tangles

hello and thanks for visiting
I hope your Saturday is going well!
 

since I last posted I had a great meeting at St. Ives Textiles

where I continued on with this textured and hand stitched piece ...

I'm really enjoying working on several things at the same time

 

I don't find it hard to work this way ...

just rather frustrating that I don't have even more time to stitch and paint
but I'm sure you feel the same way about that too!

 

 

my little piece features seed heads and french knots for the theme of seeds for St. Ives Textiles

but the colours were inspired by this lichen on granite at the bottom of my garden by the gate

 

my camera bounced the light and the granite looks blue ... I love this effect

as you probably know ... alongside the colours of the ocean and seaside
I love the colours and tones of the lichen in Cornwall

 

st. michaels mount - colour study

on granite, rocks and cottage rooftops

Mousehole cottages

 this tone of yellow pops up in various areas of my work

the one below is inspired by the gorse and hedgerows of the Penwith landscape

in particular ... along the coast road between St. Ives, Zennor and Morvah

 

 

as well as sketchbooks and work for the shows etc.

I've also got a big pile of seascapes and beach hearts coming along

each one is unique and inspired by the Cornish weather, seasons and moods

 

 

and below ... is a mini landscape "on the go" from my newest allotment series

couching and french knots on painted paper and chiffon

 

adding texture with stitches

 

my desk is covered in piles of stuff that I'm slowly sorting through

a mix of new and older work

 

the older work is being processed into manageable smaller sketchbooks

which I hope to share at the show in November

it's interesting to revisit older work

 

monoprints and mosaics

 in February I took part in Lawendula's paper swap

 

I was partnered with Heather Harker

(a lovely new artist friend from Lincolnshire)

who sent me a beautiful and eclectic mix of hand painted and gathered papers

as well as some vintage linen and stonewashed denim pieces

 

the denim pieces were inspiring as they had already been cut

by Heather into interesting shapes and snippets ready for use in my work

 

 

I divided the swap papers into themes

and these I'm calling "force of nature"

(others I will share in another post)

 

  

  

 

still pushing on with my creative photography

I've been experimenting more recently with soft focus

and my own painterly effect textures that I created

 

here are a few I took in Mousehole ...

 

 

the skies in Cornwall are so clean, clear and bright

I'm drawn to looking skyward, to gaze at the moon and stars at night

and morning sunrises over the bay

 

St. Clement's Isle sunrise on linen

 

on rougher days the huge waves wash over Mousehole pier

a force of nature indeed

 

 

at some point this year (soon) or next year ...

I would like to develop the technique of long exposure

there are ways of doing that with a bridge camera ... but not easy ... I suspect

 

long exposure photography gives a dreamy softness

an obscuring, blurring softness to moving elements such as water and lighting

it's a whole new project to savour next year (when I take the master class)

 

(a couple of mixed media landscape collages)

 

 

getting dusky ... lovely colours in Mounts Bay and over Mousehole

the late afternoon sun colouring the clouds and then reflecting in the harbour water

 

 

almost dark ... over Mousehole harbour

 

 back to textiles and I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon

turning this tangle into a seaside art tag

and stick more samples and things in my sketchbook

"tangles" describes very well the chaos of my mind at the moment

I'm currently working in six different themed sketchbooks at once

 and there's lots of work to get through this year for two shows in St. Ives

 

ideas for the textiles shows, general thoughts and ramblings ...

piles of inspiration, work in progress and snippets all around me ...

I'm trying hard to keep my thought process as focused as can be

 

 

still to come ...

 

I've been spending a lot of time in St. Ives so lots of photos still to share

including a tour of the working fishermens' cellars at Porthmeor Studios

and the art installation by maritime artist Mark Dion

 

 

 

hope you enjoyed the photos
have a beautiful and peaceful weekend

with love from Cornwall ♥