Slightly Triangle

Etsy Shop Update

2012-03-05T12:37:00.000Z

I've updated my Etsy shop with some new decorations including smaller versions of my big Bullfinch, some more Nuthatches and a Kantha quilt inspired bird and Easter egg :)

Small Horse Maquette

2012-03-02T14:36:00.002Z

I made a smaller paper horse maquette last week to assist with some paintings and textile work I have in mind, the template for this one was drawn from the template for one of my horse decorations

He still needs some tweaking, and I need to paint the ends of the fasteners, but all in all I'm quite pleased with him. In fact I'd go as far as to say he's my favourite I've made so far (don't tell the others!) As with the bay horse I left his mane 'til last so I could match it up on his head/ neck/ body when I'd put him together, but I think I quite like him without one now.

Here he is with the larger dapple grey which was the first one I made

I really must get around to taking some better photos of these!

Finished

2012-02-26T15:46:00.001Z

This had been finished for a few days now but I've only just gotten around to photographing it. I still need to sort a baton out for it, I think the top loops will need a bit of adjusting before it'll hang nicely, though the bottom is meant to not be straight. I wonder now if this was a good idea as it seems to look less like it was intentional and more like I've made a mistake when cutting and binding it, oh dear!

Almost Finished

2012-02-20T11:45:00.001Z

I've very nearly finished my work for the competition exhibition, I backed it a couple of days ago and am just finishing off binding it and adding hanging loops. I had set myself a sort of deadline to finish it in the middle of next week so I'm a bit late but not too far off.

In other news, I have a bit of an idea brewing which will hopefully start to take shape over the next few weeks, more about that soon hopefully :)

Favourite Art Materials: Brushes

2012-02-17T12:25:00.001Z

I must confess that I have quite an obsession with art materials. I'm a little better than I used to be in that I only allow myself to buy certain things that I know I will use now (most of the time, anyway!) but I can never resist the lure of an art shop, so I thought I would do some blog posts about the materials and equipment which I am most fond of and use most.

The first post must be about my brushes as I use these so much. I use several different shapes and sizes and favour nylon ones now. My brush pot also houses toothbrushes (for that very technical flicky paint method ;) ) and some of those brushes which can be filled with water or inks. I've not used these a great deal yet but should I ever get around to doing some sketching outdoors as I intend to this year, I imagine they'll come in very useful with my watercolours. Everytime I'm in a shop that sells the brushes I use I'll stock up on a few as I wear them out quite quickly due to using them on rough textured surfaces and doing quite a bit of dry brushing (as you can see by the ones in the photo which look like they've seen better days!)

Work in Progress

2012-02-14T12:51:00.000Z

I've been hand stitching my work for the Tabernacle art competition, I primed the calico with gesso before painting it this time and I'm finding it a lovely surface to work with, and not as difficult to stitch through as I'd imagined it would be!

We have some Welsh poppies and a few ferns...

A bit of stitching with some Madeira Lana thread, one of my favourites...

A silvery tree...

And finally some machine stitched clouds. A big thank you to those of you who suggested various things when my machine was being silly, I changed the needle and it stitched all of this like a dream, no bobbin thread coming through, no loops and it was just as tidy underneath too :) Unfortunately after doing this it now seems to have decided that it doesn't always want to pick up the bobbin thread, so I need to try and sort that out when I have a spare moment...

Colourful Fabric

2012-02-10T12:04:00.000Z

I had a bit of a sort out of my painted fabric the other day, I can never resist photographing it because it looks so yummy all together. It's all painted with acrylic paint and ink and some pieces have some printing etc on them. Occasionally I paint a piece with thick paint and scratch marks into it, I love how this looks but it's a bit of an effort to stitch through!

I love the bright colours but seem to be favouring the muted greys in the third photo at the moment, perhaps it's something to do with the wintry weather.

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I had a couple of blog readers mention that they'd had trouble commenting so have now changed my comments form, apologies if you've had problems and I hope it works a bit better now :)

Work for the Tabernacle Competition Exhibition

2012-02-08T12:28:00.000Z

For the last two years I've entered the art competition at the Tabernacle Gallery in Machynlleth, I live in Birmingham but I spent a lot of time in that area of Wales when I was younger and still try to visit at least a couple of times a year as it's a place I'm very fond of. I wasn't intending to enter this year as it was going to be difficult to deliver the work but I then found out that I could post it to the gallery, not quite so nice as taking it myself but better than not being able to enter at all!

The theme this year is movement and I'm making a textile piece showing a wild stormy landscape. I've been painting it for the last two days and am hoping to start some stitiching today, I had intended to machine stitch much of it but think it would be better off with some subtle hand stitching... Here's a bit of a sneak peak, I'll post a proper photo when it's progressed a bit more :)

Articulated Paper Horse Pattern

2012-02-05T14:39:00.003Z

I have had a few people ask about a pattern for the paper horses I make so spent some time yesterday putting one together :) The way I make the horses is always a bit random and I do sort of make it up as I go along, but hopefully this pattern will work.

I wasn't sure how to explain which bit fitted with which bit, so I've put two patterns here, one to print and cut out, and one to print and keep as reference for fitting the horse together, I hope that it will make sense. If anyone has any suggestions about how I could make it easier please do feel free to mention it.

I use acrylic paint or coloured pencil for mine, but the pattern could be coloured on the computer before printing perhaps. I also sometimes add a bridle or some other tack. They don't have to be real horse colours either, why not make a patterned one maybe? I usually colour before constructing it then add bits of mane etc to match bits up.

I started off by using paper fasteners to construct mine but because of the width of the legs I had to trim the ends which left sharp ends, I now use tiny craft brads.

I wouldn't reccommend this project for children without supervision as obviously it involves small and sharp objects.

Click on the patterns to enlarge them then either print them directly or paste them into MS Paint or another similar programme. The pattern should be printed to fill an A4 sheet. I think it could be made smaller but it might be a bit fiddly. I reccommend thick paper to give the horse's joints a bit of strength.

