"I begin with an idea ... and then it becomes something else"
~ Picasso

Thursday 25 August 2011

Things I love Thursday

nature sings the blues
Things I love Thursday

bubbles and bokeh, blue found in nature, sea and skies
shells and feathers, light and ice, shells and seedheads
blue in collections, cottons and beads, wonderful blues

beautiful blues with thanks to my flickr friends and faves
please do click on the links below to go to the artists' work

1. feathers 2. iced III 3. glamourized 4. rocks and pools 5. hoar frost 6. 07/01/11 7. seashells 8. rushing waters 9. “Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true”~ Lyman Frank Baum~ 10. can not love winter? 11. one last bokeh 12. beach bubbles 13. rimed seed pods

so today is all about things I love on Thursday and
sharing a few more things from Festival of Quilts 2011

like this plush velvet devore I bought at the show
I was intrigued by the cutwork patterns
and also the tones of dark navy and indigo blue
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet
but, for the time being, it's on my desk
for stroking and admiring purposes
other "must have" purchases included some turquoise felt
from Chris Gray's stall, some sea coloured chiffon
colourful silk pieces (throwsters waste)
and some fab threads and dyed scrim from Stef Francis
inspired, of course, by St. Ives and the fishing boats I love

"Our Liz"
has lovely worn wooden trimmings
and a boarded window covered in yellow ochre lichen
(a boat I found in the harbour on Friday)
I photographed the wood to use as a photoshop texture
and if you would like to use it as an overlay on your photos
please feel free to click on the texture and save

old wood texture
as well as the competition quilts at FOQ 2011
I really enjoying having the opportunity to see the work
of some very talented and inspiring textile artists
and would like to share some of it with you here

Alice Fox
I bought several postcards of Alice Fox's textiles. Her pieces were amazing, very simple, contemporary and oh so inspiring. Above you can see extracts from some of her work. Alice was chosen as joint winner of the Graduate Showcase bursary at the Festival of Quilts along with designer Rose Wood

If you are interested in natural and eco dyeing you will find Alice's blog of interest. In particular, her recent experiments dyeing with beach finds and seaweed, following a recipe from India Flint's book, are very interesting and you will just love the sea treasures she found as well as her sea inspired photography. I love her blog!

Alice Fox Textiles

do pop over and see ...
but come back won't you as I have more to share here ...

Barbara Weeks
I saw this small art quilt by Barbara Weeks
and instantly fell in love with her work

it features photos transferred to cotton and
stitched with sheer layers (torn strips of dyed organza)
quilting by hand included lots of little knots to represent
the tiny shells and crushed corals found on the beaches
... you can see why I fell in love?

what I love about this piece ... is the softness
as well as the composition and use of colour
I love that Barbara captured a moment of tranquility
of solitude and contemplation

Eat Your Greens, Kiwi
after that ... I spent rather a long time
admiring many, many pieces of her work
and Barbara was so generous allowing me to take photographs

isn't this felted, quilted piece just amazing!
a well balanced and interesting composition and
beautiful use of colour along with simple but fine stitching
below
this is such an effective design
fine details, fine stitching, simplicity of colour
loving the sea inspired theme and that lovely turquoise

Barbara says ...

"white coral may look festive, but it is an indication of the coral under stress from changes in the environment, water temperature, solar irradiance, salinity and a decline in zooplankton. This causes the coral to expel the zooxantheallae which give the coral it's colour"

wet felted merino with bamboo 'drawn' coral
overlaid with net tulle and machine quilted

I also bought postcards

this is a piece of work from Barbara's
"Landscape Impressions" series - a detail from "Birch"

silk noil, dyed, painted and printed
bonded silks, burnt edges and then
hand and machine quilted
and this one is aptly called "Strata"

Barbara has a website that I think will inspire you
take a look at her gallery of work ...
but do come back again ...


Nicky Dillerstone

(detail - a dragon's wing)
Nicky Dillerstone

I was so happy to meet Nicky Dillerstone as we share
not only an enthusiasm for textiles and textile art, but also
a love of heating, melting, bonding and fabric manipulation

I was intrigued by the construction of this dragon's wing
and Nicky was very generous with her time
and explained to me how it was made using
fabrics and threads bonded with pva glue and
she also very kindly allowed me to take this photo

[I'm really rather excited about this as I can
see how I can adapt the technique for something
I want to make for exhibition in October]



Mary McIntosh
the exhibition space of Mary McIntosh was full of
exciting design samples, sketchbooks and works of art
I always love the opportunity to flip through
an inspiring sketchbook and Mary's work interested me
for her use of folds in fabric manipulation

you can read more about Mary's textile journey
and about her work here:

Mary McIntosh


and this particular quilt with manipulated folds reminded
me very much of the work of local artist Wendy Topsey
which I saw recently at Morvah Schoolhouse

Wendy Topsey likes to use fine cotton, organza and linen thread
together with a variety of looms to create woven and folded
seascapes and coastal scenes, based on the inspiration
she takes from the coasts of Cornwall

beautiful folds
well that's all from me today
I'll be back with some of my own work next time
and also hoping to update my shop over the weekend

thank you very much for visiting
creative wishes
Carolyn ♥

28 comments:

Angie Willis said...

