Happy New Year !

Nothing new to post , just marking the year !

Frosty Installation

It has been SO COLD here we have had a lot of ground frost. So here is the sculpture with ice on !



In the sketch book been working on more images of Louise's work. Planning a small sketch book on her which will be filled with images and notes round them. All the books I have read say that Louise adds notes to what ever she has to hand, thus they appear on the back of art, in the margins of books etc etc ...so I will be adding comments from the artist and my own feelings about the piece of work in the image.... AND there will be a spider , well you have to have a spider !

Installation Update

The pieces have not changed shape. The silk element seems to be getting dirty ! The colour of the word Cotton seems to be loosing its colour ??

I have added a picture of the whole area. You can see how small these are.

Louise Bourgeois

Joined my friend L on Friday afternoon at Tate Modern to see the Louise Bourgeois exhibition.

Mamman was waiting outside.
No camera were allowed in the exhibition but I spent some of the time drawing the oganic shapes in someof her work.
Buildings and how they relate to the family as been a whole area of her work. These tall building based sculptures were created when she lived in New York.
More recently she has move to fabric as a lighter medium than the wood and steel she used to use. Born in 1911, she now needs the lighter materials. This is a tall tower of stuffed tapestry blocks.
Within many of the installations there were pink pin cushions which grew in size between each piece of work. One of the last times the cushion is seen it is the hieght of a human. Needles and threads appear in much of her work as her parents had a business restoring tapestries.
Spiders feature quite a bit. This is a close sketch ofhow she forms the legs and the joints.

Using the leg joint sketch to create a wholespider.

Finally, notes from the day. Louise is reported to write notes and diaries on any available paper. Many of the her drawings have notes in the margins or round the edge.

DISTURBING .... this was the word which L and I agree upon at the end. Louise work needs a broad mind as she deals with organic forms mostly body parts. As Louise willmostlikely become a focus artist for this module, I see these notes being printed on fabric then mounted on an end board for a consatina book. More work on spider legs I think !!

Well there has been a change outside with the sculpture.... Its falling over !!

No I don't mean its been blown over, the points are slowly falling to one side as if the rain has beaten them down. BUT when you touch it, it is still firm ??

Looks worse in this shot but you can see how the silk & cotton are almost laying on their side !

Copper stitching and an Installation

The cotton sample has now totally dried. Here it is sitting on my DH's PC.

Now you can also have a closer look. Unlike the silk, now it is dried you can not tell that this fabric has a hardener on !!!

Anyway I spent some time working on the copper weave to add some embroidery. Being copper you can not use a hoop and you have to be very careful not to bend the copper as you stitch !!

Here is a close up of the copper stitching =)
It took a little time to mould the copper into a simular shape to that made by the drying cotton !

AND FINALLY - the three pieces were install outside. I really think they look like three pieces of fabric have been dropped bit have not quite settled. I have added a few rocks to the edge of the copper sheet to ensure if does not blow away ! This was Saturday morning.... since then we have had LOTS of rain and the last time I popped out to check everything was still in place and looking very much as you see above although wetter !!! =)

Another photo next week and each week as the pieces live in that spot !!
Truely "public art"...well if the public came round my back garden .

Copper and Cotton

Time to get messy again. Started to look at working with cotton. First perpared the fabric square with a little stitching.
Then added a LONG thread to one corner to allow the fabric to beheld up while the fabric was drying.
Next pulled out the Pacerpol, plastic and a bowl.
Poured a little of the guck into the bowl.
Fabric is pushed and squashed into the paverpol. Making sure everything is soaked but not soaking. They say you can use gloves but you can not get the feel of when the fabric is ready that way. Finally, pulled the fabric out and set up to harden. This is where the fabric in the corner comes in as this can be tied to a pole. Hint: Crabtree & Everlyn garden scrub is great for getting paverpol of your hands.

Also started to investigate if the copper fabric can be stitched ?? And YES it can. You have to watch for the odd threads on the edge catching your thread or your hands. Plus you cannot use a hoop...

The fabric is VERY sheeras you can see where I have made french notes but the linkingthreads can be seen, although this could be an useful effect to use !!
Gathering the fabric works too...Above pulled tight and below not so tight. The fabric creates interesting shapes as the light falls on it !!
Now to wait the Paverpol to dry !!!

Fabric Folds

Been a slow two weeks, what with being ill last weekend and lots of work to get done. I have been doing some stitching , have a look at my main Blog.

I did start to use the quiet times in my working day to to quick sketches of fabric folds. Sitting behide someone gives you a good chance to sketch their clothing. Thus all these sketches are on lined paper as that is what my work note book contains !!!