The leg pieces on the left are the front legs, and the ones over to the right are the back legs, I fit each new piece on top of the last, if that makes sense, except in the case of the legs which would be on the other side of the body and the tail, I put those underneath the body.

Please leave comments if you have any questions, I don't know if I've explained very clearly! I shall try to do a post soon with photos of me constructing one in case that helps a bit more. I'd love it if you could comment linking me to photos of the horses you make too :)

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Please note - this pattern/ tutorial is for non commercial use only. Feel free to make these horses for fun or as gifts, but please don't sell them. I'd love it if you wanted to share this tutorial, but please do so by linking to my blog rather than copying it to your own blog. Thank you :)

Small Quilt Finished

2012-02-02T12:25:00.001Z

I added the binding and a sleeve to my small quilt yesterday, I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out and am looking forward to working on something similar at a larger scale now.

ACEO Backgrounds

2012-01-24T15:04:00.001Z

I cut out and primed some ACEOs yesterday, ACEO stands for art card editions and originals and they can be created in any medium, the only 'rule' being that they measure 2.5" x 3.5". Before starting a painting I like to lay down some 'background interest' with textured gesso, collage, acrylic and printing etc (most of this ends up being covered up by the time the painting is finished but I like to work on surfaces like this rather than white paper if possible, it also makes it slightly less dautning!) so yesterday I cut out and primed a few cards and started to have some fun with print blocks and things...

Roller and messy paint covered blocks- I don't often actually use the roller to apply paint to the blocks, I just brush it on often in quite a haphazard way, I'm not aiming for a clear image as such but just for some interesting shapes and texture, I love the spontaneous effects that can be created with acrylic paint and ink. Here the roller was used for rolling paint across the background/ painting, and the toothbrush in the photo was used for making flicky paint marks (that's the tecnical term, hehe)

The images above show my favourites of the backgrounds, in the last one some marks which I drew into the wet gesso primer can be seen, I used normal Liquitex primer for this but also have a sample of super heavy gesso which I've been trying out on some canvases, I'll post some photos of those soon.

This spontaneous painting and printing is also useful I find if I'm suffering from a bit of artist's block, having a play with some messy paint and ink is a great way to get going again!

Liebster Blog Award

2012-01-23T13:00:00.000Z

My blog has very kindly been given a Liebster Blog award by two other bloggers, Carla at Ducking Fabulous and Jules over at The Awkward Niche, thank you so much both! To accept the award it's suggested that you link to five blogs which you love inspire you. There are plenty of blogs I love, it was very hard to choose just five, but here they are :)

1. Aileen Clarke Crafts Aileen makes gorgeous felt jewellery, boxes and landscapes amongst other things, everytime I read her blog I find myself wanting to do more felting!

2. Helen Hallows creates beautiful landscapes with paper and stitch.

3. Amanda at Mangle Prints produces wonderful prints using a mangle.

4. Helen at This Crafting Life makes a variety of work including some lovely textile work, and is currently making some interesting work involving printing on glass.

5. Another felty blog, the Rainbow Room sells lovely felting supplies and makes lots of colourful felty things, ideal for brightening up a grey day!

Thank you again Carla and Jules!

Finished Garden Birds

2012-01-21T16:00:00.001Z

I finished these a few days ago now and only just remembered that I'd not posted them here, so here are a few photos :)

They're all quite big compared to my usual decorations so I had lots of room to stitch and add detail. I think the Bull Finch is my favourite with his little cheeky face! I've listed them over in my Etsy shop.

Free Machine Embroidery Adventures 5

2012-01-18T12:40:00.001Z

I've been doing some more work on the landscape I posted a photo of a few days ago. I still seem to be having some problems with the tension though, despite the fact that the bobbin is in the right way around this time! 90% of the time the machine stitches perfectly, then occasionally it starts to leave loops on the surface as pictured below...

I understand this can be remidied by increasing the tension, but when I try this even if I only move the dial a tiny amount, it starts to pull the bobbin thread through again... I am asking it to sew through quite a challenging surface however, a layer of painted calico plus another layer of plain calico attatched to the back with fusible web, but if anyone has any ideas which might make it behave a bit more consistently, I'd be most grateful!

Here is how the piece is looking so far anyway, I got a bit carried away painting the sky to disguise some thread loops, but since it's just meant to be a bit of a test piece I've tried to be quite relaxed and experimental with it. I think I shall tidy it up now and use it to practice attatching a quilt sleeve/ binding.

Free Machine Embroidery Adventures 4

2012-01-14T11:51:00.000Z

I started making a little sample yesterday to try out some new ideas and techniques for some bigger pieces I'd like to make for FoQ and other things. Painting the fabric went reasonably well (I've been experimenting with ways of priming it to allow me to paint on it as I would a canvas) but I then spent about an hour arguing with the machine because the bobbin thread kept coming through, I've had this problem in the past but it's usually resolved by just adjusting the tension. I tried everything and ended up searching online for soloutions, then realised I had put the bobbin in the wrong way around... Oh well, I'll know to check that in future!

This what it looks like so far, it still needs a lot of work, the bottom section had some rather unsuccessful trees on it so has been covered up with another piece of painted fabric, I hope the machine is going to manage all of the layers when I come to bind it...

Garden Bird Decorations in Progress

2012-01-11T12:31:00.002Z

I've been working on some new bird decorations inspired by the birds which visit the garden, starting with a Wood Pigeon, Bull Finch and Blue Tit.

I started off by drawing the birds then making templates, before painting them onto fabric, cutting them out and adding hand stitch. I've tried to simplify their markings a bit to make them more graphic and more pattern orientated.

I'm currently finishing these off, adding their hangling loops etc :) I'm hoping to make some smaller versions of them too.

New Paper Horse

2012-01-06T13:13:00.000Z

Another addition to the little herd of paper horses. I used a slightly different technique with this one, punching the holes for the paper fasteners with a small hole punch instead of cutting them as I had before, so he seems to be a bit more articulated. I also used some tiny fasteners, I was finding it a bit fiddly trimming the ends off the larger ones so I went in search of some smaller ones and found these, they're actually brads for cardmaking but they seem to work fairly well, though do need to be squeezed a bit tighter for the horse to hold his position if he's being displayed in any way other than lying down.

