Month: September 2024

Categories
art

Bath Open Art Prize Exhibition 2024

My work Requiem for Oil has been selected for the Bath Open Art Prize Exhibition 2024. There are other pics of work in progress earlier in this blog.

Prize winners will be announced by judges Leonie Bradley and Karen Wallis on Friday 11th October, wish me luck!

The exhibition runs:

10th to 26th October

open 11am-5pm daily

at 44AD artspace, Bath BA1 1NN (this gallery is in the centre of Bath)

bathopenartprize.co.uk

fringeartsbath.co.uk

#BOAP2024

Thank you to organisers Fringe Arts Bath @fringeartsbath and the prize’s supporters for this opportunity: @Wessex_Area @thebellinnbath @studio44ad @minervaartshop

Poster artwork: Andrew Jenner, Sunday in the Park with George @the_dolliverer

Categories
art textiles

Hare Masks

I’m waiting for the post to bring some 18g (1mm) aluminium wire to make the supporting frame for these masks, the embellished fabric in this first pic is a bit heavier than usual (lower pic) and so needs a slightly stiffer wire.

Once the fabric versions are complete, maybe five or six, I’m going to start on some leather ones, with a somewhat different set of tools although the sewing machine will still play a part.

Hare Mask 2, mostly finished

Mostly finished and mostly a trial for the shaping and finishing.

Categories
art

Textile experiments

The pleasure of textiles might be related to the fact we are literally surrounded by them from birth, almost instantly wrapped even before being presented to our mothers. A huge part of human endeavour is to clothe ourselves, keep us warm with bedding, cosseted with cushions. Decorative fabrics and upholstery play large parts in our lives and we expend a goodly portion of our income on all these things.

It’s thought that humans have been using clothing (skins) for at least 500,000 years but when we began decorating those clothes is not yet known. Decorative fabrics were used by ancient civilisations although examples are vanishingly rare, unlike clay pots they mostly cannot usually survive time.

The infinite possibilities of textile art offer a tempting panorama but in order to achieve anything it is necessary to restrict oneself to just a tiny fraction of that view, I think. I posted a little about making this piece last November and I haven’t found a use for it yet but I’m sure it will get used.

Pools, 26 x 21cm, mixed textiles embellished and stitched, 2024

Making this I was inspired by Sarah Ross-Thompson, printmaker of renown and the photographs she often posts on Facebook.

Collagraph print by Sarah Ross-Thompson
Categories
art

Rhythm

“Rhythm in art is the visual or auditory pattern created by repeated shapes, elements, colors, sounds, and movements. It is used to create a sense of flow and connection within a work of art, as well as draw attention to certain areas of the composition. Rhythm can be achieved through repetition and variation, contrast, gradation and echo.” Studiobinder

Studiobinder – a video software house – blog has some useful definitions and practical examples of the creation and use of rhythm in video and they apply to plastic art (and other artistic ideas), most of the examples shown are painting but the same ideas apply everywhere.

In my own work I’m aware of rhythm in the flow of the stitch lines, the juxtaposition of colour and the textural depth, I use these as well as cut-away, embellish, embroider and ink. Mostly an intuitive process, based on the sketch and scrapbook but with larger pieces some planning and sketching is essential.

Work in progress

Categories
art

City

Working on fabric I usually have several pieces on the go, large and small. The smaller pieces sometimes get joined or incorporated into larger work.

This is an example of a series I called City, there are some larger and some smaller, framed and unframed.

City – one of a series – 25 x 25 cm, mixed textiles embellished and stitched

Part of an on-going study of colour.