Out & About - North East Embroiderers' Guild Weekend

Love the leaves and the contrasting colour added around them

Things have been wonderfully busy for the past month - lots of exciting teaching, some days away with the family over the Easter holidays in the North Yorks Moors, a little bit of experimenting with my new heat press and even more teaching.  All great fun, but it means I haven't had much time to blog (sorry Mum).  So time to rectify that and get blogging again and I'm going to start by telling you about my fabulously intense time with the North East (of England) Embroiderers' Guild at their spring school in one of the colleges of Durham University.  The course was called 'Print, Paint, Play' - try saying it fast - not very easy!

Selection of one student's work

They started work on the Friday afternoon and when I arrived at about 10pm, as I had been teaching at home, there was still some activity going on in the room and a great start had been made using Inktense, along with a scavenger hunt for materials to print with.  Over the next two days, I introduced painting with thickened dyes, gelli plate printing and using Markal paintstiks.  

Love the black print on white fabric using a stencil

I was really impressed with all that they managed to create - very inspiring for me too, particularly in how they used stencils.  Normally I am working with quilters, so I thought that the embroiderers would approach things differently, but actually, I didn't see much difference.  Perhaps only that they were happy to make smaller panels and mount them rather than stitching them together into a larger piece.

Great interpretation of a cave painting theme

All of the photos in this post are of their work.  

Two different colourways of the same printed tatted bookmark

On the Saturday afternoon, there were a few hours off and I headed into the centre of Durham to visit the cathedral, a place I visited often in childhood.  My memory of it was surprisingly clear - even the cafe looked as I thought it would!  I was lucky and timed my visit so that I heard some of Evensong.  It was really calming and a lovely way to spend some down time whilst teaching so intensively.

Great use of a stencil over a print

Lovely surface

Looking at the work at the end of the weekend

Fab gelli plate print of found leaves.  We were looking rather longingly at the lovely big house plants in the college, but they were too healthy to have shed leaves!

Rubbing of honesty leaves over dyed fabric

Sometimes things are just more effective on black fabric than white

How to: Block Printing

Popular Patchwork - Nov 15

I love exploring techniques that I haven’t used for a while and finding new ways (at least to me) of using them.  In this month’s PopularPatchwork (November 2015) is an article I wrote about block printing. 

Popular Patchwork - the project

It was great fun to make the samples and to explore what I could do, especially as I was constrained (for this feature) only to use bought blocks, not ones I had designed myself.

These blocks were just gorgeous to look at - and to work with

To this end, I had a lovely box of Christmas stamps from Colouricious to play with.  If you have time, it is a very pleasant way to spend a few hours and you can make some lovely, unique cloth that you can use to wrap Christmas presents.  If you have quilter friends, the fabric itself would make a fantastic gift. 

My equipment, including the all important cup of coffee

All you need are the blocks, fabric, a sponge and some paint.  I used a mixture of textile paints and standard acrylics.  To be honest, there was not much different in the handle of the fabric between either of them, but perhaps the textile paint will be more permanent, especially if you are going to wash the fabric.  As most of my fabric is used for wall hangings, this is not something I spend much time worrying over.

Creating a pattern

On some pieces, I just kept overprinting, in different colours, which produced some interesting results.  On others, I tried making patterns.

Usings the printed fabric as wrapping cloths

Another way of printing, which also gave good results was to spray the block with water and then rub with an Inktense stick, before pressing it on the fabric.  Full details are in the article.

Using Inktense and a different type of block

I’m also running a one-day class in block printing on 6 November and there are still some places if you are interested.  We will be making and designing our own blocks, using foam, so you could create your own Christmas wrapping fabrics if you wished.  Email me for more details or visit the website.