First post of the year

2012-01-05T12:12:00.000Z

Apologies for the lack of posts over the last couple of weeks, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

I've started to work on some new decorations, including some larger ones depicting garden birds. Other projects for the new year include making more jointed paper horses, and ultimately other animals too hopefully, I'm hoping to add a couple of these to my Etsy shop within the next couple of weeks. I'm trying to fit a bit of painting in too but it's mostly too dark in my work area at the moment unfortunately.

I'm also determined to get going with my papier mache horses this year, the two I mentioned in this post are still far from finished >.<

Free Machine Embroidery Adventures 3

2011-12-13T13:07:00.000Z

I decided to have a go at free machining a couple of my decorations yesterday. I still seem to hold my breath and panic about where to stitch next (perhaps it might help if I started drawing my designs out first, hm...) but am finding it very enjoyable. I did end up getting a bit carried away though, and doodling swirls and leaves all over this horse...

I did wonder about just keeping it as a practice piece, but there's something I quite like about it... I think I'll finish it off and see how it looks then. I used my favourite variagated and rayon Gutermann threads, I love the shine on the rayon ones. I only had white and bright green so I naughtily indulged in some of these with some Birthday money, they look so delicious I hardly want to take them out of the box!

Notecards

2011-12-11T21:38:00.000Z

It keep promising myself I'll write more letters to friends, but all too often I don't manage to get around to it, so I've treated myself to a couple of notecard sets as a bit of an incentive (any excuse to buy nice stationery!)

The first to arrive was a set of Angie Lewin notecards. I love Angie's work (her gorgeous book, Plants and Places, is very much on my Christmas list) so was pleased to discover that there was a good selection of notecards available with it on. It was a bit of a challenge to choose, but eventually I went for the set featuring prints 'Scarista' and 'Island with Teasels' as they reminded me of warm summer days which feel very far away at the moment!

Next arrived a lovely set of postcards from artist Laura Weston I discovered Laura's work through Etsy and loved her relief prints so couldn't resist these. I think my favourite has to be 'Meet at the Moon'

Now I just need to set aside some time to do some letter writing :)

Birds

2011-12-02T15:05:00.000Z

A few more decorations, a little flock of birds this time :)

Yellow Horse and Blue Bird

2011-11-30T12:47:00.002Z

Alongside a couple of recent commissions, I've been working on some new decorations. I've altered the shape of my woodpecker decoration a bit (I call it woodpecker shaped, it's not terribly woodpeckerish but was based on one to start with) to make some with tails, and also made another large horse this time in a rather bright yellow!

Our exhibition finished on Monday, it went well and I was pleased to sell one of my paintings, Three Horses Under the Moon, so that will be going off to its new home next week.

Exhibition

2011-11-15T12:53:00.003Z

Mum and I put up our exhibition yesterday, the space was much larger than I remembered it being and I did find myself wishing I'd had time to do more work for it! Unfortunately these photos are rather dark, the space itself is quite well lit.

There was a very helpful technician who hung all of the work, this was a relief as I don't think I'd have trusted msyelf to get everything nicely lined up! I don't have any photographs of Mum's work as these are the only ones she sent to me from her camera, but there will be some on her blog later today :) There are two showcases too, unfortunately I didn't manage to photograph these because of reflections.

Bay Paper Horse

2011-11-13T13:06:00.002Z

I managed to make another horse in time for the exhibition. I tried acrylics this time but ended up doing quite a lot of coloured pencil work over the top, this seems to have become my medium of choice for horses. I added the costume afterwards then varnished him; I think I'll varnish the other one too, I quite like the sort of laquered look it gives them.

I had intended to add a mane (I draw or paint the mane in afterwards so it matches up on the neck/ body when the neck is moved) but managed to forget to do it before varnishing, I think I'll try to paint one in. I'm hoping to include this chap in a painting at sometime.

I love making these, I must thank Clive Hicks- Jenkins who inspired me to try. I'd like to make some more horses and have a go at some human figures and perhaps birds in the future, I've just ordered quite a large amount of paper fasteners!

Bird Decorations Finished

2011-11-09T13:35:00.001Z

I've finished some of the bird decorations I mentioned my post a couple of days ago, though still have a couple to finish off; I like the pinky coloured one best I think, he looks quite a character!

They're now in my Etsy shop

Mountain Garden

2011-11-08T12:56:00.000Z

A recently finished painting, 20x50cm, I love this shape of canvas :)

New Decorations in Progress

2011-11-07T16:23:00.000Z

I spent the weekend cutting out new decorations ready to sew as well as painting some new fabric for them, I'm working on a few of my favourites at the moment, the small birds, as well as something a bit different... Hopefully all will be revealed soon!

It's very easy to get carried away with different colour combinations for the birds, I love doing the decorative ones though I'm hoping to make some more in 'real' bird colours at sometime too :)

Another Paper Horse

2011-11-07T11:50:00.001Z

I received a kind message through Etsy a week ago from someone who'd seen and liked my horse maquette, and was wondering if I might consider making one for her in the same colour. I was very happy to oblige, and before I posted it I couldn't resist taking a few photos of it having a gallop around with my other paper horse :)

I have the use of two showcases for the exhibition so my first paper horse will be able to be included, I'm hoping to have time to make another to go with her.

Earth, Sea, Sky Exhibition

2011-11-02T12:10:00.001Z

Our exhibition starts in just under two weeks time, eep! I have most of my larger pieces of work finished and am working on some smaller canvases and new decorations at the moment :)

Pigeon

2011-10-24T12:01:00.001+01:00

I've been working on a new painting for the exhibition, it's one of the biggest at 40x40cm, not huge but I tend to always work very small so it's been slightly daunting but also fun to work on something bigger! Here it is in progress, the bird beginning to take shape...

