Monday 29 June 2015

National Gardens Scheme- Manor House,Chalgrove

The second part of last week's open
garden visit was The Manor, Chalgrove.
I am posting this separately so there are not too many photos 
on one post, and to do both gardens justice.
The medieval manor house is just stunning,
set in beautiful gardens with a meadow and pond  
with Koi carp.
We finished a  great afternoon with tea and cake.















Sunday 28 June 2015

National Gardens Scheme-Mill Barn, Chalgrove

Last weekend Richard and I visited some open gardens
in South Oxfordshire.
This is Mill Barn, Chalgrove.
Such clever planting in this one, with rose-covered
archways leading through from one part of the
garden to another. Beautiful colours and textures.
I am not a gardener, so look at them from an
arty point of view, as if looking at a painting.


 




Saturday 27 June 2015

Joan McQuillan


My inspiration this week comes from the work of
textiles artist Joan McQuillan, who lives in Reading
and took part in the Whiteknights Arts Trail  a couple
of weeks ago, which I visited.
I really loved Joan's piece, Gone for a Swim
and am happy to say that I bought it and know that
I will treasure it and be constantly inspired by it.
You can find out more about Joan in the Diversity 
website,a textiles group she belongs to.
Joan is like me a "Windsor Girl", that is to say she studied for
her City and Guilds in Creative Embroidery at Windsor College, 
but some years before me, and to a higher level.
I met Joan on a train last year returning to 
Reading after my friend and I had been to an art exhibition,
and Joan and her friend had been to a textiles
exhibition. I couldn't help tuning in to their conversation,
as kept hearing enticing City and Guilds words! It's
always good to meet like minded people, and I like the
coincidence of sitting next to each other on a train.
Gone For a Swim is a stitched textile piece inspired by
St Ives.
I am going to put the picture up in my studio as a reminder
to keep working hard on techniques and always aspire to
 greater things.

Gone for a Swim by Joan McQuillan

Detail of Gone for a Swim by Joan McQuillan

Saturday 20 June 2015

The Scottish Colourists

Painting by Jane Greiner
I painted this portrait in art class last week.
It is from a photo of 1920's star Louise
Brooks and painted on a black background.
We have been looking at the work of the
Scottish Colourists, who featured
black backgrounds and heavy black lines
 in some of their work These four artists,
Francis Cadell, John Fergusson, G Leslie
Hunter and Samuel Peploe are among
some of the most admired early
twentieth century British artists.They were 
heavily influenced by French
Post-Impressionists such as Matisse.


Wednesday 17 June 2015

Tag Tuesday-Out of Our Comfort Zones


Out of Our Comfort Zones
was the thought-provoking theme
for this week's Tag Tuesday
My tag looks simple, but it took a lot of
working out. Inspired by digitally manipulated
tags I have seen, such as by Pat Brennan, I thought
I would have a go at one, as I haven't done 
much of that sort of thing before. I don't have Photoshop
or other software, so used Open Office, which is
quite basic and suitable for a beginner.


The quotation I have used is by Rumi,
13th century mystic and poet from Persia,
who is currently the most popular poet in the 
United States. 
The font I used is called Eenvoudige Batik
Regular, and I followed instructions to download
it from the Graphics Fairy. (Very clear
tutorial and easy to follow). I liked the
embroidery effect.
I used wallpaper from Open Office for background.

Monday 15 June 2015

Pub walk

Yesterday Richard and I decided to go for a walk to a
pub in the Chilterns. Luckily for us we started out across
a field, because the end of the walk was very overgrown,
and was a lot easier coming downhill than fighting
the undergrowth uphill!

Sign hidden by greenery

The start of the footpath

Victorian post box seen en route

Glorious honeysuckle 

Leafy lane

Lady's lace

Tuesday 9 June 2015

Tag Tuesday-Arrows

This week's theme on Tag Tuesday is Arrows


I had no idea how I was going to make an Arrows 
tag! I pulled out some bits and pieces from
my fabric/paper/miscellaneous stash, and found some
hand made paper printed with an arrow pattern. I thought
this was a good starting point, and I decided to stitch 
the paper and create more arrow shapes. It was not as easy
as I thought it would be! I couldn't manage any more
stitching! I framed it with washi tape.


Friday 5 June 2015

Inspired by Beryl Taylor

This week I have been reading Beryl Taylor's lovely book,
Mixed Media Explorations. The subtitle, Blending Paper, Fabric and
 Embellishment to Create Inspired Designs describes
the contents.

I really like Beryl Taylor's work, and the way she
combines mixed media techniques with
stitched textiles.The book is beautifully illustrated with
clear descriptions of projects to give you
lots of ideas

Tuesday 2 June 2015

Tag Tuesday-Fruit



The Fruit theme for this week's Tag Tuesday  was a timely one for me.
In my art class we have been painting a still life of fruit in
watercolour. I decided to paint some thumbnail studies from 
my pear painting as 2" square pieces. The longer one
is 2" x 21/2 ". This was before the Fruit theme came up,
but I knew it would fit perfectly! 
Here are some macro shots.