Showing posts with label Catherine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catherine. Show all posts

Tuesday, 1 February 2022

Feelings/Emotions: The Patchwork Heart

While I was thinking about this theme, and wondering which of emotion or feeling to represent, I thought a lot about the impact of the pandemic on the feelings of all of us.  I did wonder about making a quilt in different shades of grey! But of course life is not really like that all the time and I started thinking about more positive feelings.  A recurring thought in my head was "and the greatest of these is love".

Love is, hopefully, one of the biggest, most optimistic, and most important emotions we have.  It comes in many forms and is directed towards many things.  I decided to make a patchwork heart, with pieces representing all the different loves.  



Inevitably at some point, a heart might be broken and put back together, so one of the pieces is a patch to mend it.   Also in my thoughts though was a line from e e cummings' poem - I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart), and perhaps the patch is also a little pocket.


I wanted the heart to stand out, so I left it unquilted, then I quilted loosely round it to make a kind of aura round it, and then very tightly in the rest of the quilt.






Monday, 1 November 2021

B****y Covid

My quilt doesn't need much explanation - it represents the majority of headlines at the moment, and pretty much sums up my feelings!




As the current situation drags on we're probably all getting a bit fed up so I had wanted some way of adding a small bit of hope to my quilt.  When I dug this newspaper print out of the drawer it seemed perfect because it is actually full of positive thoughts.  I'm not always keen on fabric like this but I thought that the message 'be gentle with yourself' and references to the good things in life - beauty, friendship, family, home and garden, etc, - were a good reminder that although Covid sometimes occupies centre stage, as it does in my quilt,  the things that make life worthwhile are still there.


My 'headline' is painted with fabric paint and I quilted in black round the letters, which are based on a font called Impact.   There is a double layer of batting under the white 'paper' which is stipple quilted.  The background newsprint is quilted in random geometric shapes inspired by the print.  I liked the way that the asterisks look vaguely like the Covid virus under the microscope!



I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling uninspired to be creative recently, and it was very good to have this challenge! As usual I'm looking forward to seeing what has inspired the other members of the Endeavourers.  





Sunday, 1 August 2021

Opposites Attract - Purple and Orange

I have to admit that though I found the theme a really interesting one to think about I really struggled this time to come up with a quilt.  Probably I am not the only one who is finding that the pandemic is starting to take a toll on my mental energy?!   In the end, I decided to follow on from last quarter's theme and, thinking about the use of the colour wheel in the garden, make a quilt showing how using opposite colours together can bring each colour to life. Unfortunately my camera is not picking up the glowing oranges and purples of the Oakshott cottons I have used here, and the effect they have in proximity to each other,  but here is a cheery bunch of flowers!












I made this little piece in great haste and it is not a work of art - but it was very encouraging doing it and feeling a bit of creativity returning!   Being forced to be much more spontaneous than usual was fun and quite liberating, and the scribbly raw-edge appliqué in black is something I will come back to.    Once again I am very grateful to be a part of this group!







 

Saturday, 1 May 2021

Colour Theory: The Spirit of Summer

The theme for this quarter's piece was Colour Theory, and what a massive and complicated subject that is!  

Essentially it's about describing and explaining relationships between colours and why we find some satisfying.  As quilt makers most of us have probably come across the 'Colour Wheel' at some point - we often use it as reference when considering which colours might go well together. The particular wheel we are familiar with - the subtractive colour wheel, which is based on mixing pigments, and uses the primary colours red, yellow and blue - only represents one way of describing the relationships between different colours.  There are other models which depend, for example, on whether you are considering the properties of light - the additive colour wheel - or the physiology of the human eye.   

As I was feeling my way round the enormity of the subject, and at a bit at a loss, I thought about making an abstract quilt using complementary colours.  However I couldn't get away from a picture in my head of pink blossom against sunny blue skies and I really wanted to make that quilt even before I'd considered what the relationship between the colours was. 

The Spirit of Summer


For me, this is a really exciting combination of colours.  If you look at my blog you will see another quilt in my header which uses it.  



Using the quilters' subtractive colour wheel, red, of which pink is a tint, and this green-blue are split complementary colours (Interesting that unlike most tints, pink is significant enough to have its own name, instead of being 'pale red'.)  Green is red's complement, the colour with the highest contrast - and blue-green is an analogous colour to blue, which makes it part of a split complementary colour scheme with red.   

