Taking a Break

I ran away from working on my Art Award pieces today and did a 4D workshop with Pam at Bestway. We digitised a floral fringe design and border, then stitched out the border part using the Endless Hoop. I learned heaps as usual, especially about the digitising. And I really should use the Endless Hoop more - it has enormous possibilities for more than just adding a border.

I have two new books which Dale sent to me and which arrived yesterday. I haven't had time to do more than just flip through them, but I'm really looking forward to some indepth reading. One is "The Painted Quilt" by Laura and Linda Kemshall. There doesn't seem to be anything new, but there's some great eye candy and it's good to see how people use various techniques.

The other one is by Jane Dunnewold, Claire Benn and Leslie Morgan. I copied the blurb below from the Thread Studio catalogue.

A transatlantic collaboration between Jane Dunnewold, Claire Benn and Leslie Morgan, this books aims to help those who are seeking a surer artistic voice by providing practical exercises and guidance on different ways forward.

The book is divided into four key sections:

How to Get Started: whether you're full of ideas or running on empty, how do you begin the process of designing?
How to Move Forward: getting to grips with the principles, tools and language of design, plus strategies to solve design problems.
How's It Going: everyone gets stuck now and then. Here we offer a strategy to evaluate the problem, contemplate the solutions and make the needed changes to get going again.
Going Deeper: exercises to do when you're seeking to make your work purposeful, or seeking to push through to a deeper place.

Both an inspirational and 'how to' book, the 64 pages work hard to act as a guide to accompany artists on their journey. Each exercise is clear, written in Plain English and well illustrated with photographs and examples. We feel it's user-friendly enough to encourage beginners to get started and help more experienced artists to re-focus.

I think I will get a lot out of this book. I have long admired Jane's work and have both "Complex Cloth" which is still one of the best and most comprehensive textile "How -To" books around and her earlier "15 Beads". And goodness knows I really need to work on my almost non-existent design skills.

I have decided which piece is going into the Awards - mostly because the deadline is 1pm tomorrow, and I will be able to finish this one without enormous stress! I have painted a readymade frame for the painted nappy liner/distressed felt/digitised embroidered butterflies piece, layered the bits and cut it to size. Tomorrow I will put it all together, add a hanging wire and take it to the Council offices. I WILL take a photo first, I promise. And I intend to finish the other one too - it will go better, I am sure, without the pressure of a very imminent deadline!