Fabric printed with Inktense

Just to make you jealous: a wonderful summer holiday, including drawing

A bee enjoying the lovely flowers.  I like taking photos of them but can't name any plants

We’re just back from our annual summer holiday, which was wonderfully relaxing and full of sunshine and I’m now a bit daunted by all that is coming up over the next few months.  It’s all very exciting: I’m running a drop-in art activity based on Greek myths this weekend at Holmwood House, a National Trust for Scotland property in Glasgow; I have work in an exhibition in Stirling opening on 1^st August; I’m going to the Festival of Quilts; I’ve got to get my artwork ready for the European Patchwork Meeting in September and of course, I have my classes to plan and run.  I could really use another few hours in the each day!

Adding the final details to a tree and sunset

Packing for our holiday I was getting convinced it was a bad move to take two weeks off as there is so much on, but I think that really means that the holiday was needed.  We spent a few days in Legoland for the kids (and R) and then we went camping in France.  We visited some amazing chateaux; I will write a separate post about Chaumont as it was such an inspiring place to visit for all the contemporary art on display – I really can’t recommend it highly enough.  

The food was pretty fabulous too

We also went swimming in the sea and played on the beach.  As we live in cold, wet and damp Scotland, part of the attraction of heading south is enjoying some nicer weather for a while and this year we were not let down – two weeks of hot and sunny weather.  Just perfect!

Kids hard at work drawing using my Inktense pencils

I took some paper and my Inktense pencils so I could do some sketching whilst I was away and one of the highlights for me was all three children decided to draw too and we spent some lovely hours in the evening drawing together.  It all sounds idyllic and of course, it wasn’t all the time, but having all the kids enjoying drawing (especially as one has virtually no interest in art whatsoever) is a memory I will treasure.  I didn’t even ask them to draw, they asked me if they could!

I think this started out as a volcano, but was changed along the way

As one of the new courses I am running is 'being inspired by nature', I also had a great time taking loads of inspiring photos, mainly close ups of flowers.  Looking at them now on the computer screen some of the colours look quite unbelievable and this is before I have played with them in image manipulation software.

Back home, with the piles of washing and Scottish rain pouring outside, our holiday already seems light years away (we got back less than 24 hours ago!), but it is nice to be back in the studio, with music blaring and two helpers helping me prepare the things for Holmwood.  If you are in the Glasgow area, why not come and visit Holmwood on Saturday?  There are other activities as well as art and there is also a craft fair.  Hope to see you there.

The Stitching, Sewing and Quilting Show at the SECC, Glasgow

All set up and waiting for visitors

Well, that was one of the busiest weekends of my life!  My teaching from home studio business was launched at the Stitching Show at the SECC Glasgow. Unfortunately, the Loch Lomond Quilt Show ladies can’t continue with the City & Guilds teaching in the near future and they suggested (kicked me) that I took it on, especially as I had always intended to teach from home.  They also really kindly offered me the stand at the Show as they couldn’t use it.

Some of the students' work

It has been a fabulous few days and the feedback from visitors was amazing, including a number signing up for classes (C&G over 7 weekends a year, Friday Fun Days and Thursday morning beginners).  Our C&G students from the Loch Lomond group also had a show of their work and being surrounded by their beautiful quilts definitely enhanced the experience for guests.

People trying the Inktense on fabric

Some of the samples visitors made

Because I don’t like to make things easy for myself, I thought it would be fun to do something on the stand rather than just talk about the classes.  Loads of people tried their hand at using Inktense on fabric (thank you Derwent for the pencils) and really enjoyed it.  I totally related to those who said ‘I have a box of these at home but don’t know how to use them’.  How many purchases like that do I have hiding in a cupboard?!

I was so busy, I barely moved off the stand for the four days, which was great but meant I didn’t really get a look at the other work on display. Just down from me however, was Linzi Upton’s fantastic yurt, coracle and pillars (sorry Linzi if that’s not the correct word), which I’ve written about before and also the ‘It Happens’ group.  Each time I breezed past to change the water for painting I saw something else of their beautiful work.  The group’s work fitted well together – no identical sized pieces required – and it had a lovely tranquil air to it.  The photos aren’t great as the lighting was truly awful, but hopefully they give you an idea.