Using the additive colour wheel, the blue here is close to Cyan, which is directly opposite red, and is its complement.   If we think about how the human eye works, red and cyan stimulate different photoreceptors and together they are visually exciting.

So this quilt doesn't address the theme of Colour Theory head on but it illustrates two colours which have a particularly strong relationship with each other.   We don't have to know why we find a particular colour combination appealing [edited to add and Ruth's post made me realise that the emotional and thematic effect of these two colours is what is important to me] but Colour Theory can help us to explain and describe colour relationships we like and to put other combinations together. 



























Monday, 1 February 2021

Memories: Treasure Box

My piece for this quarter is about the relationship between our memories and who we are - the way they contribute to who we are as a human being. We can have experiences but it is the memory of those experiences that allows us to learn and change and develop as a person. Memories are layered and stitched together, colouring and shaping our personalities, and our attitudes to the world.  

I thought about the treasure box I keep under my bed, and about the way the objects in a collection like this represent their owner's individual memories. The collection as a whole is more than the sum of its parts too and also reflects the owner as a person. 

In fact a person is like a treasure box - we are all treasure boxes! Together the box and its contents symbolise us as the keepers, and the product, of our memories.   So here is my imagined 'Treasure Box'.








The box and its contents are entirely textile bar some wire in the corsage, and almost entirely stitched, with the top of the box in crazy patchwork - all to symbolise the way we are layered and stitched together from our memories. Together the box and contents represent an imaginary person and what is important in their life and character . 

There is a (very) extended version of this post on my blog, with (lots) more pictures and details.


Friday, 20 November 2020

Inspiration

Since finally finishing and posting my piece(s) for the Sea theme, I've made another.  My missing creative mojo had a good kickstart and I'm definitely not finished with this theme yet!  

A Life on the Ocean Wave


Aside from the theme as a prompt, inspiration for this new piece came from an odd place, about which more later. It made me think about where my inspiration usually comes from and I'd really like to know where you find yours.

Sometimes something I've read sparks an image in my mind, and sometimes inspiration comes from a visual source like a lovely set of shapes - like the way edges of buildings come together, for example -


or a combination of colours in rusty paintwork. 


 This doorknob became a quilt! 





I think some textures are really beautiful - like these cracks in concrete



and squirrel away a mental picture to ponder on at night. Mobile phone photography is a wonderful thing, but it does mean that I now have more than a lifetime's worth of inspiration snaps waiting to become quilts.

For materials and techniques I get a huge amount of inspiration from the adventurousness of the Endeavourers and often see something and think 'ooh, I must try that out!' or realise that suddenly I now know a way to express something I've been thinking about.   The fish in this quilt are made by cutting up the metal from tea lights, shaping them with the end of a teaspoon handle and embossing them.  The inspiration to do this came from Fiona here - I tucked that knowledge away at the back of my head and it was just what I needed.  




Anyway, as I mentioned, the inspiration for this current piece came from a surprising source - the side of a coffee pot.  It was sitting on my blue and white seersucker tablecloth and I was transfixed by the reflection on its shiny surface because suddenly I saw a beautiful wave shape and immediately knew what I wanted to do with it - though I have been thinking about it for a year and a half!



Luckily for the sailors on the boat the colours of my tablecloth suggested fair weather, even though the sea is rolling!

The boat itself is inspired by the jolly little fishing boats in the harbour at Cockenzie down the coast from here. 


The seagulls are made from modelling clay, supported on silver wire which is inserted into the top seam of the quilt - that inspiration just came into my head - pling! It is lovely when that happens.




I am always hugely grateful to be a part of the group - it is a luxury to have the theme as inspiration to mull over, and to also be inspired by and learn such a lot from the other members.   So, I would be very interested to know - where does your inspiration come from?





Sunday, 1 November 2020

The Sea: 'Kelp Forest', 'Wave' and 'Shoreline'

I'm sorry to be arriving late to the party.  The last few months have been difficult for us all and, like many people I'm sure, I haven't felt much creative enthusiasm.  In the end I managed to get stuck in by giving myself permission to play for a bit, as people say in motivational books!  This subject is very close to my heart as I grew up near the sea, and still live near to it albeit in another part of the country further down the coast.   I find the colours and textures endlessly fascinating and it was these that I decided to think about to begin with, concentrating first of all on wave forms.





