The final fascinating fungi workshop

The third and final Fascinating Fungi took place a fortnight ago - where does the time go?

This time we were looking at how to translate our drawings into stitch. There have been a few artists on the classes and I really wanted to give people a chance to go some drawing and then to stitch into it. This is a bit of a challenge in a polytunnel where you have no guaranteed way to dry the fabric. Luckily it was a lovely warm day so the sun did all the hard work for us.

We started off by using Inktense bars and pencils  by Derwent to do our fungi inspired sketching. If you havent used this product before it is really great. It is basically a solid ink in bar or pencil form and after you get it wet it becomes an ink so once it has dried out it is pretty much permanent on fabric (or paper) with no medium or heat setting etc. Perfect for our work in the Polytunnel. 

 I never fail to be amazed at the colours and shapes of fungi - we used these as our starting point.

my demo of how to use the pencils to fill in a background. that lichen loooks like seaweed

Some lovely abstract work next to a detailed sketch

 All was going well  and it was so warm we moved into the story telling area to get some shade.
It was just before this that I had a biscuit in one hand and an inktense bar in the other. Guess which one I decided to eat?! Yes, I was spitting blue for about ten minutes as I tried to get it out of my teeth etc. I am pretty sure from my work with Derwent that they are perfectly safe to eat but that doesn't make them tasty nor was I taking any chances.  To the others it must have looked quite funny but I was mostly cross with myself at the waste of a bar. I think this is one episode that will go down in Boundary Way history.

 Once the drawings were done we picked one to transfer onto fabric. As always using recycled materials these were second hand (very high quality) cotton sheets.

this piece has such a lovely movement to it

the background has been coloured with very subtle stitching on the actual fungi.

beginning the stitch on this piece.

 As we got into the stitching everyone got quieter and more relaxed. I honestly don't know why it isn't used as therapy in this way. With no pressure and no expectations it is so relaxing to just concentrate on the feel of the cloth and the sound of the needle pulling through the fabric.

 The finished and not quite finished pieces at the end of the day

as we will be displaying them without the hoops we thought a background wold work for this one

a very pretty interpreation of the gills

a second piece that wasn't finished but it is lovely in its own right

Given that I was teaching it was a real treat to be able to do some work myself. The class was small and with a few pointers along the way everyone was very happy to just get on with their pieces so I did some sketches and some sewing in the gaps. I managed 2 quick sketches  as part of demonstrating the materials

 I was really drawn to that "seaweed" looking lichen so thats the one I chose to transfer onto to fabric.  Stitch is a slow medium (not a bad thing as an antidote to a fast paced world) so even with my speed I only managed to get some of the outline done.   I like the way placing the fabric over a bit of wood and rubbing the bars over the top has given a feeling of wood to the background. (since the workshop I have been carrying on with this piece and I hope to have it finished very shortly)

It was a lovely day (bar eating activities not withstanding) and I was really pleased how much everyone else seemed to enjoy it. The resulting pieces are just lovely and I think demonstrate very nicely how inspiring fungi can be.

It has been a great experience to teach at Boundary Way as well as take part in a few workshops there and I am sure I will be there again in the future.

Thanks for reading.

Playing with paint with Art Van Go

 In June I was lucky enough to be able to go to a workshop with Art Van Go called "Reveal and Conceal"looking at building up layers to create an interesting surface. This was all about playing with the materials to see what they would do.

It was great to have a directed "playday" like this. In the past when I have been instructed to "just play with the materials" I start  out with the best of intentions and then quickly lose interest.  In this workshop we were given just enough information/demonstration to get us started and then we went back to our tables to try our for ourselves.

 

The first thing we did was to lay down a piece of imitation gold leaf. This was so BLING even for me that I really couldn't see how it was going to work but once a few layers of paint had been added over the top it was only just peeking through. It probably helped that I got the glueing technique all wrong so mine didn't really stick and then the distressed edges looked much more interesting. I don't think I like this effect enough to want to repeat it but you never know.

Here I have added the metallic paints, followed by a string handmade stamp and then layers of acrylic using a brayer.  I like how the later layers push the stamped images back. I also made a conscious effort to keep all my colours the same for harmony between pieces and to only use my own equipment. Nothing more frustrating than trying to recreate an effect and realising it was someone elses stencil! 

 

I like using the colours on black fabric - you can be, well you have to be much more dymanic with your colour choices to get them to stand out .  I also got a bit carried away with the use of bubblewrap but I loved the effect. Sometime the simple things are the best.  White paint helps the next layer to stand out as well.  

a close up shot

 I have no idea how I made this section - that's frustrating as it is one of the most interesting bits!

We used masking tape to divide up the work so I have saved my to use in something else later.They are fabulously interesting and makes me think about ripping up some of the bits of paper I have into strips for collage work.

I have a whole pile of papers and fabrics - they all co-ordinate and they are just lovely. The challenge now is to decide what to do with them! It may take some time as I still have a pile of papers and fabric waiting to be used from a workshop in Derby last October.

Thanks for reading.
Elise