A trip to the Arts and Crafts of Jaipur

I have been asked to host a trip to Jaipur next March 17-27 as we will explore the wonderful pink palaces, that include the Taj Mahal and get a taster of many of the Arts and Crafts this area is so well known for.

Here is the information on a little leaflet that I have printed and will have on my Polar Expressions Gallery at Festival of Quilts, so come and speak to me if you might be interested. We are lead by professional guides and specialists for the various crafts we visit.

I will also to those interested share some bound sketchbook techniques, so one’s memories, photographs and sketches can be collaged together for further inspiration. This will not be a formal workshop but I will have bookbinding needles, thread and instructions available for anyone to ‘have a go’ if they would like.

Please consider joining me next year….. it is always great to meet new people with shared interests and Colouricious has been running successful tours for many years.

www.colouriciousholidays.com

This leaflet has the basic information, for the full itinerary and costs see www.colouriciousholidays.com

Latest News - August 2019

it has been a long time since I added to this Blog. There has been lots of news…. so here goes.

After quite an absence updating this site, I decided it was about time. Life has been busy with some teaching in Australia at Grampian Textures this past March and a solo exhibition of my Polar Expressions work based on over 20 years of art and textiles based on the Arctic, Iceland and Antarctica. I am taking this show - with extra new work, to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC, Birmingham 1-4 August. It has been amazing to see the pieces all together. A true labour of love from my early Diploma work to my most recent stitch studies.

Come and visit TG18 if you are visiting the Festival this year. I have produced a new small book for the exhibition.

My new book Polar Expressions will be available at the Festival or by post.

It has been awhile

No excuses really..... just busy travelling and creating.  Aren't I lucky.  The trip of a lifetime happened earlier in the year, I could fill this whole blog with the inspired photos I took of ice, glaciers, icebergs, penguins and whales, not to mention unbelievable landscape not only of Antarctica but the Falklands, Argentina and Chile.  At least another hard drive worth of photos.

Stay tuned.  I hope to be more proactive with this site after a long absence.  Gallery pages have been undated with recent work, so have a look.

thanks for reading....  I also post information on www.sandrameech-art.blogspot.com

Colour in Buenos Aires - perhaps it inspired my newest landscape work??

King Penguins at Bluff Cove in the Falklands

Ice near the Zodiac at Cierva Cove

Colour and more Colour

Well.... I know I haven't been posting lately, but busy with colds, coughs etc, and also exploring some old art media friends.  Art materials that is....  especially Gouache. 

We joined the Bruton Art Society when we moved to Somerset - a very skilled group of painters and those interested in all aspects of fine art.  They run workshops and I decided to get back to my own fine art roots and take a wonderful two days with Annette Burkitt exploring abstraction and colour in the landscape with Gaugin and Kandinsky.  Our first challenge was an interpretation of one of Gaugin's paintings... the Talisman, done in gouache, a mediaum that I consistantly used years ago for illustration when I was working in advertising. What colour... for me wonderful to revisit.  This is not exactly like the original but was great fun.

The next thing was to do some of our own inspiration and I used photos taken locally as my starting point.  Again, looking at the colour, shape and vibrance of Gaugin's pallett.

A winding road near Ilminster in winter.

Rolling hills just north of Somerton.

I am so glad to get a brush in my hand again (apart from all the paper I paint for collage material in stitched textiles)  Really great to just paint for 'me'.  

I am taking some of this new exuberance into sketchbooks and small works that I hope to develop further.  All of this may never appear as a stitched textile, but it is giving me a great deal of fun and satisfaction.

Watch this space for more 'art'.

thanks for reading

Time Flies

It has been awhile since I last wrote... busy working on new pieces....not enough hours in the day.

This is called Reality and Rhetoric and is 2.6m wide and relates to the flooding on the Somerset Levels last year.

This will be previewed at Quilt Art's 30 Anniversary exhibition called "Dialogues" which opens 29 March, until 2nd August at the Max Berk Museum, Heidelberg, then comes to the UK to the Quilt Museum in York 11th September - 31 October.

This is a detail and you can see the writing behind the slats of transferred fabric.  It covers the social and economic history of the Somerset Levels and includes the political involvement last year during the flooding.

We will also be having a 2nd exhibition called Small Talk that will be at the Festival of Quilts from the 6th - 9th August, at the NEC Birmingham, then travels to the Silk Museum in Macclesfield from the 15th September - 30th October.  We have a new book that has been written by Dr. Susan Marks, and designed by Charlotte Yde) which will feature work from both exhibitions and be on sale at all the venues.  You can find more information on www.quiltart.eu

I will have more new work to share soon, - It is a busy exhibitng year for me.

Thanks for reading.

