Surface Treatment Workshop - week 17

For week 17 we explored printing with sponges, rollers and foam.  Quite simple patterns in my favourite Cornish colours, particularly inspired, perhaps, by the way the weather changes the colours of the sea in the bay, the rocks, lichen and seaweed as well as misty mornings, yellow early morning light and harbour forms.

I began with a gelli printing session to create the backgrounds then used a roller with bands wrapped around it and a sponge which I cut into.  Quite simple.  Quite quick.  Interesting results.  Just playing ...

In week 18 (which I will share over the weekend) we etched into ventilation tape.  It has some possibilities that I want to explore, so more on that soon.  Thank you for all your comments on the last post and for following along.

The sparkle of the sea

I'd love to share with you the things that are inspiring me at the moment and the colours that are finding their way into my work ... aqua seas, turquoise oceans, pale gold, yellow sand beaches and
soft early summer orange tones

this past week I made two hearts
inspired by the colours of the ocean and beach

as I love to do ... I heated the fabrics to resemble watery textures
and added french knots, beads, shells and gold stitches

in a vast turquoise ocean

the limpet shells came from St. Ives beach and I
added a small dangly of seed beads with an aqua accent bead

and there is some text too ... I love the words

in a vast turquoise ocean

I put the hearts in my etsy shop and was delighted
when both sold almost immediately

resting by the water side
so I wrapped each of the hearts as lovingly as possible
in tissue paper with an art tag, thread and a pretty bead or button

this tag was monoprinted on vintage paper (a fish recipe)
with gold angelina fibres, a button and text

and I'm happy that both hearts are on their way to new owners

the weather in St. Ives has been all over the place recently
with thundery skies, heavy rain and squally gusts

but it never stays like that for long before the sun shines again

and since I started writing this post we have had
nothing but rain and Cornish mizzle

so I've been keeping busy painting new beads for the shop
as I've almost sold out save for one packet

and while I had my paints out I've been monoprinting
and painting on bondaweb which I will use on more tags

in the colours I associate with St. Ives

they remind me of beach streams and the seashore's edge
and I'm stitching into the transfers so will show soon

we had more moody skies on Wednesday
and I loved the way the sunlight was falling on the sea

sparkling

Porthminster beach

I also love this painting by Stewart Edmondson
which has that lovely shimmering sunlight sparkling on the sea

I saw his original work in a gallery in Dartmouth earlier this year
and I fell in love with the work of this artist (take a look)

all of his paintings are beyond beautiful

Stewart Edmondson

magic of the sea

also loving this painting by Elaine Pamphillon
which reminds me of the landscape, seascape and countryside
I visit quite often between St. Ives and St. Just

only last week I had a trip on the open top bus
to Geevor, Morvah and St. Just
(more about that in the next post)

the views are exhilerating no matter the weather
but it's almost always very chilly on the open top bus
(worth it though!)

Lamorna

these are a few of the monoprints I made

with acrylics and luminous paints
on vintage recipe pages and tissue paper

love monoprinting - it's fun!

then I tore them up to make art tags for my parcels

this one looks nice tied with thread and a gold anchor button

the luminous paint shimmers like sunlight on the sea
and I added some gold paper, chiffons and a few little beads

the sparkle of the water

this is the other heart I made which is inside this parcel

it has many layers of chiffon ocean
decorated with beads, buttons, copper curls and little stitches

an accent bead dangly

and fibres couched down add a bit of texture

layers of the ocean

this one is called "sun bathed coast"

and now it's on it's way to Australia

more of my textured beads made from Tyvek

inspired by this tangle of fishing nets and rusty chains
from the pier at St. Mawes a few weeks ago

and this is a photograph I took on St. Ives pier
of ropes and fishermens' pots

love that view of St. Ives cottages
through the gap

the colourful ropes inspired a colour study
in this mosaic for Mosaic Monday two weeks ago
(I'm afraid I'm a bit behind with everything)

fragility

1. Broken 2. She saw it differently 3. Skin memory.1 4. || 5. Autumn leaf II 6. My best profile 7. Tansy indigo 8. R036 Mel_Sheridan 9. Mother's day bundle 10. Means 11. Jar No 120 close up 01 12. A snail's pace 13. Ready to bud

thank you to my flickr friends and faves
please click on the links above to visit the artists' photos

found

and any spare moments I get I am beachcombing or
experimenting with textures and colours on my photographs

I hope you found some snippets of inspiration here today
have a wonderful creative week ahead

Carolyn ♥

Seaside inspiration

My seaside inspired theme continues with an ecclectic mix of colour, texture, pattern, inspiration, recent paintings and a few playful monoprint pebbles from my sketchbook

Starting with this tangle of ropes I photographed in St. Ives harbour last week

The ropes inspired a mosaic of complementary aquas, blues, oranges and rusts

1. Jellyfishes 2. Boat on blue 3. Orange buoy and pelican 4. Ropes and nets

Water's Edge

I enjoyed playing with my colours and painted a series of small watercolours inspired by the colours of the sand and sea of beautiful St. Ives

Sea Swirl

Sea Salt

Beach Streams

This one is my favourite (I think)

I spent a morning pulling together some sheer fabrics, satins, plastic carrier bags, sweet wrappers and pieces of acetate, heating them ready for a textile project

Lovely sea and rusty colours ...

A pebble card I found recently for my sketchbook. I love that pebbles come in all colours

The following are a few photos from my pebble sketchbook

Monoprint on white cotton stitched into with silver thread

Monoprint on scrunched up silver paper. Scrunching adds a little texture

Detail silver paper

a rock pool heart I made

After five days at sea

Detail

Monoprint with wax resist

Monoprint with wax resist

Pages from my sketchbook. The image on the right is from a painting by Derek Jenkins

This is a monoprint I made with wax resist and machine stitching

Abstract detail - branching patterns and stitch

Stitching through paper

a rock pool heart made at the beginning of May

The sun shone

Lots of layers, stitches and beads

My favourite is the pearl which I encased in a vintage clasp to make it look "found"

I used pieces of vintage crochet for texture

I'm not doing anything very taxing at the moment, just keeping busy with little things while I'm waiting for my hospital results, although very soon I do need to make some serious progress with my quilt entry for FOQ 2010. My quilt is based on elements of St. Ives that I enjoy ... cottages, cobbles, beachcombing and rockpools. I may share my progress here mixed in with the pebble sketchbook pages

hope you have happy plans for your day

I shall be spending mine beach combing 

and then out for dinner in the evening with my hubby

Wishing you happy days

Carolyn x