View of It Happens exhibition

View of It Happens exhibition

So now I am back in the calm-chaos of my studio, surrounded by boxes that need unpacking and a frighteningly looming deadline of my next solo exhibition at Farfield Mill, which I hang in 9 days time.  Not that I am counting... honest!

Anne Tuck's quilt - part of It Happens

A little postcard Sue Grimes made in my workshop

The dropcloth from under the Inktense painting.  Can't wait to use it!

Using Inktense on fabric

Inktense on fabric by Gillian Cooper

I’m not sure why, but I was rather resistant to Inktense pencils and blocks.  I think it may be because that although people raved about them, when I looked at their work I wasn’t convinced.  It was either a bit pale and uninteresting or very dark.

Inktense on fabric by Gillian Cooper

However, I finally decided I had to try them to see what the fuss was about.  The first attempt my daughter and I made was not terribly inspiring, but since then I’ve become a real convert.  The colour can be intense or pale and adding the ink to wet fabric gives a lovely wash style effect.  They also work well on paper and have become my ‘go-to’ set of pencils for any drawing I’m doing as then I can wet the colour, paint it in and the draw more on top.  The colour is so much more intense than watercolour and is permanent on fabric once it has been wet.  They have a lovely range of colours that sit nicely with my palette.

I like Inktense so much that I wrote an article about how to use them for Popular Patchwork (January 2015) as part of my ‘Colour onto Cloth’ series, rather than just mention them in passing.  When I was offered a stand at this week’s Stitching, Sewing and Quilting Show at the SECC, Glasgow, I decided I wanted to do something active, rather than just hand out leaflets about my new classes.  And so, Inktense seemed liked the obvious activity.  Not too messy, instant results and fun.  People can come and have a sit down (very important if they are spending a day at a show!) and relax and try something new.  Derwent Pencils, the makers of Inktense, kindly responded to my cheeky request for some blocks and pencils to use and my friend, Luci, who runs an events decoration company, eventsdecor, has passed on to me lots of old white fabric she no longer requires.  It seemed simple, but of course, it requires far more work than that, not least, cutting and ironing all the fabric to be used!

Spare mopping up fabric - will be used in something else

Naturally, I also cannot find the samples I made for the article in Popular Patchwork and so have been playing at making some more, just using Inktense.  Normally, it is a layer in a process for me along with mono printing and paintstiks, rather than just used on its own.  This has been fun and the kids have all had a go too as today was a ‘snow day’ and there was no school.  This was a good activity after all the exertion of sledging!  The kids’ samples are interesting – they use the blocks so different to me and the level of mess was hugely more than my normally very contained area!   

Two of the kids hard at work

I’m looking forward to the Show, but am a bit nervous as it is the first time I’ve done this.  It will definitely be a learning experience for me.  As an incentive to visitors to the Show to sign up for my newsletter, I’m offering them the chance to win a set of Inktense blocks.  If you sign up for my newsletter before the end of Sunday 8 March, I’ll add your name into the draw too.  I promise no junk mail!

The Inktense blocks on offer

One of the kid's pieces hung out to dry

Another of the kids pieces - it's meant to be a solar eclipse

Friend or foe? New work

Meet the latest in my series of ‘Unsung Muses’. Not sure whether she is friendly or scary, but I'd definitely want her on my side! She’s not formally named yet and there may still be some changes, but for the moment, she is sat on my wall to be contemplated.  You may be able to see some pins around the edges of the piece as I have been trying to block the hanging into a less wavy shape.

She has taken a long time to make, partly as I tried to make a darker figure on a lighter background – instinctively I want to make it the other way around, but I keep reading (a dangerous thing) that dark stands out better on a light background rather than the reverse.  The background felt too weak, so got improved, several times, with inktense and with stitch.  The breasts were too bright, so the colour got knocked back by adding some chiffon on top.  The edges changed shape a couple of times.

This may tell you that I’m still a bit unsure of this piece.  Therefore it is time to leave it alone and mull it over whilst I get on with the next one, which is well underway as it seemed more fun to start another piece than to battle on with something I was unsure on.