Spring is here

It is mid February already and this new year is already going by quickly.  I have been busy with new work and very excited about the different directions my art is taking me.  

On sunny days I need to take photos.  I love the colours of winter/spring in England and the brilliant light we have in Somerset, set off by the warm greys, orange/rusts and olive greens of the landscape.   The immaculately pruned hedgerows are amazing, and the low sun in the afternoon and empty fields with wonderful 'manmade' marks constantly inspire me.

A new toy

I have been having some fun lately with drawing and painting on my ipad in a program called Paper by Fifty Three and the new stylus with interesting results.  While it will never replace the immediate feeling of connection - pen/pencil/paintbrush through your hand to the paper or canvas, -  it is fun.  The nuance and subtlety is gone (I need more practise I think) but the results are very graphic and could be interesting.  

Creative Ideas

In my last post I mentioned the possibility of adding some creative explorations for consideration in future posts.  I am working on some ideas to share and have had some positive feedback about this.  Just to add that this would not be an online course, but be working suggestions that you might take on board to help with your own art and stitched textiles in the future. Presented in a PDF format that could be downloaded, there will be some short exercises that might enhance your own practise. These would address - inspiration, looking and seeing, design, composition, collage and fine art considerations.  Less about surface or stitch techniques but more about creativity and design fundamentals.  So  watch this space.....

Thanks for reading and I will be back soon.

There are many programs for ipads and tablets worth investigating.  Many are free with interesting results.

This piece was based on a still life from the regular art class that I attend.  

What Next

This will be an exciting year - Not only is Quilt Art www.quiltart.eu opening our 30th anniversary touring exhibition with two exhibitions - Dialogues (in March in Heidleberg) and Small Talk, (at the Festival of Quilts 2015),  but I will also be exhibiting Somerset Level work with South West Textile Group www.southwesttextilegroup.org. - an exhibition called 'Imprints" at the Museum of Somerset in Taunton in the fall. Through Our Hands, www.throughourhands.co.uk is another realitively new group which is making waves in the textile world with a wonderful e-magazine and online profile (also an exhibition gallery at Festival of Quilts this year).   

A very exciting time for Art Textiles in the UK, at the moment and I am so fortunate to be part of it all.  More about these groups and exhibitions wil follow.  

What I am sharing today is some starting points for 'The Sewing Machine Project" with Studio 21. You can see images of our past exhibition 'Chineses Whispers' and members work on  www.stuido21textilart.co.uk

We are a group of textile artists with very diverse styles who are graduates of the Diploma in Stitched Textiles from East Berkshire College, Windsor.  We are having an exhibition at South Hill Park, Bracknell later in the year and I hope to share some of my own work in progress in this blog.  

 We have been inspired by the sewing machine - the history of making and everything from bits and pieces to sewing machine parts and beyond. My colour inspired by Husqvarna green.  I always start with sketchbooks... for me a way of making marks, recording information and just getting 'into' the flow of a new subject.  I love wax resists on brusho painted paper as well as bold marks with the paint brush, and pen.  Something will come of this I think.  I already have done a sewing sample, so watch this space. Inspiration from monoprints will be next.

On another note.....

I might need some feedback here.... Would there be interest in some simple techniques and design sharing on this blog.  Definitely not an online course, but frequent exercises, mini challenges to try?  These would be based mostly on surface paper techniques, sketchbooks, line and mark making with perhaps some composition thrown in.  Please leave a comment if you think it might be a consideration  I know those of you reading this are probably very busy with your own work, but as I write this post (and I am hoping to do this on a regular basis) I could include a pdf or two. .....Just a thought.

Thanks for reading

Hope this is all working

Loving this ability to tap into my own website and upload as I please.  I hope it is getting out there.  I was grateful to Liz at http://www.websitedesignforartists.com/ for all her help over the last 10 years and would highly recommend it to any textile artist who would like to have their own website in the future.  I personally think a web profile is essential these days and blogs are very good in a different way.  I am not so busy with social media (I spend enough time on the computer with photo editing and email) but try to visit facebook regularly.  

I have risen to the latest challenge for 3 pieces of Art for 5 days on Facebook and enjoy seeing so many wonderful creative pieces on board. I really did join Facebook in the early days for the textile friends, but it is so busy now with EVERYTHING that is 'out there' at the moment, there is a lot to take in !!  Anyway I am on day two of my art textile submission and here they are, if you are intereested.

Day 1 - You will have seen these images in the website Gallery but they are current so thought for the facebook challenge they could work well. 

This was Day 2 and some previous but current work on the theme of the 'last silence' - the drawings and marks began the journey, with a 3D sculpture and wall hung piece to follow.

Thanks for reading and if this blog is being seen.... I would really love to know.