cushion detail

this is a little detail of how my cushions are coming along, all the covers are sewn, I really only need to tidy up the stray cottons and finish the inserts. This is an idea of how the colours look together. There is also a grey one which completes the 5 colours.

procrastinating

I should be writing my studio report and NOT blogging and posting pointless photos of my dog!! She does, however, look as bored as I feel. Would much rather be outside chasing a ball with her than being couped up in front of my computer. At least the weather is awful which makes it slightly less tempting to be out there.

fergus

I have never been one of those lucky people that win things, but when something comes along that is both vintage orange AND a brooch, it just couldn't have gone to a better home!! I was the very lucky winner of this orange owl brooch by Betty Jo. Liz Jones of Betty Jo creates one off jewellery pieces made from recycled vintage lino, pre loved buttons and all quirky ribbons. I was lucky enough to have been given one of her brooches for my 30th birthday earlier this year and to now have two...WOW. You can check out more of her creations here at her inspiring and colourful blog, Lino Forest.

Gorgeous packaging!! I love parcels :)

Fergus and friends

studio report

Things may be a little quiet on the blog front over the next week. Am recovering from an intense two day cushion sewing fest where I managed to get all my 15 covers pieced and sewn together ready for assessment. Am really happy with how they turned out :)

My goal for the coming week is to lock myself in a library cubical and make a solid attempt at finishing my final studio report draft. This stack of books is a good start!!

cushion pieces

I spent the entire day today printing pieces of fabric for my cushions. I will be exhibiting 15 cushions in 5 stacks of three in groups of colour. The colours that I have settled on are grey, yellow, pink orange and blue. Today I printed and heat pressed (my least favourite part of the printing process) my orange, blue and pink pieces. Hopefully they will be all finished by the end of next week. Then there is still my chairs left to print and upholster, my collage series, my lengths, my ceramics..oh, and a 5000 word report to finish too :( all to be done in 6 weeks. Yikes!!!

white on natural

Oh dear, I would have to fall in love with this colour combination at this stage of my project. Just can't seem to justify the cost of linen at the moment and have already settled on my finished work ideas. Ah well, can always piece these samples into my cushions and day dream of massive linen lengths later when I'm no longer a poor uni student!

printing , cutting and arranging

Yikes - this is a time consuming project!!
Am hand screen printing and sewing 15 floor cushions for my exhibition. The largest size is 85 x 85cm to the smallest which is 45 x 45cm. Have only printed and cut 6 so far and that took ALL day. And this is only one of 6 body's of work all due in November. Argghh

colour, colour, colour

Today was all about mixing lots and lots of colour!
Earlier this semester I did a four day colour workshop with Merv Moriarty which gave me a greater understanding of practical colour mixing, colour matching and the relationship of colour. Towards the end of the workshop Merv gave a quick demonstration on Illustrator on how to lock a chosen set of colours into a colour wheel and spin them around to see the different variations of colours within the same tonal range and hue.
I sat in an Illustrator class with the second year students who were practicing this method and creating digital colour swatches and got a quick lesson in how to do this with the five colours that I have been using. The result from this was a great excuse to perhaps introduce some pink into my work! I mean, who doesn't love a bit of pink pared with grey? May sound pretty awful if pink isn't your thing but below you can see how it seems to blend nicely with my other colours.
I am usually quite meticulous at keeping a record of my recipes but unfortunately I was in a bit of an experimental mood today and the up side of this is the most beautiful navy blue that I have ever mixed and the down side is that I'm not entirely sure how I quite got it. Ah, well..it's still lovely all the same.

wednesday inspiration

It is just by coincidence that  the artists I chose to post today are both Queensland based artists. There must be something in the water there because both these artists work are just amazing and use the ideas of collecting in such an inspiring way.

Donna Marcus is a collector of vintage kitchenware and aluminium tins and arranges them in to these gorgeous patterned compositions and sculptures. The original purpose and familiarity of the object seems to be lost in the beauty of the arrangement.

Donna also has breath taking collections and sculptures of jelly moulds which I will find a picture of and post.

Victoria Reichelt is a painter who's inspiration comes from collections of ordinary object. The process of collecting, arranging and photographing the objects, she says, is as important as the painting itself.

Of course the suitcases caught my particular attention. If you didn't already know, I am quite obsessed with vintage suitcases. You can view my collection here.

hint of colour

For my final exhibition I am planning on having some lengths of fabric on one of the walls to show my patterns on a larger scale and as an over all design. To relate this back to my ideas about the notions of collecting, I am planning on using the repeat pattern as opposed to my randomly placed designs as it is the patterns created when grouping and the repetition of form and colour that I find interesting in collections of objects and am hoping to emphasize this in my work.

As each length will be the same repeat, I want to add an individual touch to each one to highlight the the unique qualities of an individual object in a set. Today I was experimenting with the same repeat and different hints of colour to try and get different effects.

I am still trying to get my head around the theory and conceptual side of my project which is why some of the above may not have made any sense. At least the patterns may be pretty to look at.. I do hope so!!

yellow and grey

Just can't seem to get enough of this combination at the moment, especially mustard and citrusy yellows and chartreuse..mmmm, yummy!

These are some simple, layered patterns that I was playing around with yesterday that I am hoping to use in sections of my cushions and perhaps the upholstery of my chairs. Still playing around with ideas and hoping to make final decisions for my finished works, although all this sampling is just making the decision process too hard with too many different patterns to choose from!!

grey on natural linen

Today I was experimenting with different types of fabric that I am hoping to use for a range of cushions for my assessment. It was a nice change to print onto a more earthy fabric as opposed to the white cotton I have been using.

tea cups and clutch

Things are finally coming together and it's nice being able to put things together and see how they work as a range. Am beginning to think about display possibilities leading up to assessment and the final exhibition.

before and after

Yay!!!! My transfers finally arrived the other day. Yesterday was very exciting playing around with all the different colour and composition possibilities. I managed to also get a few in the kiln overnight to see how the the colours fire and they are amazing. Am really happy with how this series is coming along. 

creative space

This is my desk at uni and where I have surrounded myself with my collection and colour inspiration.