I just need to add legs now, blend some areas and tweak things bit, then it'll be ready for varnishing :)

Printing

2011-10-24T11:47:00.001+01:00

I set out to order some of the usual material I use for cutting print blocks but couldn't find any online, so ordered something called Softcut instead. It's a bit softer than what I've used before, and very flexible, but as I print on lots of surfaces which aren't neccesarily even (like canvas etc) it's just right. I started a new print block on the day it arrived to test it out.

From my Sketchbook: Beach Inspiration

2011-10-19T11:59:00.002+01:00

I use my sketchbooks a lot, whether it be for quick sketches to record images or ideas, to experiment with colour or to plan a painting or textile piece, so I thought it might be interesting to start posting some snippets from them on my blog. These pages are actually from around a year ago now, drawings and sketches of ideas inspired by Tywyn beach in Wales. I did a few small experimental pieces of work based on these drawings at the time but it didn't come to much, so I'm hoping to use these ideas in some paintings in the future :)

Shops, Printing and Decorations

2011-10-15T12:16:00.001+01:00

Unfortunately I managed to end up with a cold this week, so haven't gotten as much done as I'd have liked, but I did take the opportunity (whilst self medicatiating with hot chocolate and cherry bakewells!) to list some more decorations on Etsy and to explore a bit, there's so much lovely work there. The shop is still a work in progress but it's growing gradually, I'm still trying to decide whether to list things on Folksy too, I never know whether to put the same things in both shops or not.

I've been doing a bit of printing too, I'd cut some blocks when I was on this course with the intention of making them into a small book but hadn't gotten around to it, so I spent a bit of time just seeing how they looked printed. This of course reminded me that I kept meaning to do more printing because I enjoy it, and typically I've run out of vinyl, so I must order some more.

No photos of the printing yet unfortunately, but here are a couple of photos of some new decorations :)

This one's not so new but is one of my favourites :)

Work in Progress

2011-10-08T12:45:00.000+01:00

I've been working on the painting I showed photos of at the top of this post, it's now looking quite different to how it did but still has a long way to go, it's going to be titled something along the lines of Hill Garden or Mountain Garden. I'm enjoying working on this shape of canvas, and enjoying the fact it's bigger than I normally work so there's more space for detail.

Making a Pencil Case

2011-10-08T12:38:00.000+01:00

I had a few coloured pencils which needed a home, so I set about attempting to make a pencil case. It's only very simple but it does the job, I was pleasantly surprised about how it turned out given that I've never tried to sew a zip onto anything before! I ordered a few of these zips so want to try making some more cases with painted fabric etc.

New Decorations

2011-10-05T12:01:00.000+01:00

I'm working some new decorations at the moment, ready for the exhibition and some Christmas craft fairs.

An orange squirrel...

A brown rabbit with lots of hand stitch

And some horses in more realistic colours; I've recently started to offer custom pet portrait decorations so have been experimenting with the best way of painting them :)

Two Paintings Finished

2011-09-30T16:23:00.000+01:00

I finally finished these two paintings a few days ago, I'd left them sitting around for a little too long, working out how best to finish them, so I'm glad they're finally complete :)

Tal Y Llyn, around A5 size.

Waterfall, 6x4cm

Horse Maquette Finished

2011-09-28T15:26:00.001+01:00

I finished the horse maquette I mentioned in this post today. I enjoyed making it and know some changes I'll make when I try another one (which I'm definitely going to, it's quite addictive!) I used coloured pencils in the end, rather than paint, though I think I'd paint the next one in an effort to make the paper fasteners blend in a bit more. She could be a better shape too I think, the join between her neck and body doesn't seem quite right... I also made her a bit too small so on her legs there's not much paper around the fasteners, which makes her a bit delicate and limits her articulation, so I'm thinking of enlarging the templates I used here and trying a bigger version of the same one. I shall have to think of a name for her now, hmm... Here are a few photos :)

Spring in Patchwork and Quilting Magazine

2011-09-27T11:45:00.000+01:00

Hilary, owner of my felt quilt Spring, spotted that there was a photo of it in this month's Patchwork and Quilting magazine in the Festival of Quilts feature. What a nice surprise!

How many stickers do I need?

2011-09-27T11:42:00.000+01:00

...probabaly not this many! I use these stickers to stick onto the back of my work amongst other things, I had it in my head that I was running out of them and only when I'd ordered the new lot and they arrived did I realise I had a lot more left than I thought. Typically pretty much as soon as they arrived I also decided I'd like some different text on them... Oh well, next time!

Another Big Horse Decoration

2011-09-26T16:04:00.000+01:00

...this time a blue one :)

Meeting his friend...

I've listed them both in my Etsy shop :)

Clive Hicks-Jenkins, and Making Maquettes

2011-09-26T10:48:00.001+01:00

A couple of months ago I discovered the paintings of artist Clive Hicks-Jenkins; Mum had bought a book about his work on our last visit to MOMA Wales which I'd very much enjoyed reading and looking through, and having searched online for more information I came across his excellent Artlog which I am now a frequent reader of. As well as paintings he makes exquisite maquettes, I believe mainly to to aid composition of his paintings, though they are works of art in themselves. A while ago he posted about how these maquettes are created and I was inspired to have a go at making my own. I've only gotten as far as some rough templates at the moment, these still need to be transferred onto card or watercolour paper and then painted before construction, I'm awaiting delivery of some paper fasteners. They're the type of thing I had for ages and never used, and now I need them can I find any anywhere in the house? No. Here's a photo of how it's looking so far. It's an equine, of course.

As is so often the case with my horses, her head is a little small, but I can adjust this a bit before I make the final version. Please excuse the surface she's photographed on, I really need to clean the paint off my work table!

Adventures in Papier Mache

2011-09-21T11:13:00.001+01:00

For a while I've wanted to try some sculpture of some description, or more specifically I've wanted to try making 3D versions of the birds, horses and other creatures which appear in my paintings. As I'm so fond of textile I'd always quite liked the idea of soft sculpture but have always been pretty hopeless with gussets and other techincal sewing things, after several frustrating attempts I was just about ready to give up with that >.< I've never been too good at working with clay either, so I set about thinking of other ways I might fulfill my ideas.

