Wild sewing, New blues

New blues

sea breezes

Salt air

Wild shores

                                                            Two new wild sewing pieces

Broadford 

Wild sewing ( paper cloth stretched over panels)

The beauty of small things

 I love big expansive landscapes, although within those landscapes I am always drawn to small details.

 Textural grasses, delicate leaves and jewel like blooms.

When I photograph landscapes I usually get down on the ground  to fill the foreground of the image, it's almost as if I'm small animal peering through the wild grasses! Looking down as well as around always unearths small treasures.

 Amongst the grasses nestle Marsh marigolds, or as I have always called them 'Kingcups'. They are like giant buttercups and they really glow in the sunlight.
I took these photos a few weeks ago when they were at their best, it's been a good year for Kingcups.

I painted them in my sketchbook.

 They inspired my new collage painting...

WIP

I built up many layers of paper and paint.

detail

Detail

Blanket of kingcups mixed media on canvas

My first attempts at glass fusion!

I recently tried something NEW!!!
A glass fusion workshop!! I love glass and it is no coincidence that when using paper many people comment that my work has a stained glass look...
It is of course impossible to work transparently with paper and the idea of glass fusion has been whirling around my head for some time.
The workshop was hosted by Glass-maker Lynda Drummond and was such fun!!1

test pieces out of the microwave kiln

We started the process making a test piece nugget in a microwave kiln!! I thought Microwaves were just for reheating cold cups of tea!!!

Then we moved on to a small wall plaque
This was what I really wanted to try out to see if I could make a mini landscape.

Beginning to cut the glass

We used a type of glass called bullseye glass, the most difficult part was cutting the pieces small enough!

placing the pieces

We also made several other small test pieces.

And below is my little collection after firing!

For a first attempt I am rather happy with my collection . :)
Of course glass always looks better through a sunshiney window.
So .........

Off to search Ebay for a kiln!!! :)

Knapweed and thrift. Wildflower collages

Last week it was thistles, this week my inspiration is the thistle-like Knapweed flower which blankets much of the highland landscape. Its more friendly than the thistle as it does not have the jagged thorns. I love it's colour and tufty blooms.
 I enjoy reading old folk-law tales about wild flowers and apparently Knapweed in days gone by was picked by eligible young women who pinned a bloom to their blouse.  When its florets began to open it was said the man of her dream would be near! This is not a theory I have tested, but it certainly sounds exciting! :)

I worked in a more abstract style on board, unusual for me as I usually collage on canvas or wood panels.
 A few weeks back I read a blog post written by the very talented Jessica Stride . She used the hardboard backing from a picture frame to work on. I thought this was such a great idea I would have a go. It does away with the dilemma of how to frame a board piece as the frame was meant to fit!

I'm not sure I really need the glass in front of the collage, I feel it takes away from the texture a bit, but I can always take the glass out and just keep the surrounding frame. I'm not sure whether  to paint the frame either... decisions decisions. ;)

 Other bits this week inspired by more wild flowers

Sea-thrift and tern.
 I had to check in my wild-flower book to see if I was using the right shade of pink paper.

The tern is covered with old book papers and crackle glaze to give it a feathery look.

Linking to Paint party friday

New Thistles

Finally finished.. ( I think ;) ) this canvas has been on my easel for a couple of weeks.
Regular visitors will know how much I love thistles. I paint and collage them often.

 I have been photographing and drawing the young plants. They are late flowering this year  because of the cold spring but I loved the shape of the stocky plant spiky plants as they stood soldier like in rows. The fact they weren't flowering made their shape even stronger.

I painted the canvas roughly with acrylics before I added the paper layers. I don't always do this but in this case I wanted to get rid of the expanse of white and I also wanted to leave some of the painted areas.

I initially had some rocks in the foreground but I didn't like them so they were covered in paper.

Added paper layers and black gesso.

The thistles were given a blue and silver makeover.

New Thistles

Linking to paint party friday

Wild sewn cards

One of the the things about working in collage is that you end up with a lot of 'bits'
'Bits' of paper, 'bits' of papercloth, 'bits of organza..... 'bits in general!
I don't like waste and kept all my bits in a box, the box was getting fuller so I decided to make some cards with some of the scrap pieces.

Wild sewn cards...
All different, all unique...

Iv'e been on a mission and made loads!!

Branching out

Two new poppy pieces this week to share. I enjoyed making my last wild poppy canvas so much I have just finished two more!
I have had several requests recently about where my work is available to buy. The main body of my work can be seen at Skyeworks gallery in Portree on the Isle of Skye.
 It is a beautiful natural light gallery and is wonderfully bright and spacious.

poppy croft mixed media on canvas at skyeworks gallery

Detail of the poppy croft

Recently the Owner Liza has opened another, smaller gallery in the south of the Island in Broadford.
 The Old pier Gallery  may be smaller but it is set in a beautiful situation looking out onto the Old pier.

Broadford old pier

 The wild shoreline is a haven for many wading birds  and the little fishing boats bob quietly in the clear water.

Wild greylag geese on the shoreline at Broadford

 If you can't visit the gallery in person my wild sewing pieces can be viewed on their facebook page . I think they look lovely grouped together.


New opportunities have arrived this week too as I have decided to branch out south of the border in England.
 For some time now I have been a regular traveller up and down between Scotland and the north of England,car crammed with art and art materials, so it seemed only fair that I should find a place to show south of the border.  I discovered a lovely little gallery in Lytham St Annes on the Fylde coast called Drift

 They already have a interesting workshop programme and workshop teaching is something which I have been considering for some time. Details have yet to be published but my workshops will begin all being well at the start of September. If you are interested contact Drift for further details. In the meantime my second poppy canvas is available from the gallery.

wild poppies