New Facebook Page

I've finally got around to setting up my new Facebook Page.  I will be using my FB page to inform you of new posts on my blog and website.  I will also be posting lots of inspiring, and sometimes amusing, material that is not "big" enough to include on my blog.  Such entries might include images, cartoons, short inspirational written text or anything else that I find when trawling the web.

So, go across to facebook and like my page and you will receive updates when I post them.  Be sure to tell your friends about it and share my posts whenever you like. Pin It

So much Samoyed hair!

I finally got around to washing the 2 kg (or maybe more!) of Samoyed hair that I have collected over the last 18 months.  It seems Seamus and Teadach are just machines for turning food into hair.  The hair has to be washed 3 times and then rinsed.  My hands are sore from all the wringing.  Anyway, here's what 2 kg of samoyed hair looks like laid out on 2 giant beach towels.

I'm going to ask my spinner if she would mind spinning this quantity.  Last time I had about 1.2 kg and she said that was daunting!  This time I'll sweeten the deal by offering more money and carding the fleece before I give it to her.  If she doesn't say yes then I'll have to learn to spin myself, arrghh!  I've got too much else to do!

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Timbuctoo

I finished this work today.  It is based on a satellite image of the Niger River as it passes through Timbuctoo.

Timbuctoo has been in drought for a long time now.  Whereas in the 1970s most of the area surrounding the Niger River was vegetated, today there is only desert.  The winds that sweep through the area form these interesting diagonal ridges across the landscape.

I wanted to capture the flow of the river without resorting to straight needle painting, which I feel would have "deadened" the image somewhat.

Seed beads add a bit of texture and intensifies the "yellowness" of certain areas of the work without having to resort to using blocks of colour, which would have been too heavy.

I'm not sure what these discrete areas of blue within the dessert are, smaller water holes perhaps?

The areas in red are some sort of obstructions around which the river flows - mud flats or rock formations perhaps?  (The source image provided only sketchy written information).

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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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Beetle Mania

Have a look at these gorgeous fellas that I found on the stone wall outside my studio.

The lichen on the rock provides a perfect backdrop for their colourful display.

The other gender is all red (don't ask me which though!)  I could live in these mountains for a thousand years and still be discovering new natural delights.  Every day I count my blessings.

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Patterns, Patterns Everywhere

I like to have a scented candle burning in my studio while I work to compliment the fragrant teas I like to drink.  It's a little treat while I do my favourite thing in the world - creating my art embroideries.  The other day as I was leaving the studio I went to blow out the candle and discovered these lovely patterns forming where the wax was thinning.

I bought this candle at the Salamanca Market in Hobart.  It's fragrance is "Paw Paw Fizz".  It's a little disappointing as the fragrance is not all that strong.  It's sitting in the gorgeous tin which previously housed a much more luscious candle (also much more expensive).  (You can see my dyes standing sentinel on my countertop behind the candle).

Here's a closer view of the patterns.  I love the way the light diffuses through the thinning wax. 

Love the craggy pattern on this side.

In close up it looks like a mini furnace.

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