I started with the simplest wave quilting on calico.  It's a very peaceful and meditative exercise.



Then I pieced some waves.



I love that this piece almost looks carved in stone.

After that I progressed to colour


and then combined piecing, quilting and colour.

I realised that I loved the unfinished edges of this piece and will have to find a way to use this in future.


I made a copy so I could play with some seagulls



but this was just a diversion because I wanted to concentrate on making abstract pieces.

Finally, I wrapped three finished pieces round canvases - separate works which are also supposed to work together.  As things sometimes take on a life of their own, the pieced quilt became a kelp forest  (and by the way, if you have not seen the film My Octopus Teacher, with its stunning photography, it is worth looking up as a lovely and gentle antidote to the state of the world.)  The other two pieces reflect waves and ripples in sand.  Unifying all the quilts is a fairly heavy natural (and seeded) calico which I used for its lovely sandy colour and texture.  

Kelp Forest







Wave



Shore Line


The Sea


Although we have chosen our new theme - Memories - to work on in the coming quarter I think I will carry on working on sea-themed pieces as well.  I don't think I've finished my exploration of this subject:  getting these works finished has got me thinking again.  It's lovely to be back at the sewing machine and I'm really looking forward to trying out some more ideas.  As a subject it opens up fairly limitless possibilities!

As always, I'm very grateful to be part of such a lovely group of creative and supportive members.  

Catherine



 

Saturday, 1 August 2020

An Imaginary Voyage of Discovery in the South Pacific

My partner, Janine, sent me this wonderful compass as my inspiration piece for this quarter's quilt.  I was quite overwhelmed to receive it.  



Knowing that all my fabric was, at the time, in my studio where I couldn't get it during lockdown Janine also very kindly and generously sent me some fabrics, including the marvellous piece of map which went into the quilt.

The compass immediately set me thinking about great endeavours.   I love the stories of Scott and Shackleton, and sea-going adventures, like Darwin's on the Beagle.   A couple of years back, we visited the Discovery in Dundee, and I was really taken with the laboratory and its portholes.  






Then, having a particular interest in plants and horticulture, I read up about some of the great plant hunters who travelled the world bringing back new (to us) species from round the world.  In my head all these things finally came together in this quilt, combining science and adventure.



The story goes...

It is sometime in the 1800s.  The occupant of this cabin, the Scientific Officer of HMS Persevere (Leith), has gone on deck to watch as the tiny South Sea island they have just visited recedes out of view as they head further south.  On his bench are some shells he picked up there, and a piece of Ipomea pes-caprae - named Goat's foot morning glory because of the shape of the leaves - which grows on beaches throughout the world.  Its seeds are dispersed in salt water.  It is not a great discovery as it is already well known but it was beautiful to see and he may paint it later - he is a competent botanical artist.  A Monarch butterfly has found its way on board and will hopefully evade the killing bottle.    The Scientific Officer has been delighted in the last month to receive a letter from his wife, enclosing a studio portrait of his three little girls who he hasn't seen for a year.  He hopes to find more letters from home next time they reach a port visited by packet ships.    He misses his family very much, but until then he will be busy examining rocks and barnacles under his travelling microscope (currently in its box away from the salt air), and writing notes for posterity about beetles of the South Pacific.

Porthole view



Monarch butterfly

A family picture




A real, and a stitched shell


I had a lot of fun making this quilt and imagining the life of its subject has been a hugely therapeutic bit of escapism. Thank you so much Janine for such a lovely prompt!

[Note: Leith is part of Edinburgh where I live, and contains a large port.  The motto of Leith is 'Persevere' - a good motto for the times!  The little Victorian girls in the photograph are actually my great grandmother and her sisters in the 1800s.  The butterfly is a tribute to my grandfather, an entomologist.  I still plan to use a picture of my other great-grandmother as a stand-in for the Scientific Officer's wife, but she is currently in a box somewhere at the back of the attic!  The woman of this era who were not fortunate enough to be adventurers themselves deserve a lot of sympathy and recognition.]