4x6 Exchange

4x6 Exchange piece

I've just finished my piece for the 4x6 exchange, run by Brooklyn based Art House Coop (find out more here.) I did several ball point pen drawings of my hands, all overlapping and in different positions and then cut out my favourite bit to the required size (4x6 inches.) I then pleated and insertion stitched some tracing paper over the top and then backed it all with a piece of plain white paper and blanket stitched the whole lot together. I find it quite difficult and a little restrictive to work on such a small scale and I like the way the blanket stitch acts like a barrier, making it feel enclosed and trapped. I also like the layers and how the tracing paper slightly but not totally obscures the drawing. I hope whoever gets my work likes it! I'm really looking forward to seeing what work I get in return, it could be anything from anywhere which is very exciting.

Stitching the tracing paper

The cut up drawing

Tracing paper over the drawing

Blanket stitching the edges

Corner view

Life Drawing #5

Grey pen, quick sketch

We had a new model for this session, Martin Rowe who's blog you can find here. He had some excellent poses and it was good to draw someone different. I think I've been really lucky with the models I've found; they've all been excellent at choosing and holding poses and have always been punctual and reliable and to top it off they're all nice people! I was really tired on Thursday and I struggled (as usual) with the longer poses, I couldn't get into to doing any detailed drawing so I resorted to my favourite pen and continuous line style. I think Martin was quite surprised at the size of my drawings, they do seem to be spreading over increasing numbers of pieces of paper, it makes photographing them quite difficult but it's fun whilst doing the drawing.



Charcoal



Pen, 4 sheets of A2

I've also booked the community centre for the next set of sessions so if you're in the area and fancy giving it a go come along!

Melty Lace Flowers

Crocheted Plastic Flower Decoration

As some of you may know I love to knit and I love to melt stuff. I have also been known to combine these two interests to create pieces such as The Lace Space which I am currently doing some more work on. The basic process involves cutting plastic bags into strips, knitting or crocheting them and then melting them, this creates quite a rigid piece of fabric which is, of course, waterproof. On a smaller scale my friend and colleague Helen T and I along with help from Susan have been crocheting a flower garden using the same technique. We intend this to be a beautiful outside 'curtain garden.' We also thought that these pieces would make beautiful hanging decorations, either inside or outside. This pair of flowers was made using a discarded plastic poncho and a sandwich bag. I made the pattern up as I went along!

Big flower

Little Flower

Little flower detail

Large flower detail

Life Drawing 3 and 4

Charcoal Drawing over 3 sheets of A2. One of the longest drawings I've done at 25 mins!

It's hard to believe it's over a month since I last posted. I seem to have been very busy but I'm not totally sure what with, apart from decorating. Never mind, here are some pictures from the last two life drawing sessions. Next session is March 8th at Denton Holme Community Centre in Carlisle from 7.30-9 pm.

Pen. Continuous line drawing

Pen. Continuous line drawing, short study

Graphite. 5 minute 'action' pose

Graphite, long drawing (both in length and time!)

Graphite

Pen, quick pose

Life Drawing #2

Long pose, short sketch. Charcoal

Some drawings from my second life drawing session this year. It was a quiet one again but we had some fabulous poses, I started us off with 2 minute poses and the model gave us some great, dynamic positions.

Same pose, longer drawing. Charcoal

Continuous line drawings, pen

2minute pose, graphite

Quick sketch, pen

Sketchbook Project- Finished!

Front Cover

Woohoo! I have finished my entry for the 2012 Sketchbook Project, run by Brooklyn based Arthouse Co-op. My theme was stitches and folds which I decided to take quite literally and I used it as a chance to have a bit of a play with techniques. Two things that I've really enjoyed about this project are working on a small scale and working to a restricted theme. The theme didn't have to be restrictive, I decided to make it that way because I wanted to focus on technique rather than concept and I found that on this occassion this worked very well for me. Anyway, here are some images for you! You cane see more and find out more about the project here: http://www.arthousecoop.com/users/delicatestitches

Graphite drawing of hands smocking

Pin tucking sample

Continuous line drawing of gloves

Back cover

Drawing

Quick charcoal sketch (5 minute pose)

Last Thursday was the first of my Life Drawing sessions of the new year. It was a really quiet group but a really good session, helped ease us back in gently! Here are some of my drawings. I'm finding it hard to work on a drawing for any length of time at the moment, I find 15 minutes is about as long as I can stick with one drawing. I also prefer my freer, shorter drawings. I suppose it feels like there's less pressure to produce a 'perfect' drawing if you only have 5 minutes. When you start working on something for a length of time the pressure mounts!

Long pose, short drawing. Graphite sticks

Pen

Detail of pen drawing

2 minute sketches. Pen

Charcoal, I am incapable of getting a drawing on one page (20 minute pose)