a wintery grey week…….

some lovely rain, and bursts of chilly sunshine…..and a spot of glorious colour on the beach:

 

tree dahlia

It’s a grey and cold day, but a lovely sight in the garden:  a successful white tree dahlia  after trying for some years to get one to grow ! a lovely graceful addition to the winter garden:

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inkjet transfers

Getting just the right amount of image from an inkjet transfer is proving a very complex ………and somewhat frustrating…….challenge. Have tried the gel medium-on-substrate approach, which left lots of nice gel medium embedded in the original photo, an interesting look but not much use as a transfer! tried spraying glossy photo with water….that has been a bit more interesting, getting a nice blurry image as the colours run quickly especially from cheap photo paper. The clearest images came from a transfer from a sheet of overhead transparency, which made me very excited……but alas the printer didn’t like the process, and after the first one [seen below with 4 moth images] it refused to repeat the experience, but instead made the ink come out too wet on the transparency and the image impossible to transfer. Best nice-blurry results so far are from thin copy paper print-out onto thin copy paper using Transfer ink. I also really like the image that is left behind on the original print-out after this process.

Any suggestions from Out There would be welcome!  in the meantime shall keep experimenting…….results so far are shown below:

 

colours gathered from the early winter garden

…….which still seem more late autumn than winter! a rich collection:

 

 

 

Sari Panels in progress

the slow stitching of my sari panels is progressing in the wintery evenings……………..a very meditative activity! I am starting to think of ways to join them into a throw, and whether  some different picture-based panels need to be incorporated. I really enjoy the rhythm of the stitching, and the way the flow of the stitches softens and texturises the fabrics, and unites the pieces.

 

colours shapes and textures on morning walk

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autumn garden

confined to home with the never-ending cold, its a good time to focus on the beauty in the garden; the crisp autumn days and cool nights are producing some spectacular colour, even here by the coast:

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mixed media backgrounds

fun playing with paint and texture….I enjoyed making this piece, with layers of gesso and paint………..and placed a butterfly picture on it to see how it works as a background…………..looks like it will be a messy weekend! a few more of these backgrounds in different colours might be a good start for my Butterfly Collection.

 

winter blues and butterflies

The weather has turned very winter, the chest/cough/aches -and- pains lurgy has struck, keeping me housebound and lethargic…..but amidst it all a spark of inspiration has ignited…….have started pulling together all my reference, samples, thoughts about butterflies and moths….will start with a sketchbook of ideas and possible approaches first and see where it leads me………… nothing like a project to lift the spirits and give a positive focus!

changing seasons

a fairly long blog-silence! my early morning focus has been a bit closer to home , as we have a flurry of gardening activity doing autumn clean-up, and planting; and the bike rides have been a bit less regular……textiles-wise I have been quietly pottering away with some hand stitching on the sari quilt panels. A lovely morning down by Swan Bay today though:

 

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