves mostly at the moment, and haven't quite decided about the background at the top.  Lots to do still, but I think it's coming on.
It's great for me to compare the pictures of the process, if only I could remember to do more scans as I went along!
Bye for now .....

Foraging for Fungus ......

Actually, to be honest, I was foraging for Fairies ........

but looking at the texture on these Honey Fungus (which is what I think it is) no wonder there were no fairies around.  It looks so spikey and rough, but really amazing.  The patterns are truly so inspiring!

Further along the lane I found these - much smoother, but still no sign of any fairy .....

wonderful Autumn colours though.  Even these round smooth ones were fairyless!

 I reckon they must have heard me approaching .......

and just took off.  I felt quite bereft, so decided I draw one .......

There you go - I just knew they were there really.  I'm off to add some paint.
Till next time ......

Another Fairy ......

 A new experience for me - I'm using A3 watercolour paper!  My Sketchbook is only A5, and smooth paper.  What a difference textured paper makes, as well as paper four times the size ........  Anyway, herewith my sketch.  Thought I'd give her feathered wings this time.

Add some flesh coloured pencils and paint, some water soluble crayons (her skirt) and some colour to her wings - plus a whole lot more graphite! 

She now has blonde hair as you can see, and I stippled the background with blue red and black acrylic paint and added some gouache white paint.  I did a lot of fiddling with her wings too.  I have to revisit all the flesh parts (lots of fiddling to do there!) and work on her skirt, and generally put a lot more detail in.  Still, she is getting there, slow but sure.
Bye for now .......

Bunbury Challenge completed

Here is my piece for the Bunbury Patchwork & Quilting Group in Australia.  The colours are a bit brigher than the picture shows, especially the edge of the leaves!

To recap, this is the challenge fabric - 11" square - 80% of which has to be used in the design somewhere.  The theme is Wonderland, and the quilts are for their Exhibition in 2012 - so I am in plenty of time!!
I'm still considering whether to add a couple of small 'pieces of leaves' at the bottom - or leave well enough alone.  What do you think? (OMGoodness - I've just noticed the pun!)   I've decided to call it Autumn Wonderland.
Till next time .......

More Sketchbook stuff ...

A sketchy beginning ..........

Added background using water soluble wax crayons and salt ....

Popped into the garden to find some leaves - for colour and shape ....

Added a bit more colour ....

Ta Daa!  I reckon she is done.  By the way, my sketchbook is A5 size.
Till next time ....

Sketching, stitching and painting

Further to my last post - herewith the finished drawing/painting of my latest fairy attempt.  As you can see, I did add something in the background and also the berries at the bottom, to cover those weird shaped arms a bit!  I have lots of beautiful berries on the trees and in the boundary hedges in my garden at the moment.

I've also been dyeing, stitching, painting and more stitching.  I decided to enter the Challenge of the Bunbury Patchwork & Quilting Group in Australia, under the theme 'Wonderland' - well, how could I resist?

 This is my effort so far (about 20" x 30").  It doesn't have to be in Australia under February 2012, so I have plenty of time.  The Challenge is , however..........

to incorporate this piece of fabric into the design.  It is only 11" square, but I can't overdye it or bleach it or change it in any way, and I must use it witin the design, not in the borders or on the back!!
I'll keep you posted as to how I get on ......
Till next time.
PS.  Any body else out there taking up the Challenge, or anyone know of anybody who is?

Sketchbook - pencil and water colour

I've been dabbling again in my sketchbook, inspired as usual by Linda Ravenscroft and her beautiful artwork.   I've collected a few 'poses' from Sunday supplements and magazines etc. that I thought might give me a start, and the one above is the one I used - just to give me a shape to go by, not to try to copy the image itself.

I washed the background with watercolour, then drew the image with a graphite pencil.  I should have taken a scan before adding any paint really, but forgot!

Added water colour to the wings and a bit more detail to the hair.....

Added more colour and more detail, with coloured pencils as well as the graphite pencil.
I know the image itself is not very good, the more I coloured it and added detail, the more I could see her nose is too long and her body too thin etc. but generally, the shading and colouring is not too bad.  Just as well she isn't supposed to be a copy of the original!  She is a fairy from another world after all!
She isn't finished yet - I want to add more detail to her wings, and something in the background, and perhaps some fairy dust here and there!  I'm off to have another go, with a different 'pose'.  Hopefully the next one will be better.
Till next time .......

Last but not least - the fifth piece...

