Opening Night

Finally, a blog post about my show opening at the Goulburn Street Gallery.  As I wrote previously, it was a lovely night with lots of people in attendance.  My mother, sister and niece flew to Hobart for the opening and we spent a fun weekend just hangin' out.

Here's how the work looked on the walls.......

Robin did a lovely job hanging the show and she did well to make it flow so nicely considering the diversity of the work both in form and colour.

This photo was taken during the day time after the opening, hence the relfections, but look!  3 dots!  These works sold at the opening and I was thrilled!  

The counter looking very orderly while awaiting the arrival of the guests.

Mahdi Chandler did a lovely job of the opening speech.  I was touched by her kind words.

My dear friend Sharon could not be there but sent these lovely flowers to the gallery.  It was a beautiful surprise to find them there and to know that she was thinking of me.

Listening to Mahdi's speech.  Me in the foreground (trying not to blush as red as my cardigan), Diana Eaton and Josie Mackie who with her brother Reuben did a fabulous job in distributing the mini cupcakes.

Close up of the necklace I made especially for the event.

The crowd.

This outside photo was taken by my friend Diana.  It looks like a nice party, don't you think?

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New Work in Progress

This week I started on a new work and it is large and ambitious!  The dimensions are 70 cm x 48 cm.  That might not sound all that large, but when nearly the entire surface needs to be covered in stitches it starts to seem very daunting.  My source image is a satellite photograph of the Turpan Depression, a mountainous region spanning from Tadjikistan to China.  The image inspired me because of the fabulous textures and contrasts.

(Remember to click on the photos if you want to see larger images).

Dyeing the ground fabric was a challenge.  I usually have no trouble matching my dye colours to my original conception, but somehow, every colour I mixed came out brighter than what I wanted.  In the end I decided to go with what I had.  I figured if these are the colours that my brain wants to use, then I should just go with it. When it came to dyeing my threads I was able to achieve colours closer to my original conception.  I think the contrast of the muted colours of the threads against the brighter colours of the ground fabric will make the work more vibrant.

The central area is crucial to the cohesion of the whole piece so I began by laying down the whisper silk.  I then embroidered a couple of small areas just to mark out the proportions I would be working with later.

I then started stitching the area representing the highest mountain peaks that lie above the snow line.  I knew that if I could make this work then I was going to be able to pull the work off as a whole.  I started by stitching in the mountain ridges using long armed palestrina stitch.  I then defined the valleys with lines of stem stitch.  The intervening areas were worked in fern stitch and oriented so as to give the impression of a descent into a valley.

This is a close up of the palestrina stitch showing the lovely ridge of knots that is characteristic of this stitch.

Yesterday I added the snow capped mountain regions.  I wanted it to be well contrasted with the areas surrounding it, so I worked it in short sections of closed feather stitch.  The bold geometry of the white stitching works well against the more organic red area.

Today I will finish the white area by stitching in brown thread between the white sections.  This will make it a little less stark and link it to the next section

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New Work on Paper

Last week I was off work sick because one side of my face swelled up after having a retained tooth root extracted.  I was fine if I was sitting (the pain was there, but happy drugs made it less intense), but if I stood up I would instantly get dizzy.  My vision out of my left eye was a blurred I presume because the swelling was pressing on my tear duct.  Anyway, on a positive note, I was able to complete 3 works on paper.  The first 2 I have already blogged about and here is the third.  Don't forget to click on the images if you want to see a larger image.

First I drew the green background using my inktense pencils blended with a wash.  I then glued down the beautiful silk lace paper.  (This paper was really expensive but is so beautiful I'm very glad I made the investment.  Mind you, I almost lost it when it caught fire on the scented candle I burn in my studio!  Fortunately it only burnt an area of about 10 cm diameter.  I'm thinking of a way to incorporate the burnt edge into another paper work).

I then stitched around some of the "holes" in the silk lace paper, starting with white down the bottom and ending up with a variegated blue/green/gold thread at the top.

The large floating circles give the piece its main focus and draw together the silk paper area and the painted area at the top.

In close up you can see the lovely fine fibres that make up the gossamer silk paper.

I like the white thread at the bottom.  The effect is tonally subtle, but very textural.

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New Work on Paper

Another new work on paper.  Sadly, because I photographed it at home (where the natural light is not as good as in my studio)  there is a slightly greenish cast to the photos (I'll will try to remedy this later by substituting for better quality images).  These figures make me think of little aliens who speak in bursts of splattered colour, or perhaps pawns in a game of futuristic chess.

watercolour and hand embroidery on paper;  34 cm x 47.5 cm

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The Amazing Work of Mariska Kakarasz

I am always on the lookout for the work of other artist embroiderers, so it was with great delight that I discovered the works of Mariska Kakarasz.  Her work is amazing and even more so because she was working in the mid 20th Century.  Even now her works look refreshing and contemporary.  Embroidery as contemporary art is being touted as a new movement even though, clearly, Mariska was blazing a trail over 60 years ago.  (As the saying goes, there is nothing new in the world!).

Mariska was also a fashion designer, although, as her web site is still under construction, there were no images to be viewed.

Moses I or Moses II (?) 1953

Ropes on Red, 1952

Self Portrait, 1947

Alternate B, 1955

Babble, 1955

Beacon Lights, 1958  (This is my favourite piece.  The way she has worked the waves is entrancing and the boat sails......incredible!).

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New Work on Paper

Today I finished another paper work and probably the last in this series.  Again, it is my interpretation of a species of Radiolaria (a type of marine protozoa).

 I love the way these tiny organisms look like aliens from a science fiction movie.

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New Paper Work

The last couple of days have been hot and sticky here in the Tassie Highlands.  Perfect weather to avoid going outdoors and complete a new work on paper.

This work is (loosely) based on the form of a type of unicellular life form (a diatom, which is a type of phytoplankton.  There are over 100,000 different living species so please don't ask me which one this is!).

The detail seen in microscopic images of the diatom are way to detailed to faithfully reproduce in embroidery on paper, so what you have here is my own interpretation, which is, of course the whole point of the artistic process.

You can see the subtle variegations in the thicker orange, blue and red threads.  By creating threads with several different, subtle shades of the one colour, the resulting image becomes much more visually exciting.

I like this one a lot.  I think I'm finally working out the technical and visual complexities of working a detailed image on a densely detailed background. 

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Nebula, again

I have finished my third nebula embroidery today and am well pleased with the final result.  I hope you like it.

This is the whole piece (disregard the brown fabric in the corners.  I photographed it while it was still stretched on the frame and couldn't quite avoid the edge fabric).

I love the reflective quality of the dupioni silk thread that I used in this piece.  I was so happy with this thread I ordered 1 kg from my supplier, however, the thread he has sent me is quite different from this one.  It is still gorgeous though and looks like it will be easier to stitch with.  It is also finer than this one, which will suit most of my work more.

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