SpongeBob's friend meets the Minions - a new work

Elements of Our Past by Gillian Cooper 2015

This is my latest piece.  I’m calling it ‘Elements of Our Past’, but the kids are referring to it as ‘Patrick from SpongeBob meets the Minions’.  It is based on an Ancient Greek sculpture – I really liked the shape, so I drew it out a couple of times, then redrew it to full size on lining paper.  

The original drawing

As soon as the kids saw it on my wall, rather than complimenting me on the lovely shape, they all said ‘It’s Patrick, SpongeBob's friend’.  TV has a lot to answer for.

Screen printing the fabric

All the fabric was hand dyed and then screen printed with thickened dyes using shredded paper as a mask (thanks Catherine!).  I ironed fusible webbing on to back of the fabric and cut it into patches and ironed them in place. 

All ready for the final stitching

Using mainly thicker than normal thread (a Wonderfil speciality that Mags Ramsay put me onto at last year’s Festival of Quilts – thanks Mags), I free machined over the figure to give it more definition.  I really like the ‘sketch-like’ effect of these lines. 

Stitching in progress

Once it was finished and up on the wall, one of the kids came in and admired it.  Great, I thought, finally appreciation for my art.  He said: ‘You know Mum, it doesn’t look like Patrick any more, it’s much better.  It looks like a Minion too...’

I hope that you will see my ‘Unsung Muse’ in this piece, the ancient eternal goddess and not just a mixture of kids’ cartoon figures!

Detail of 'Elements of Our Past'

Scottish Storytelling Centre exhibition Goddesses and Unsung Muses

I’m incredibly excited to announce my solo exhibition at the Scottish Storytelling Centre on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh from Friday 30^th January to Saturday 21^st February.  The exhibition is free and is besides their cafe, which is a rather nice one (don’t ask me how I know...).  I’m showing work from my ‘Unsung Muses’ series.  There will be several new pieces as part of the exhibition – I’m working on them now and I’m pleased at how they are developing.  Each stage in the evolution of the series takes it in a slightly different direction, which keeps it interesting for me and hopefully for the viewer!

There is a Private View/Opening of the exhibition from 6-8pm on Friday 30^th January and I invite you all to come along if you can make it – it would be fantastic to see you. 

To entice you further, after the Private View, there is a performance at 8pm of ‘Her: Forging the Lines of Brigid’ by Xanthe Gresham Knight, a performance storyteller.  It sounds really fascinating from the publicity material and it seems to echo what ‘Unsung Muses’ is all about for me.

Hope you can make it!

In my studio: lots of daily drawing

Greek Goddess sketch by Gillian Cooper in Conte Crayon

A few months ago I told you I was trying to do a daily drawing and shared some of the early pictures.  This felt like a bit of a luxury, taking time out from making the things I needed to do, but at the same time, I know it is important for my artistic practice.  So I’ve carried on with my (almost) daily luxury and each day I start with the treat of a large mug of tea and a blank piece of paper.  Almost all my drawings are related to my continuing Ancient Greek Goddess obsession, although occasionally it may be another ancient object such as a pattern from a vase or a little horse sculpture instead.  I started out in 4B pencil, moved into 8B as I love the smudge effect.

Inspired by a Greek Octopus pattern on a vase by Gillian Cooper.  Sketch in pastels

Currently, I’m playing around with the media more and more.  Yesterday was soft pastels, which I love, today was NeoColor, which I love a lot less!  Inktense and Conté crayons and fine tipped pens have also been hits.

Detail of Greek figure in pen by Gillian Cooper

Now my biggest problem is stopping and getting on with other work as I get very absorbed in the drawing and don’t want to stop, so I am devoting more and more time to it.  However, it is very good thinking time and hopefully I will be able to develop some of these ideas further.

Same detail as above but in Inktense by Gillian Cooper

Do you have a favourite medium to draw in?

My daughter getting in on the act - with more pastel on her than the paper!