 I think this is my favourite of the five pieces, although it could be a close second to the white silk trees!
Again, it is a wholecloth quilt, with a dyed (in a cffee jar) background.  Since discovering acrylic ink there has been no stopping me!!  I drew the design on the fabric (the tree shapes) with a permanent white marker pen, quilted the outlines with black invisible thread, and some of this was eventually picked out with white gouache.  The small painted flowers in the centre are just one layer of acrylic ink, and the blossoms on the trees are several layers, up to nine I think, to get the brightness of white I wanted.  I made up the pattern for the 'mound' under the right hand tree as I went along, and filled in with acrylic paint afterwards, and added tiny blobs of gouache to look like beading (Oh how I wish I could do beading!)

Here is a closeup of part of the centre section.
I'm on duty tomorrow and Sunday, and we take the Exhibition down on Monday.  It has been a huge success, with lots of quilting friends coming quite a distance, and lots of people visiting RHS Rosemoor Gardens just stumbling across us.  It has been a wonderful experience, but very hard work, I must admit.
Till next time ........

Fourth piece for our Exhibition

Whew!  The Exhibition is going very well - the weather has been quite kind really - sunshine and showers.  When the venue is an RHS Gardens, the sunshine brings them to visit, and the rain sends them inside!!

Anyway this is my fourth piece, which I call The Copper Tree (for obvious reasons!)  The pieced background was inspired by Kay Neilsen and the tree itself by Virginia Skerrett.

Here is a closeup - the quilted background is more obvious here.

I also made a few postcards for the sales table.......

I think they have all been sold, so I'11 be off to make a few more, as I am 'on duty' again tomorrow!
Till next time ......

Third piece for our Exhibition ......

As I said (on the 20th July) in the first post I did about these five pieces of mine, most of my inspiration comes from the Swedish artist Kay Neilsen, and quite a few of you might recognise this as being from his fabulous illustration of The Twelve Dancing Princesses.  In his piece there are twelve dancing princesses along the bottom, dancing through the trees, on their way to the ball!  
The background is hand dyed cotton fabric, and most of the applique is with silk, in its many forms.  I made silk paper for one treetop, used a silk hankie for another, silk rods for tree trunks, as well as paper string and mulberry bark!  Quite a bit is embellished with the embellisher machine, and I also hand stitched with silk thread on the tree tops!!  There is lots of hand stitching around the bottom too (I don't do hand stitching - that's why I mention it!)  If you click on the image, you should get a bigger picture.

This is a closeup of the little fawn.  I call this piece "Rendezvous" as I reckon she is waiting for her friend.
We are hanging the Exhibition on Thursday, and I am really looking forward to seeing all twenty pieces together.  We reckon this is our best yet!
Till next time ......

Second piece for the Exhibition ....

This is the second of five pieces I have created for Kindred Spirits Exhibition "Following the Footsteps".
It is a 'wholecloth quilt'.  I first painted the fabric with walnut ink, then I sandwiched it up and free-machine quilted the 'flowers' in the middle.  I did not mark anything - just kept stitching until I reckoned I'd done enough.  Then I added the reeds (grasses) at the top and the water at the bottom, and finally the tree.
I then picked out some of the shapes with more walnut ink, and finished off with sepia acrylic ink.

The only coloured thread I used is the berries on the tree.  The binding is a piece of hand dyed fabric.  This closeup will be in our calendar for 2012.  The quilt is mounted over a wooden frame 20" x 30".
Till next time .....

Macro Sunday - Celebrations

We were in the garden yesterday evening, sharing a bottle of wine as it was my husband's Birthday.  The sun was still quite high, and as I got up to go inside with the empty glasses I noticed the glorious colour the wine had left. 

Just couldn't resist a photograph, to try to capture it.

 I love the way the wooden slatts of the table make a pattern through the glass too!

My Bella Donna Lilly flowered yesterday too.  It is mostly leaves, as you can see .....

but the flower is beautiful.  It looks as if I have three this year - whoopee!
Click on the "I heart macro" button to see what the others are up to, or better still, why don't you join us?
Till next time .....

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 ......

I love Macro Sunday

I have a book by Linda Ravenscroft called 'How to draw and paint Fairyland', and in it she suggests the study of nature, to find their habitat, and flowers to fill it, to take photographs etc. for inspiration. She also suggests looking at flowers from a different angle.

Well, take the humble Nasturtium for instance.  These are growing in my hanging basket - what beautiful shapes they are from the back.  This one reminds me of a humming bird .....

and the colours are so pure.

Mother Nature has gone a bit wild with her paintbrush on this one .....

 and this one .....

but the symmetry in the centre of this one if just amazing.   I just love using my macro button - I then get time to have a drool over all the detail I can't really see/notice with my naked eye!
Till next time ......