Textile Study Group 2019

Had a lovely few days with at the Textile Study Group with Gwen Hedley. These were three of the pebbles I picked from a huge box available to be used as inspiration.  The theme for our particular group of 16 avid textile people was "Under Wraps" and we looked at various ways of wrapping objects which included the use of sticky dissolvable fabric to stabalise stitches.

It was a lovely venue this year, located at Hillscourt Hotel near Birmingham, which had air conditioned rooms to work in and lovely food. Believe the group are returning there next year.

More TSG Summer School

A view of the peaceful surroundings at The Hayes Conference Centre. This is the smaller of the two lakes viewed from the bird hide side. Lots of benches for contemplation.

I also ended up making this small layered book which was meant to resemble a walnut shell.

TSG Summer School

Just spent a lovely break at the Textile Study Group Summer School at the Hayes Conference Centre near Swanwick. It was amazing. Lovely venue, lovely people and fantastic tutors.

Lots of dyeing going on with Ruth Issett's group …

3D with Alice Fox

More Sketching ....

A bit more of my drawing from during the week.  These were Lotus flower seed pods.  I found them quite difficult to draw but will have another try if I get chance but using a more conventional method than left hand drawing. The comments were my own and from 3 fellow delegates on the course.

Love in the Mist

Did lots of drawing with graphite pencils and sticks from chosen items in the seeds and pods group.  Very difficult drawing with your left hand and trying your best not to use traditional mark making techniques.  As the days wore on and my technique improved I started to achieve something resembling the 'Live in a Mist' I was trying to draw.

Stitching onto a long thin piece of calico which had emulsion paint added randomly to the surface was the next challenge and is still 'Work in Progress'.

Unfortunately the last picture does not really show the tuck to its best advantage. Perhaps when I have done further stitching I will be able to get a better image of it.

Stitch Heaven

Just returned from the Textile Study Group Summer School and now full of enthusiasm and ideas.  It is a privilege to be able to spend quality time with like-minded people whilst learning new skills and enhancing existing ones.  I made one big mistake and that was to volunteer this year to co-ordinate the tutor's gift from our group ....

It is a Turkish Map Fold structure.  Each student in our group decorated a square of cartridge paper which was then folded and assembled to create the book. Having no wrapping paper to hand a piece of tissue paper was quickly printed with gold and bronze paint and fitted the bill nicely.

h-Art is here again

I popped to Ledbury this morning as DH decided he really needed to go to work (yet again) on a Saturday morning!! I caught the EG exhibition at the Weaver's Gallery, Angie Hughes & Jeanette McCulloch, a whizz around Healey Art & Home and Book Arts at the Master's House.  On the way home I popped along to visit Red Pepper Arts at the Colwall Ale House where I also had a nice cup of tea and a piece of cake. It did not matter that it was a horrible wet morning.

I got a lovely surprise when I saw that one of my friends had completed her second piece of work from the TSG Summer School and it was on display. Also loved the butterfly display by Venture 2. Well done girls. The added bonus was I bumped into another friend and her husband which was a lovely surprise.

What Did We Do Next

York seems such a long time ago ... Think we painted fabric next

We painted the background with acrylic and fabric medium, using gesso, wax, oil pastels, bits of collaged paper, printing, etc.  In fact all the things we had been learning during the week.  Next we could fold it up or chop it up, so mine got chopped up.

 and reassembled in a different order, first with just two pieces

 then all three pieces, which the stage it is now at ready to be stitched together and worked on.

Just realised looking at the photos that we added some foil to this at the end.

More from James College

from Bobby Britnell's workshop

I was joined in York by two friends and they were in either Bobby Britnell's group or that of  Alison King.  They seemed to produce more resolved work than our group did so I thought I would post examples of their work. It was interesting to see the diversity between all three groups.

First piece from Alison King's group

Unfinished piece from second piece in Alison King's group

Followed by ....