I had most success sculpting with newspaper and masking tape over a wire armature, though wanted the work to be smoother so started to investigate papier mache to apply over the top. I've tried newspaper and tissue paper and found the latter to be best for me, though haven't tried painting over it yet. I've started two horses and both are very much still in progress as it's a rather slow process but very enjoyable (though I am looking forward to seeing how they look painted and with manes and tails added)

This first photo shows one of my attempts just sculpted using newspaper and masking tape without papier mache over the top...

And these are the two horses. The first is quite large, about 28cms high, and the second slightly smaller. In these photos the first horse has some papier mache on and the second is still at the masking tape stage.

I'm torn between painting them in real horse colours or covering them in colourful patterns or suchlike. Either way I'd like to make some textile costumes for them when they're finished, like the one the horse in this painting is wearing...

I'm aiming to get them finished in time for the exhibition though it's not looking too likely at the moment!

Etsy Shop

2011-09-19T11:34:00.000+01:00

I finally got around to opening an Etsy shop a few days ago, I'm slowly getting used to it though am being a bit hopeless with converting prices, I think I've got them just about right now :) There's not a lot in there at the moment, just a couple of sketchbooks, some cards and a decoration, though I'm hoping to get some more new decorations listed soon and after the exhibition in November, some paintings too :) My shop can be found here :)

More Work in Progress

2011-09-18T12:11:00.000+01:00

When starting a new painting I like to build up some colour and texture on the surface I'm using, sometimes this will influence the way the painting goes, or show through some more translusent color on top, or sometimes it just serves to make the white canvas or paper a bit less intimidating. I was working on some paintings yesterday and had some paint and ink left over on my palette, so I thought I'd use it up on a canvas as the start of a painting. This is the very early stages but in some ways I quite like it how it is...

It's a lovely shaped canvas, 20x50cm I think, I had it in my head that I'd do a landscape piece but ended up using it the other way around, I bought four though, so perhaps I'll use the others for long landscapes.

These are the other two paintings I was working on, the first one still needs a bit of work and the second one a lot, I just can't seem to get the waterfall to look quite how I want it...

View from Bwlch y Groes

2011-09-16T11:29:00.000+01:00

I've finished the landscape piece which I posted a photograph of last week, it's loosely based on a view from the mountain pass called Bwlch y Groes, near Dinas Mawddwy in North Wales. I added some handstitch with some gorgeous wool blend thread, made by Madeira. I bought a few reels of it at the Festival of Quilts and wish I'd bought more back with me! I added some small sead beads too but they didn't look right so I took them off.

I framed it in a sort of antiquey looking frame. Excuse the awful photo!

Giant Horse Decoration

2011-09-15T11:58:00.001+01:00

Okay so maybe not quite giant, but much bigger than the usual horse decorations I make!

I cut this shape out for something else but decided not to use it, so thought I'd make it into a decoration. I painted it with acrylic paint and ink first before hand stitching it, adding beads and assembling it into a decoration. I have a blue version in progress at the moment too.

On my hand to show size

Free Machine Embroidery Adventures 2

2011-09-07T12:37:00.014+01:00

I experimented with machine embroidery a bit more yesterday, actually starting to use it on some pieces of work. I had a few words with the sewing machine but once I got going I really enjoyed it :) I do find myself holding my breath a bit though, or panicking about which direction I want to go in next, but hopefully this will improve with practice!

I started off by making some small rectangular compositions, these will either make up a small piece of work or be used for my decorated sketchbook covers...

I tried using my hoop but have discovered that it's not quite the right sort or not quite big enough as it catches on the side of the foot holder, but painted calico with fusible web on it seemed to stay flat enough on its own without a hoop.

...then I got bit more adventurous and did some work on a slightly bigger piece, just under A4 size

I used my new favourite technique again here, painted fusible web ironed onto the hill at the bottom. I experimented with coloured pencils a bit too on the coloured hill, though discovered that the machine wasn't 100% happy about sewing through fabric that had two thick coats of matte medium on it! I think I'm going to add some hand stitch to this too. I'm definitely enjoying the free machine embroidery :)

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I seem to have been having some problems with publishing posts- I wrote three yesterday intending to save two to post another time then accidentally posted them, then deleted them to post them another time afterall, but this means they've been showing up in blog readers then not actually being there to read, so many apologies!

New Paintings in Progress

2011-09-07T12:09:00.002+01:00

I'm working on some new small paintings on canvas at the moment, I seem to be having a week of landscapes this week, I started to paint two a couple of days ago and started a textile one yesterday.

This one's inspired by Tal Y Llyn, a lake in Wales

The second one is being awkward at the moment, so I'm only showing a tiny sneaky peak, hehe. I've been playing with a sample of Liquitex super heavy gesso on it to build up a bit of texture.

I'm really enjoying painting on canvases, I'd mostly worked on paper before which I like too but the canvas seems to be a bit more resilient if I'm sanding off layers or scratching into paint. I'm hoping to get these finished soon as the exhibition is creeping closer, eep!

Two Birds Finished

2011-09-02T12:35:00.001+01:00

As promised, here are a few photos of my latest textile piece finished :) Apologies for the fact the photo of it in its frame is a bit dark.

I'm in the process of opening of an Etsy shop at the moment, both this and my Folksy shop will be a bit empty for a bit as the things I'm making at the moment are going to the exhibition or Christmas craft fairs, but I'm hoping to get some photos taken and get them filled up sometime soon :)

Free Machine Embroidery

2011-09-01T13:07:00.000+01:00

Mum and I ordered some feet to use for free machine embroidery last week and they arrived today, we've had a little go at it, tweaking various settings on the machine 'til it was working well. I've never tried it before and it's good fun, when I manage to produce something half decent I'll post some photos :) I'm just off to order a hoop to use for it...

