Tag: art

art

Oil quilt squares

Each square is a little more than 20 x 20cm and there are more than 70 to make up four quilt panels. Quite a few have been made two or more times and as they are mono-printed and/or stamped as well as inkjet printed, sometimes drawn on, each one is a unique piece. They are also quilted and stitched, sometimes embroidered and that is also unique to each one. I’m not making a second quilt (yet) just want some squares for display and sale.

These are low-res scans, hopefully the originals look better. All work in progress, more printing and stitching isn’t ruled out. And borders have to be added.

I’ve used a free font (non-commercial) all through this work, called Action of the Time New™ by Galdino Otten, although in most places it won’t be recognisable as I have distorted the text, over-drawn, over-stitched and over-printed almost everywhere. It’s a great font family.

Tags art, bombs, Bristol, craft, dye, embellish, embroider, guns, inkjet, machine stitch, nodding donkey, Oil, print, quilt, stamp, stencil, stitch

art

OIL quilt, work in progress

Post author By Chris Miller
Post date September 12, 2023
No Comments on OIL quilt, work in progress

This fabric work which I last posted about in June is based on the OIL poem I wrote in 2010 at the height of the USA ‘surge’ in Iraq, the poem in artist’s book form is here.

Although the bulk of the work is done there is still plenty to do and my progress through the summer has been slow – I have to wait for ideas and they don’t seem to come as often as they once did.

OIL quilt panel, one of four, work in progress

The imagery is ‘busy’ with lots going on, but I feel it could be busier still, and darker, more painterly. I’m still thinking about the border(s), those will take almost as much time as the panels and like all framing they will have a big impact on the final piece.

Linda and Laura Kemshall are well known artist quilters of the highest standard, their book, The Painted Quilt (2007) is one I refer to frequently, especially for printing advice and although my style and content is far from theirs I aspire to the standards they achieve.

I’ve also found their sketchbook ideas inspirational and highly practical, design is at the heart of what they do. My own sketches, scans, screen grabs, pics and notes tend to build into massive files on my Mac and eventually deleted but some get saved on paper or cloth.

art

Hare

Summer 2022 I stayed on a willow farm in Somerset and bought withies and other fibres with a view to doing some sculpture. My previous experience with this material is that the whole project can quickly grow beyond first ideas and this happened again. I expected a smaller and much simpler mask but when the basic structure was made it seemed to demand more intricacy and detail.

I worked on it off – one of several projects – and on through last Autumn and into Spring this year and this is the result. The hare is supposed to be outside in my little garden but I haven’t got round to that, it needs a little shelter from the elements. Part of my reason for making this was to amuse my grandchildren and encourage them in artistic endeavours.

Hare, 2023, Withies, grasses and other natural fibres and found objects, 220cm x 90cm Chris Miller

Tags art, bamboo, banana, children, copper, craft, glass beads, hare, hemp, jute, mask, sculpture, silk, string, willow, withies, wool

art

Little Owl

Another wire frame and tissue owl. Waterproofed with outdoor varnish.

Tags art, craft, design, Little Owl, model, owl, sculpture, tissue, wire frame

art

Barn Owl

A simple frame of florist’s wire – galvanised is best – covered with wet strength tissue, using pva, could use starch paste but then not at all waterproof. This owl is hanging in my cherry tree and hopefully deterring cats from my little garden.

Tags art, barn owl, Bristol, construction, craft, model, owl, sculpture, tissue paper, wire frame

textiles

Animal Masquerade quilt

Still sorting out work from a year or two ago, this quilt was made in 2018, there was also an artist’s book using similar mask images. The animals are all British Isles native apart from the grey squirrel, although that has been here for quite some time now. I haven’t done much work for the last two months and sorting out old pieces, repairing or completing them feels like a way back in to making some art. These are sketches of some of the mask images, drawn on a tablet, or drawn on paper and scanned and manipulated in Affinity Photo. The bamboo silk fabric was digitally printed and I also screen printed some tiles but the results were messy.

Many people have reported how the early part of the Covid crisis was a period of stimulus and creativity, I felt that but in the second UK lockdown I felt quite depressed, especially with our government incompetence and found work difficult. I did start work on a fairly large piece – another art quilt – but progress was slow and I have put it aside for a while.

Animal Masquerade, quilted bamboo silk, 120 x 90 cm, 2018

The next and final step is to make a border, this will need to be a dark material and quite wide I think. The quilt was to be a practical piece for a child’s bed but didn’t get finished and so wasn’t used that way. I try to use organic fabrics, usually from the Organic Fabric Co. in Wales but this isn’t always possible; I like bamboo because it is grown without herbicides or pesticides and is really versatile, takes dye and print beautifully and is widely available. The quilting (wadding) is also bamboo.

Here are some details.

Tags Animal Masquerade, art, bamboo, Bristol, British wildlife, craft, digital print, drawing, mask, quilt, textile print, textiles

textiles

Meltdown

I am having a clear up and out, and I came across these small pieces from a few years back when I was pursuing an MA in Multidisciplinary Printmaking at Bower Ashton in Bristol. I made them with the Fukushima fiasco in mind, knowing that would be a topical issue all my remaining life and beyond. Fukushima is in the news again as the authorities want to release a million tons of radioactive water into the sea, Uproar Over Japan’s Decision to Disperse Radioactive Fukushima Waste Water and the situation at the site remains dire. I made about ten, gave some away.

I’m thinking of re-framing them perhaps as a single piece, but undecided about the type of frame, a black painted board? These scanned images are fuzzy, the originals have a lot more detail.

Meltdown, 1,2,3,4, approx A4, mixed textiles and embroidery

Tags art, embroidery, fabric art, Fukushima, machine embroider, meltdown, textiles

textiles

Afghan Boy print

This little fabric print was made with a simple stencil, I made lots but didn’t use them. Came across it this morning and thought I would add a border. The impression of a face was entirely accidental.

Afghan Boy, fabric print, 19 x 8 cm, 2018

Tags Afghanistan, art, craft, drawing, fabric print, print, printmaking, textile print

quilt

Fabric art

I don’t make many art pieces but I was sorting through my fabric and came across this forgotten piece of work that I had put aside for some reason, possibly a left-over from a double-sided cape of some years back. It was patchwork blues, slightly embellished and overstitched, looked quite attractive so I thought why not quilt it.

I found a length of black cotton just the right size, then a layer of wadding and finally some thin cotton from a sheet. There is a lot of silver thread used in the embroidery and the quilting but it doesn’t show in this pic.

I’m using a free motion embroidery foot to quilt circles and flower patterns, takes practice but gives me a distinctive style.