We were all given an A2 piece of cartridge paper which we had to randomly paste with bits of tissue paper and other scraps we had to hand, using PVA and/or gesso or emulsion paint.  Gaps had to be left to allow the cartridge paper surface to peep through too.  Paper flying off the edges was encouraged. This was all then coloured with either brusho, koh-i-noor or diluted acrylic paint. We were encouraged to print onto the surface as well.

Once it was completed and dry we folded it up and then made a long cut up the centre fold so that it resembled a pair of trousers. More folding and the piece of paper became a sort of concertina book.  The general idea was that it could then be used as design inspiration for a piece of work.

I forgot to photograph it so this is all I can show you.  It is the piece at the back of the picture. The smaller piece at the front is something we did later on. Looking at it I must have added some more detail before cutting it up!

And Then ....

What did we do next. Can I have forgotten?

We were each given a length of wallpaper lining paper and we had to randomly cover it with gesso or white emulsion paint and candle wax.  This then had some good old Quink Ink painted onto it.  We left it all to dry overnight and were then asked to draw onto it with whatever was to hand and some black drawing ink. We could add one colour using either chalk or oil pastels.

This was then made into a concertina. The white lines at the edge were where I had taped the paper to my table to keep it steady.

I decided to decorate the other side of mine with Inktense blocks.  After I had made a rough wash over it all I did some rubbings in two colours over the  prairie points made from cartridge paper.

Edging Along in the Dark

We moved onto some monoprinting onto various types of paper, some of which worked better than others. For the examples below I went outside and used part of a gripper bar in the doorway and the concrete well. This was followed by laying some of my paper prairie points under the piece of paper and rollering over the top.

A scrap of paper I had been putting under the edge of a large sheet of paper I had been working on to stop the ink going on the table made a useful insert over a monoprint of some bamboo leaves from the waters edge I had brought indoors. I added a wash of colour to make it more interesting and created an interesting page in my sketchbook.

A Little More Over the Edge

These are one or two pages from my sketchbook.  I felt I was too slow and did not really produce enough drawings and ideas.  Others in the group were far more prolific.  We had to jot down some of the ideas from the squares of paper we had been cutting and folding.  I had chosen a topic of 'Prairie Points' which I found quite difficult to interpret.

I was encouraged to draw some of the curled corners I had been playing with and make them go right across two pages of my sketchbook, which is something I have always struggled with.  I was quite pleased with the results.  I used watersoluble graphite pencils for the drawing.

Beyond the Edge

Drawn to the Edge

Just returned from a lovely week away in Yorkshire.  It was the second time I have attended the Textile Study Group Summer School. This year it was at James College on the York University Campus. Last year we were at Farncombe Estate which was not too far from home for me.

There was water and birds everywhere, the weather was lovely and the tutors and fellow students fantastic.

This was the scene outside our studio.  Needless to say I think we had the best tutor in Shelia Mortlock and also the best classroom, but it is only a matter of opinion.  There were two further options - Bobby Britnell and Alison King - and I had a friend in each room so was able to see what they were doing too.

This little pile of nonsense was my attempt at making edges based on Prairie Points, which were then stacked on top of each other to create a further edge.

TSG Summer School

Just had a wonderful three and a half days away at Farncombe Estate on the Textile Study Group Summer School.  It was a bit overwhelming and extremely long hours but oh so enjoyable.  The talk given by Jan Miller, Mary Sleigh and Shelley Rhodes on the Wednesday evening just topped off everything nicely.  There was chance to shop too.  The Silk Route were on site throughout and Art Van Go visited all day on Tuesday.  Lots of lovely food, excellent tutors and accommodation and outstanding surroundings .....

Deckchairs for lounging in were everywhere, unfortunately the weather was not conducive to this activity until the final day.

 A view towards Bredon Hill in the foreground and the Malverns in the background.

One of the more talented members of the group with Mary Sleigh produced the fantastic vessels above.

 Another one played with found objects of various kinds.  Her table was covered with them.

 Below - the things that look like caterpillars are catkins.

My companion from Worcestershire produced this seed box, complete with handmade seeds, which is more than I can say for what I was doing!  As usual, mine is still to finish and I am feeling pretty useless at the moment.  I will try and finish it and post it on my blog.  I promise.