Failing (not easy): SiX and THE BOOK

Last week I heard that I had not been juried into the Fine Art Quilt Masters at FOQ. This is the first time I have put my work in for this sort of selected gallery, and failing hurt. I am very bad at getting failure in perspective (sound familiar to anyone??) - I find it hard to deal with and for much of my life have avoided putting myself in to positions where I risk it. But that has changed in the last few years and I am now aiming to stop limiting my life that way by learning to deal with failure as well as I  deal with success! Not easy and the first hour after I heard, I confess to feeling gutted and a few tears. I know I know - it's only a quilt, but it matters to me and it was a personal one. Anyway, a few conversations with good friends and a bit of time to readjust my initial 'I'll never bother again' reaction, and I think I have got it into it's correct perspective. And I will try again next year .. different judges and a different piece .. who knows? The up side is I can now show you the whole piece, which I am now back to both loving and feeling very proud of. If you remember, it is called 'Self 1: On Edge' and is the first in what will be a long running series of personal works, examining my life, my feelings and how those are affected by my depression. This one has a sub-title of 'March 2013: Score 43'. All the pieces will have this basic subtitle which refers obviously to the date, but also to the way I track my illness, so I can manage it better. This first one looks at insecurity, fear, worry, pressure, stability and sanity. It has a lot of imagery relating to these issues, some personal, some universal. This imagery will no doubt be repeated as the series grows and become more clear.

 

Self 1: On Edge

41" x 41"

 

 

Right - enough of being serious .. what about THE BOOK?? Well it is moving on a pace (just as well - due out in less than 5 weeks) and I've been making rubbings:

 

monoprints:

 

 

and screen prints (these on both a sunny and windy day in the garden .. you want to try doing and photographing that all by yourself!!

 

 

 

 

That is the last of the photography done I think (hope .. pray) and now it is just (JUST????) getting it on the pages. It has struck me that the proofing is going to be a little curtailed if I am to have it ready for FOQ (and I am still aiming for that). Sooooo ... I have decided that I might have a little competition whereby the first person to spot each spello I miss will win a little prize .. probably some handpainted papers and fabric. That way I can pretend they are planned? I am loving doing the whole thing myself and it allows me to be totally in control and the book certainly doesn't look like anyone elses, but right now I would love a big team of proofers and setters and etceteras. Never mind - it will be worth it and you know you are getting the real time thing. No set up shots here. Just me and the camera .. you should see the poor thing, he is covered in paint now. And I must get back to work .. but first a couple of images of the new pieces just gone off to Minerva .. I'll only post two of four in case you want a surprise .. but look away mow if you don't want to see any yet.

 

 

I will post the other two on the SiX blog if you want to visit and have a look http://www.sixandfriends.blogspot.co.uk/

Hope to see many of you at the Meet the Artist day on 21st July. Oh and I nearly forgot - there is apparently just one place left on my Masterclass at FOQ - Tuesday and Wednesday. We will be looking at many of the printing techniques I've been blogging about on here and ways into design too. PLUS - and this must surely be a temptation .. you will be the first people other than me and Stephen to see the BOOK!!!! .. can you resist?? Here's the link:

http://www.thefestivalofquilts.co.uk/Content/Workshops-1

Talk again soon - thank you for visiting - Hilary x

 

 

 

 

I've been playing with Thelma again - she is such a brilliant girl!

I put THE BOOK (that is how it now feels) aside this week for a while, to do some more work on my four pieces for the scarily imminent SiX exhibition at Minerva gallery in Wales. If you would like to see the progress so far, then I have just posted about them on the SiX blog http://sixandfriends.blogspot.co.uk/, so do scoot over and have a look. I'm not going to post them on here, in case you are going to the exhibition and prefer not know what they look like. BUT - I couldn't resist just seeing how they would look as thermofax screens (this is a hobby now - I have tried most of the book pages as thermofax too - a bit of light relief I call it). Well these came out really well I think, probably largely because of the high contrast in the pieces. They also seem to be to look even more oriental like this?

 

 

Something is definitely going to be done with these images - I simply cannot resist. Maybe not this week - but watch this space. Boy I love Thelma. Other than book, not much else going on, but here are a few pictures from the garden, caught in between showers ...

 

Harlow Carr hybrid primulas - have to love them with that name!

 

lovely alliums, geranium and potentilla

 

wonderful peachy oriental poppies

 

and a big fat peony - first one out here this year

 

Some/all of these are very likely to make there way into quilts too - how could I not?