Work in Progress

2011-08-30T11:02:00.001+01:00

I spent some time over the weekend working on the textile piece which I started about a week ago. It's finished now so will be photographed and framed later today :)

Finished Decorations

2011-08-27T12:34:00.002+01:00

I finished putting together three of my new decorations a couple of days ago, and am working on a couple of others at the moment, they're so enjoyable to do :)

I've listed two of them in my Folksy shop :)

Rabbit Decorations

2011-08-26T12:51:00.000+01:00

I love making decorations so it's lovely to get commissions for them, especially for new animals I've not made before. I had a request from a friend a couple of weeks ago to make two rabbit decorations for her daughters, so set about drawing out a template and selecting fabrics and threads before starting sewing. These are the finished articles :)

Lovely Felt

2011-08-26T12:34:00.000+01:00

One of the things I bought from the Festival of Quilts was a selection of lovely felt. I've been tempted by similar felt before and gave in this time, I love the colours in these pieces. I bought them from Thredfairy, who's stand happened to be right by Mum's, so it was very tempting to keep going back for more! I'm not quite sure what they'll end up being used for yet, I'm thinking I'll do some stitch and little bits of applique on them in a spontaneous sort of way...

New Work in Progress

2011-08-18T11:18:00.000+01:00

I have my first 'proper' exhibition in November, thus far I've only shown single pieces in open exhibitions so this'll be the first time more of my work is on show together, it's a joint exhibition with Mum, I'll get an image of the flyer and upload it soon :)

I've been working on things for the exhibition for some time, but have only in the last few months started to discover ways of working which I feel properly happy with; I was finding I wasn't quite satisfied with several pieces of work before. All this means that I'm left with about two months to create half an exhibition's worth of work, eep!

I started a new textile piece today, I was struggling a bit with how to convey what I wanted to with my textiles, but I'm happy with the work I started today. I took photos as I went along so I thought I'd post them :)

I wanted to make a piece with two birds facing each other, so I cut these out first then began to paint and cut out the other elements, in this case two hills and a sun.

Then I painted the background, I love raw calico but also love how nice it is to stitch through with a bit of paint on it, so I decided to paint it this time.

Now normally I keep the pieces loose and stitch them down because I'm a tiny bit lazy with getting the iron and the Bondaweb out but I decided to give it a go today, and wow did it make a difference! It's looking much more flat and stitchable now, I always find putting a piece together a bit unnerving and always end up with frayed bits, so hopefully this one will work out better :)

I've added some painted Bondaweb ironed onto calico too, I folded it a bit in places as it didn't fit onto the piece of calico I had and it was a bit of a happy accident, I love the dark lines the folded bits have made. I took this photo below just to show the painted Bondaweb better, but it's given me an idea for another piece of work too :)

I'm looking forward to stitching it now :)

Work in Progress

2011-08-17T12:30:00.000+01:00

I'm working on some new decorations at the moment, I'm really enjoying doing these as although I'm very inspired after the Festival of Quilts, I'm also a bit unsure about the direction that I want my textile work to take, so it's nice to just be working on these small things at the moment :) They'll be ironed then stitched to felt and constructed in the same was as my bird and horse decorations.

Festival of Quilts

2011-08-16T16:39:00.000+01:00

I spent four days at the Festival of Quilts helping Mum out on her stand, looking at all of the wonderful quilts and stands and doing more shopping than I probably should've, eep! It's a wonderful show, I'd been looking forward to it for some time and can't believe how quickly it seemed to go. Excitingly, Mum's book, The Stone Bird, won the Quilt Creations category; I was very proud!

I entered a quilt for the first time, I think I posted some work in progress photos on my blog but none of the whole thing, so here's a (very bad) photo...

To my surprise, I was approached at the show by artist Hilary Beattie, a friend of Mum's, who wanted to buy my quilt! So thank you very much indeed Hilary, I'm very glad that my it's gone to a good home :)

I didn't have time to take many photos, or even to see as many quilts as I would've liked, but a favourite was the gallery of Mary Lloyd Jones. I'd seen her work at MOMA Wales last year, and didn't know she'd have work at FoQ too, so that was a lovely surprise. There were so many other quilts and stands I loved too I can't possibly mention them all! I'm feeling very inspired now and looking forward to getting started on some new work :)

Mounting/ Framing Textiles

2011-08-05T14:40:00.000+01:00

I've been thinking about this a lot lately so thought I'd mention it on my blog in case anyone has any thoughts :)

I usually mount my work onto mount board before putting it in a frame, but for various reasons have recently been thinking of alternative methods. Most of the textile work I make is painted calico with stitch and applique, so I've been considering mounting it over a canvas stretcher or ready stretched canvas, so it'd be ready to hang as it is, but I've not been totally sure about how to make the back suitably tidy. I also thought about free hanging work, with a stick or suchlike through the top to hang it from, but so much of my work is quite small so I'm not sure if it'd have sufficient weight to hang well. So I then came back to thinking about my current method. One of the reasons I've been thinking of other ways to mount or frame my textiles is because of concerns about using acid free materials- I use acid free mount board but can't think of or find anything that would be acid free to attatch the textile to the board in the first place- generally textiles I've made in the past either haven't been for sale, or have been sandwiched into a mount with archival tape which hasn't been in contact with the textile itself as such.

Apologies for a bit of a rambly post, I'm sort of thinking out loud, but if there are any textile artists reading this, or anyone has any ideas about archival materials for mounting textiles, I'd be most grateful for any comments :)

Moo Greetings Cards

2011-08-02T15:11:00.005+01:00

I'd wanted to order some Moo cards for a long time and finally got around to it a couple of weeks ago. I ordered five of each of my newest paintings, they arrived a few days ago and I'm really pleased with them :) I've just listed them in my Folksy shop :)

Edited to add- I noticed a mark on the back of a couple of cards when packing them up, only small but I mentioned it to Moo on the off chance that they could reprint those two cards. Apparently they can't just print two cards, but have offered to send me my whole order again! I feel rather bad as the marks were only on two cards, but what excellent customer service :)

Printmaking and Bookbinding Course

2011-08-02T11:59:00.004+01:00

I went on a three day printing and bookbinding course over the weekend, at the RBSA . The course was with Paul Hipkiss who makes excellent prints.

