woad seeds

A friend kindly gave me these woad seeds for xmas. They're very light; like feathers. Planted up; hopefully I'll get some plants come through, and get enough to be able to dye from. Plans for my 'dye-ing garden' are developing! Cross my fingers.

collography print experiments...

I used water-colour paint on this print. Brushed it on; the varnish repelled the water, and left some interesting pointillist marks.

 This was acrylic paint.

This was using textile paint; much thicker, denser colour. Each print has different qualities. I used the same paper for each print. I'm looking now, at printing on top of them, using different colour/s. Maybe the same plate?

Maybe a different one?  

And this is the 'plate' I printed from. On a piece of A4 card, I mixed a printing medium with P.V.A and tried to build up layers and marks, to see how it might be manipulated. To finish up, I varnished over it, and once it was dry, did some prints. My next printing plate is a metal can, with a mix of tile grout, and P.V.A. dripped onto it. I think I'll use the same approach (different paint mediums, on the same paper) to see how that comes out. It's great when mates who are printmakers, give me tips on how to work with materials. Lovely!

No fabric printed yet with this plate; though once the process is underway, ideas flow, as to how I might develop it. 



honeysuckle and suchlike........

 building honeysuckle into a structure

 using cotton thread dyed from odd leaf bath to tie the honeysuckle

men on bikes.......the Tour de Yorkshire came through Wakefield today

Pomegranate & Tea dyed Silk

Exactly what it says on the tin!
Silk bundle with tea bags wrapped in it; dyed in pomegranate dye-pot.
I'm using some of the silk on a small piece of stitched collage. Slow stitching.

seeds

A collograph print on silk. Fabric paint.
This was used by Arts Hub Wakefield as their FaceBook banner picture earlier in March. They're using a series of different artists' work each week, to display the range of creativity around Wakefield.
Positive comments; which is always nice!
I'm still in the process of feeding my creative soul at the moment, so not much going on. But the pomegranate dye-pot I made before xmas, to use with a group of young people, is not quite exhausted yet, so I keep popping bits of fabric in. And I put a folded and clamped piece of silk into a dye-pot of tea/bags...easy-peasy to do. Will show the results of that later.
Currently, I have a white cotton top that I was given, bound up, and straddling both dye-pots.....should be an interesting result! If it comes out a disaster, I can simply cut it up, and not bother wearing it. However....I'm hoping it comes out some kind of pattern that is wearable. I love these experiments in the alchemical kitchen!
Meantime; there's art to look at!

William Blake at Oxford

Can't believe it's been a month since I last posted! Been very busy at work; and tired as a result. AND went to Oxford to see the William Blake exhibition.
Which was amazing!

 My friend got me the catalogue for xmas, so I had an idea what the exhibition would be like. And there had been an underwhelmed response by some critics.

Despite everything; I loved seeing his prints again; and could only marvel at his printing skills, and beautiful handwriting on his printing plates.

Written backwards, so they'd print the right way round.

 And saw a number of Samuel Palmer drawings. Palmer, a follower of Blake's.

Beautiful; intricate; be-jewelled.

Seeing them in real life, has helped me make sense of the catalogue.

You just can't beat looking at the 'real thing' in art!

I love the Hare in this one!



archaeology; Langdale Axe?

 I am becoming obsessed by Shadows.

 The Axe....we suspect is a Langdale Axe.

The display case at Wakefield Museum, with the axes.

If you look carefully, there is a pattern on the left hand one. It's almost like a processional way, leading to a Henge? This must have been a very prized possession; and I don't think it would have been lost. I think it was left as an offering; it's most certainly a beautiful work. And found in Wakefield. Though, we suspect, made in Langdale, in Cumbria, in the Lake District. The seat of the most prized Neolithic axes in northern Europe. Traded throughout northern Europe.