 

Lastly - this poor pot lost it's rim this year as a result of the rubbish winter.  I lifted him up to clear the bulbs and his head came off. I thought I would throw it away, but looking at it today, I actually rather like him like that, so I may plant him up with something suitably creeping and sort of wild/rough. Hmmm - any ideas?

Hilary x

Help!! where is June going??

June seems to be going at a million miles an hour right now. I am thoroughly enjoying it .. but I could do with time going on to double time for a while. Still - I bet we have all enjoyed some long awaited sunshine and I did manage to get a couple of days out in the garden, painting and dyeing materials for both the book and also to go to Festival of Quilts in August. Inspired by my recent seaside holiday, I indulged in some shells, crabs and ladders - all of which were both much in evidence and much photographed/collected at Whitby. Here are a few of the results:

 

Crabs ...

 

 

Shells ..

 

Ladders (I love this one especially)

 

adding some dye

 

I also dyed the drop cloth

 

line of crabs

 

selection of materials ... I really tried had to keep to soft colours - I wanted sort of ice-cream pastels for these cloths .. a bit of black crept in, but all in all, fairly proud of myself for resisting some BRIGHT infusions

 

As mentioned - drop cloth was just beautiful after printing, so I dyed it too .. I think this will be used as a whole cloth background - possibly for the next self portrait piece.

 

printing papers to match one another

 

and some poppy features to go with last times poppy backgrounds

 

All in all a very productive time. I now have a huge pile of stuff to sort through, but I don't mind and I'm so looking forward to making some pieces with some of these as well. I'll keep you in touch with how it goes.

 

It's great to create a whole pile of coordinating materials for a theme and that is the basis of my master-class at FOQ and also of the Make it Personal workshops at the Bramble Patch in 2014. I do hope I will see some of you on these - we will have a great time. I will also be demonstrating some of these techniques at FOQ, so I hope you will come by the stand to watch and say hello.

 

But for  now - back to book writing. Hope you enjoyed the sunshine too and thank you for visiting - Hilary x

Holiday and shows

I've done it! I've had holiday!! This may not seem big shakes to you, but for me it is a true rarity. I actually can't remember the last time I had more than an odd day off, let alone a holiday. Not that I am complaining - I love my work. But my doctor has been at me for a long time about the importance of taking time out, so I'm feeling  virtuous having done what I am told for once. Now don't go getting too excited, I haven't been off on foreign and exotic travels - one step at a time and who would look after the dog?? No, we packed up the car and the dog and headed off for my favourite county, Yorkshire, and my favourite place, the coast, specifically Whitby. If you have been you will know that Whitby, Filey, Robin Hoods Bay and Humnanby are some of the best coastal villages in the country. The weather was mixed, but we got out everyday to enjoy the utterly spectacular scenery, eat wonderful seafood and indulge in plenty of beach combing. Of course I took hundreds of photos - I won't show them all (you are safe), but here are a few:

The steps down to town from our cottage

A little nook off to one side of the steps ... these nooks and ginnels are everywhere and always beautifully presented

Boats - I took a lot of these - our cottage overlooked the harbour and I find the boats very inspiring

Wonderful entrance on St Marys Church up by the Abbey - I'm fond of steps too

Luckily we came down these ones - 199 from the Abbey. Those are my boys ahead of me - they got fed up of waiting whilst I just had to take another photo

Gerty and George Gull - these two live on the balcony wall outside our cottage, where this is taken - a prime site and well defended. I got very fond of them and they will definitely be appearing again in some work

  

More gulls on the beach ....

And this boy has just surrounded himself with some good classic seaside imagery - thank you! - that's the composition done

THE house to live in at Robin Hood Bay!

Mind you - I wouldn't mind this one either - what a door

Temptation - a shop for sale .... sadly it was just the downstairs shop and not the upstairs cottage, so not practical when you live in Lincoln. Still - if it had been both, it would have been SO out of my reach .. so no regrets

With views like these it is impossible not to be inspired and I have decided that I will start a proper series of work based on the coast. I already have several pieces, so really it is not new, but the consolidating into a cohesive series is. I have recently agreed with Grosvenor shows to put together another gallery of quilts to tour with them in 2015 and have been pondering themes. I think this would be a good one for coast and the theme is big enough to keep me going for a couple of years (lifetimes actually).  I am aiming for. About 25 prices of new work, so watch this space. 