We started by learning how to bind a small book and were provided with some lovely paper for the covers which had been monoprinted by Paul.

Binding in progress

The cover before having pages added

I'd never tried bookbinding before and really enjoyed it. We learnt other techniques like three hole binding too.

I had hoped to finish a small book in the three days, but had a bit of a change of plan before the last day; I'd been thinking of making the pigeon book I've had in mind for a while but then had a go at drypoint etching, which I really enjoyed, so I started etching some little landscape plates and printed lots of them to work with. I'm hoping to make a small book with some, hand colour some and will leave a few of them as they are. It was a great course, I just wish it could've been longer!

Printed Wrapping Paper

2011-07-23T10:42:00.005+01:00

Monoprints

2011-07-18T09:44:00.001+01:00

I spent some time last week playing with monoprints, it's easy to be quite spontaneous with these and the results can be quite exciting. I printed on some small pieces of printing paper I'd received in a sample pack, hence the numbers which are visible in the corners. I though this added a bit of interest and also makes it easier for me to see which paper gave the best results. I'm looking at ways to include more of this in my work, perhaps as collage or to create backgrounds. I used acrylic with some slow dry medium mixed in to give me a bit more time to work, and made the marks in it with those tools known as colour shapers/ clay shapers. I bought a little selection of them a couple of years ago now and have found them very useful for many things.

Fabric and Print Blocks

2011-07-16T14:00:00.001+01:00

I found some wonderful packs of fabric in a shop I visited recently, containing lots of different off cuts of Indian block printed fabric, it's lovely and very inspiring!

Each pack contains different fabrics, I bought two this time but I'm very tempted to buy more in future.

I also added to my little collection of wooden print blocks, I love these and like to add a couple to my collection when I see some for sale. The white ones are the latest additions, I love the swan.

Work in progress and more birds...

2011-07-15T10:27:00.000+01:00

I started work on a new piece this week, in acrylic and acrylic ink and working in a slightly different way to usual, I'm enjoying it :)

I've also been drawing more birds, I've had a book idea for a while involving pigeons and these were doodles for that, but some of them don't seem quite pigeony enough, so I think I shall use these in something else instead :)

Standing Stones

2011-07-10T14:51:00.001+01:00

I finished a new piece of work today- I thought it was finished a couple of weeks ago but then decided to re work it. I'm not sure about the space on the left but in some ways I quite like it... Perhaps I'll be reworking it again in another couple of weeks! I cut the hill and standing stones away from the original sky and attatched it to a new one along with the moon, and moved the bird. I quite like the collaged element it ended up having.

I feel like my work is changing quite a lot at the moment, or at least my ideas for it are. I feel myself wanting to add more pattern and texture, and make my compositions a little more abstract. I also have ideas about experimenting with paper theatres and puppets and the like...

New Print Block

2011-07-08T10:02:00.002+01:00

I meant to post about this a couple of weeks ago, apologies for long time no post! I made a new print block to use in the fish painting I posted recently, I had drawn a design onto vinyl but then ended up just doodling to fill the space, which was fun and yielded results with which I was quite pleased. I loved lino cutting but my wrist didn't, so discovering vinyl (it's much softer) has been a really good thing :) I do love printing and would like to incorparate more of it into my work. This one's printed with acrylic paint.

First print shown next to the block itself

Pond

2011-06-16T15:33:00.001+01:00

I finished this today and am working on a textile version at the moment too- I started the textile version first then thought I'd like to try this image as a painting. I worked on some different paper called Canaletto, it's very smooth compared to what I'm used to and I found it quite challenging, but lovely for the pen and ink work. I used some printing in this piece too, using a new block I cut recently.

Bird

2011-06-15T12:12:00.000+01:00

A little bird in watercolour, pen and ink and gouache. So much of my work seems to involve birds but they're so inspiring :) In fact I have an idea in mind for making a little book about birds, possibly involving the pigeons who inhabit the garden...

Exciting Post

2011-06-14T12:28:00.001+01:00

I had some exciting post today :) I'd been lucky to win a giveaway for a lovely embroidered ring and set of earrings made by Sami at Teasemade , and they arrived today :) The fabric used is by Summersville and is very lovely, and the embroidery on the ring is gorgeous :) There was a little extra included too, the scissors brooch, which will be living on my sewing bag :) Thank you Sami!

Etc Creative Collective

2011-06-09T14:48:00.000+01:00

A dear friend of mine, Carla of Ducking Fabulous , recently set up Etc Creative Collective, a collective bringing together a group of arty crafty types who hail from all around the UK. Our first exhibition, Reading Matter, is currently happening at Chelmsford Library in Essex. If you'd like to take a look at the blog it's located here :) I have three small framed textile bird pieces in the exhibition- as the name suggests the exhibition is related to books so I made three pieces of work inspired by pages from bird books. It's exciting to be part of this collective and I'm looking forward to getting involved with more things with Etc in future :)

Some New Work

2011-05-23T11:53:00.003+01:00

My paintings seem to be taking over from the textiles a bit at the moment, I have a couple of textile pieces to finish and mount but keep starting on new drawings/ paintings. I finished these two over the weekend, they're around A5 size. The first is watercolour and the second is acrylics, both with pen and ink too.

I notice I've gained a few followers, so welcome and thank you :)

Small Birds

2011-05-11T13:03:00.000+01:00

I'm making some small pieces of work at the moment for an art fair I'm doing in June, and finished this one yesterday. It's mostly painted and stencilled calico with a bit of Lutradur.

Some Small Paintings

2011-05-03T13:08:00.001+01:00

I finished a few small paintings over the last week and am rediscovering working with pen and ink and watercolour which is nice, I'd always enjoyed it but hadn't gotten around to doing any for a while. There will be more of this I think :) I'm hoping to translate some of these into textile pieces too.