Terracotta figure in pen by Gillian Cooper

Side view of Greek figure in Conte Crayon by Gillian Cooper

In my studio: creating a collection of small works

Work-in-progress by Gillian Cooper

Over the past month or so, I have been working concurrently on lots of small pieces.  Some have worked; others will remain samples (a polite term for failures!).  What is really exciting is that they are all coming together now and will be ready to take to Holmwood House for the Meet Your Maker event next Sunday (23^rd November 11-4).

Work-in-progress by Gillian Cooper

The completed pieces will be hand-dyed then mono-printed using acrylic paint, followed by more colour added using Inktense pencils.  I’ve made stencils and used them with Shiva Paintstiks over the top.  Parts are then padded before they are machine quilted.

Work-in-progress by Gillian Cooper

I met my dear friend Marjory Mackinven for lunch today and showed her some of them, saying I was worried that these are too simple.  However, having listed out all the techniques involved, I think I am now agreeing with her that they are more complicated that I had realised!  It was lovely to see Marjory and catch up and we had a fabulous lunch at the new Three Sisters Bake Cafe in Killearn Village Hall.  Highly recommended if you are in the area.

Work-in-progress by Gillian Cooper

Finding the balance between strong design and suitable levels of detail is an interesting challenge.  I often find that as I add more and more detail, the composition becomes less clear and so the overall design is not as good.  The good news is, though, any overworked pieces can always be cut up and used in another piece.  Do you know when to stop?

Work-in-progress by Gillian Cooper

The back of one of the pieces, showing the padding

Work-in-progress by Gillian Cooper

In my studio: Dislocating ancient bird goddesses

I’ve just been looking down the list of my recent blog posts and there has been a lot about me gallivanting around and less on what I’m actually doing in the studio.

Original Idea - breaking up a goddess figure

Last time I wrote about my work in progress, it was to share the drawings I was trying to do daily.  Of course, I haven’t succeeded in doing one every day, but they are on-going and throwing up lots of other ideas. 

My drawing from the vase

For example, I have been considering making a piece for the CQ exhibition for the Festival of Quilts.  I’ve never entered one of their juried shows before, but the theme ‘Dislocation’ resonated with what I’m working on with my forgotten goddesses. 

Some of my doodles looking at the shape

I looked up lots of different dictionaries for the definition of ‘dislocation’ and it includes, paraphrasing the Oxford English Dictionary, ‘the state of being out of place’.  So I had been thinking of making one of my figures and then ripping it up into pieces and laying them disjointed on a background, a bit like my rough sketch, almost like the goddess figurines would be found nowadays when they are discovered on an archaeological dig.  I still like the idea and will make the piece sometime, but for CQ exhibition, there is a strict size limitation and I want some of the pieces to stick out of the sides as if they can be contained.  Also I need to spend more time than I have thinking through the technicalities, having left it to the last moment as normal.

Where I've got to!

Luckily, I was really taken with today’s daily drawing, from an ancient vase in the collection of the Met Museum in New York.  I’ve spent quite a long time doodling it and have come up with some alternative ideas for this lady, who looks a bit like a bird goddess.  Fingers crossed the samples will work when I try them tomorrow!

Inspiration: Pinterest Friday: Ancient Figures

 

 

I’ve finally joined the Pinterest brigade and could spend many hours looking at gorgeous and inspiring images.  If used well (as opposed to a way of playing on the computer, pretending to be useful!), it is a great research tool.  I’m still making work based on ancient goddess figures and was amazed at how many amazing images were out there – I had performed numerous internet searches when I first got interested and was rewarded with scant pickings.  However, 15mins on Pinterest and there was sufficient imagery to last me ages. 

Ancient Figures at the Ashmolean

I know there is an ongoing debate about copyright and pinning on Pinterest, so I’ve only included a screenshot of my board.  You can see the whole thing here.  Just to whet your appetite I’ve also included a couple of images that I took myself at the Ashmolean in Oxford and the Burrell Collection in Glasgow.

At the Burrell

I’m hoping to make this a regular Friday feature, which gives me an excuse to waste/spend time on Pinterest!  Have you got addicted yet?

At the Burrell

At the Burrell