Talking of gallerys, I will also have a gallery at the British Quilt and Stitch Village next year, which will be called 'Beauty Matters', which I am starting to plan work for. In addition, I have a solo gallery at ICHF Fashion and Embroidery show at the NEC in Spring 2014 which will be called 'The Shape of Nature'. You will have realised I love the natural world and am very drawn to the colours and shapes of plants, animals, birds etc. This gallery will be a shameless celebration of that, and I hope to produce a small, but very lovely catalogue to go with it. SiX & Friends have a gallery at FOQ next year and then in  September 2014, my friend and co-artist Stephanie Redfern and I are going together to Vivelle in France, to exhibit and demonstrate at Jane Rollasons wonderful quilt show over there. So I’ll need some more work for that too.  

You see? No wonder I don't go on holiday often! That is a formidable number of quilts to make in the next couple of years, but what could be nicer. My tutor, Marie Roper always used to say that she loved a deadline and a tight work plan, and I've clearly taken that to heart. I so wish she was still around, a gentle and much missed presence in my life.

 

I have allocated most of June to getting my book sorted out. I am still hoping to publish in time for FOQ, but I have a lot to do. End of June is also the deadline for the new work for six and friends, so I need to get on with that. The exhibition opens on 8 July and we have a meet the artists day on 21 July. I will be giving a demonstration of making a mixed fabric collage on the day, so I hope you can come along and join in - I believe most of the group are attending and it should be a good afternoon.

I'll finish with a couple of shots of some papers I have been printing for one of the book chapters. Hope you like them! 

 

Oh alright .. four then! Talk soon - Hilary x

SiX and Friends: A welcome return to the East

Here is a link to the post about starting new work for Six & Friends

SiX and Friends: A welcome return to the East: Heavens! - it has been absolutely yonks since I posted on here - and for good reason ... it has been that long too since I finished my las...

screens, stencils and a self portait (all whilst dyeing hair)

Life seems to be very busy these days, so in the spirit of multi-tasking I am blogging at the same time as highlighting my hair. This seems a cunning idea to me, as there is a clock right in front of me on the computer screen – so what can go wrong? If I am next seen with white hair, we know that something did go wrong. But I am confident.. I am no fool (???) - I may just have to dash off suddenly.

So first of all – here are a few more of those screen prints I mentioned last time. These came about as I had several cut out backings from heat n bond after making applique shapes for a banner I made for Region 10. Some (OK – all) seemed too good to waste, and I decided I would try using them as stencils with my screen.

 

 

I can report back that they are not very durable – one session only as they collapse when you take them off the screen. But if you have them as a by-product of something else,  definitely worth doing - I love these cloths and am itching to get something made with them – so watch this space. I want to make some smaller pieces to take to Festival of Quilts with me, and these could be just the ticket.

I mentioned last time that I was trying to finish my piece in time to enter it into the new Art Quilt juried competition at FOQ. Well – I did it, with my usual under 2 hours to spare. I now have to wait and see if I get juried in. I shall keep the image a bit secret, at least until I hear.. but here are a couple of details

 

 

 

It is a self-portrait and is about anxiety, safety, pressure, stability even sanity and is a very different piece for me … but just right for this gallery I hope. It is the first in what I intend to be a long running series of personal works dealing with issues around living with chronic depression, which I think you all know I do. I don’t want these to be gloomy (although inevitable some will be challenging for me as well as the viewer)  as I don’t see the illness in that light. More as something that has profoundly changed how I see life and how I behave and live. I envisage both large and small pieces, sketches and notes. I am excited about doing this work, so fingers crossed for number 1!! (all fingers appreciated)

Whilst tidying (sort of) a drawer I came across several cans of spray paint, which I decided to try out. I hated most – they frankly stank and I found the finish very plasticky. But one brand I loved  – so here are a few images of them used with stencils and dye. I only had silver and gold – I shall definitely be ordering some more!

 

When I was sorting the images for posting I thought I would just try out altering one as a potential source for a thermofax screen … WOW – look at these ….

 

 

Oops – look at the time .. must go and rinse hair – back in 5 minutes ………

Job done – I knew it would be fine.  I will absolutely definitely be making screens from these and using them along with the stencils .. seriously can’t wait.

But first, and lastly for today, I have finally got to the point where I have some time to make some more work for the SiX & Friends exhibition when it moves to Minerva in the summer. I am making a series of 4, or possibly six pieces, entitled ‘Many Moons’.  I’ve run out of time now (need to dry hair before it dries itself in mad style)– but I will post on the SiX blog this weekend and tell you a bit more about them.

Thanks for reading – enjoy your weekend ... Hilary x