What a great roundup of inspirational work. Thanks Carolyn. It makes up a little for not having been able to go.

Marigold Jam said...

What a fabulous collection - it requires more detailled inspection so I will come back later and look at it again.

Sandies' Patch said...

Big sigh... lovely post Carolyn!
Favourites as always are the sea colours!

I need to be besides the Sea!!

Thanks for sharing,

Sandie xx

Anonymous said...

Carolyn I adore your blog! Thank you very much for the "old wood texture" photo. I do not have photoshop but I am always on the lookout for encaustic inspiration. I have always enjoyed your photographs and I have longed for some of the boat photos and extreme close-ups of the barnacles, rust and pealing paint such as those from this post: http://carolynsaxby.blogspot.com/2010/10/st-ives-peeling-paint-rusty-boats-and.html, and more to use in my art. If you happen to feel generous I would love...anything! I am unable to get out of the house due to medical conditions and I long for the beach so much. We don't have the beauties of St. Ives on Pensacola beach, no boats though we have our own beauties, even so I long for her shores! Connie :)

Deborah said...

lovely blues and textures. thanks for the inspirational links

Diane said...

Thanks for the fix. xxxxxx

Twiglet said...

Oh such lovely work from so many talented folk. Thanks for sharing. M has launched her Etsy shop if you want to pop over for a look. She has a long way to go but has enjoyed what she has achieved so far. x Jo

vintagerockchick said...

Thank you so much for this post and all the fabulous photographs (and the previous post) I've not had chance to blog or read for a while, so I'm catching up now. Brilliant that so many bloggers were able to meet up - I'll have to try and join you next year xx

Julie said...

Thank you so much for this post Carolyn. I have enjoyed all the links too especially as I didn't have much time on this stand at FOQ. Mary McIntosh's work is fascinating. Love your shopping too. Yummy! xx

artangel said...

Wow what wonderful eye candy - I've loved gazing at all this amazing work, thanks for sharing it - it's almost as good as visiting in person!

Jackie said...

Did we go to the same show? I don't remember half of this! Thank you for filling the gaps for me.

Shoshi said...

All gorgeous as usual, Carolyn! thanks for sharing such inspirational pictures. What fun you must have had at the show, and all the lovely goodies you brought back!

Lynn Cohen said...

What a lot of beauty and inspiration here. Love the three part art quilts. Wonderful idea.

Clare Wassermann said...

Aaaagh I need three hours to investigate all of this loveliness!

Catharina Maria said...

Thanks for sharing all these beauties .
big hug ♥RINI♥

A bird in the hand said...

So much talent, so much beauty. I'm in awe...
Thank you. xxxxxx
Colette

Alice Fox said...

Thanks so much for the lovely comments and link Carolyn. Enjoying your blog too!

Lynette (NZ) said...

The devore is devine and your colour sense is so wonderful - love your gorgeous bits matched up with your photo of "our liz". See you again soon :-)

essays said...

very beautiful!

Morna Crites-Moore said...

Every time I visit one of your blogs, I melt. xo

custom term papers said...

very cool post !! thanks a lot for sharing this beauty!!!!

Jacqueline said...

I am just catching up on your blog. What a great pictures Carolyn!

seo company said...

I Really enjoyed your blog. I just bookmarked it. I am a regular visitor of your website I will share It with my friends .Thanks.

MulticoloredPieces said...

Marvelous post! Thanks for showing all the fabulous and unusual work of other artists. A real treat!
best, nadia

CJ STITCHING AND BLOOMS said...

Good Day Carolyn, WOW what a fantastic posting. I am back after a long break and was anxious to see what you have been doing. Love all the goodies you bought at Chris Grays booth. Thanks for sharing all those lovely creations from the show. Of course is the boat at St. Ives. I love your St. Ives too. Hugs Judy

term paper writing services said...

very interesting! thanks a lot!

rhian m james said...

love this whole blog. i'm currently studying your work and including it as an inspiration in my Alevel project scrapbook :) will follow! keep posting new arty stuff, i love it :)

Donna said...

Thanks for sharing such a lot of inspirational artists.