Storm

2011-05-02T21:05:00.010+01:00

This is a piece of work I finished a few days ago for an open exhibition. I used mostly Lutradur which I painted and printed with acrylic inks, then used painted calico for the tree and horse. It's just over A4 size.

Inspiring...

2011-05-01T14:20:00.000+01:00

Beautiful flowers in glorious sunny weather :)

Robin

2011-04-21T11:46:00.003+01:00

I'm making three small pieces of work for a group exhibition at the moment, here's a photo of one of them in progress, a little robin :)

Nuthatch

2011-04-12T10:12:00.001+01:00

I'm working on a few more realistic looking birds at the moment, alongside the less realistic and more decorative ones. I made a pair of Nuthatches yesterday, this one will be turned into a decoration and the other, which is currently having a bit more stitch added, will be included in a piece of work. They were very fun to do, I was having a few problems with fraying edges at first so coated them in Liquitex gloss gel medium which seemed to sort most of the problem out, and also helped make things a bit easier when I painted the black and white detail. I quite liked it's effect on the fabric too so it's something I think I'll be experimenting with again. I expected it to make the fabric fairly difficult to sew through but as I'd watered the medium down a bit, it wasn't too bad.

Two Finished Birds

2011-04-08T13:33:00.002+01:00

I finished stitching these two birds last night, they are very loosely based on a Woodpecker and Bullfinch. I have another Bullfinch looking one in progress too. I'm not quite sure whether I'll make anymore of these exactly in this way, but it's been a fun experiment. I'm also not sure how I'll use these yet, I've been experimenting with Lutradur recently and have found it a really exciting material to work with, so I'm thinking of stiching them to a piece of that and laying of over some sort of drawing perhaps... I'm trying to find more ways to bring drawing into my work. If they don't end up in a piece of work I may turn them into decorations. Anyway, without further ado, here are a couple of photos :)

Birds

2011-04-06T14:01:00.002+01:00

I'm working on making some birds at the moment, shown here is a bird in progress along with some of my reference material, an illustration from a lovely old book called Garden Birds.

Work for the Festival of Quilts

2011-03-16T18:03:00.003Z

I mentioned in yesterday's post that I'd had a change of plan about the work I wanted to create to enter into the Festival of Quilts. For all categories other than miniature quilts and quilt creations the quilt has to be at least one meter in one direction, and I was finding the prospect of working on a larger piece a bit daunting as I'm used to working small. In the end I decided to work on creating a piece of work from smaller components, and am getting near to the stage where I put it all together now, so I thought I'd post a few progress photos :) It's also turned out looking quite fresh and springy which seems appropriate at the time of year.

Recently Finished...

2011-03-15T13:58:00.002Z

A little textile piece I finished a couple of weeks ago. I initially started it intending to enter it into the Festival of Quilts this year, as part of a larger piece, but had a change of plan in the end and decided to keep it as it is. It measures about 20 x 20cm.

New Decorations

2011-03-10T10:59:00.000Z

I finished these decorations a while ago now but was waiting for a sunny day when I could photograph them. There are a few others too, but these are my favourites of this batch :)

Colourful

2011-03-03T14:36:00.000Z

I'd been wanting to experiment with painting on felt and it was suggested that acrylic ink might work nicely, so I experimented a bit this morning and this was the result...

I'd expected it to be quite stubborn to work with, but I found if I made the felt quite wet before adding the ink, it flowed over the surface nicely and made some nice subtle effects. I'd intended to cut these pieces up to use in pieces of work, but I can see how they might work nicely just left as they are now and stitched into. Lots of room for experimentation! :)

Print Blocks

2011-02-23T11:46:00.005Z

I've been sorting and tidying my art materials this week, and have finally organised all of my various print blocks into a box altogether, though I think some of them could do with a bit of a clean judging by the ones in this photo! There are all sorts in here, lino and vinyl cuts, some made from foam, cardboard and string, and a couple of little wooden print blocks.

Estuary

2011-02-17T12:45:00.008Z

I've been experimenting with using the sewing machine without thread to create texture in stitched paper pieces, I quite like how it's worked on this estuary inspired piece, I added more paint afterwards to pick up the texture a bit.

Two Horse Monoprints

2011-02-08T12:36:00.012Z

Two more monoprints made using what I believe is known as the drawing through method- both of these images look slightly different in real life, the first is brighter and the second darker, I've not quite worked out how to make my scanner do what I want it to just yet!

Goldfinch Monoprints

2011-01-24T11:16:00.008Z

I spend a day last week doing some monoprints, I love how varied they can be and how you never know exactly how they'll end up looking...

Another version with coffee stained paper...

Hill

2011-01-18T09:46:00.003Z

I keep meaning to blog more regularly and then failing >.< But here's a little something for today, a small acrylic painting on Khadi paper, approximately 5x8cm

New Lables

2011-01-13T19:33:00.006Z

I printed some new lables for my brooches and decorations today, I love this brown card...

(Some felt beads sneaking into the photo there, more of those coming soon hopefully :) )

Felt Roses

2011-01-08T13:43:00.013Z

A friend bought these lovely little felt roses for me for Christmas, I couldn't resist posting some photos...

I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to use them for yet, I'm thinking I might make a flamboyant necklace with them :)

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I seem to have gained some new followers since my last post, so hello to you and thank you for following :)

A Small Print

2011-01-05T21:12:00.003Z

A small print from a vinyl block I cut sometime last year, printed with acrylic paint onto some cartridge type paper.

Felt Beads

2010-10-09T15:18:00.004+01:00

I've been really keen on working with felt of late, and have been intrigued by the idea of creating 3D structures with it. I started off by experimenting with some felt beads today, not sure what I'll do with these, they'll either end up as jewellery or in a piece of work. They were great fun to do!

Brooches

2010-09-17T14:59:00.013+01:00

I've been working on some little felt and fabric brooches recently, and have listed a couple of them on Folksy :)

New Blog

2010-01-15T11:56:00.001Z

Welcome to Slightly Triangle's new blog! I'll use this blog to post about projects and inspiration etc.