Sea Pictures

At the moment, I am working directly from my sketch book, which is filled with observations  of studies I have made of the Mediterranean sea.
Listening to Elgar's "Sea Pictures" and Debussy's "La Mer" I am transported back to the shoreline, using all my senses I can see and feel the shapes in the music.
I will be working on this piece during Warwickshire Open Studios at the end of June, where I will be exhibiting along side the artist George Wagstaffe.

New Year & New Work

This piece entitled "Snow on Snow" is inspired by the poem In The Bleak Mid Winter by Christina Rossetti.
I made many sketches after a walk in the snow over the fields near us, which then led to a painting.
The work above measuring 45cm x 63cm  has taken hours of stitching and includes many different threads with fibres.

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.

I will be exhibiting this work at The Fashion Embroidery Stitch Show in March as part of my British Romantic Landscape display.
You can find more details about the event here http://www.ichf.co.uk/fashion/

My sketch book is filling up with new ideas and figures which are growing out of my landscapes, you can see more of these here http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaylacoo/

Best Wishes for The New Year!

Michala

Inspired By Compton Verney

                      " Life Of Colour" a page from my sketch book.

Last week I spent several days at the art gallery Compton Verney, one day visiting the excellent Tapestry exhibition and then spending a few hours sketching in the beautiful grounds.
The colours of the tapestries struck me most of all; within the many pieces the threads have such a rich density of colour. There are no reflections from glass or oil paints, I relised why I love creating my work with a range of materials.
I admired the weavers craftsmanship combining different textures, weaves and yarns to recreate the artists original paintings and sketches. Some of these works of art which are on display show how closely the weavers interpret a painted surface.
Then on the Saturday I started teaching a two day art and textile workshop at the Compton Verney learning centre, the local landscape and exhibitions provided a wealth of inspiration.
I had the pleasure of meeting a lovely group of people who were very enthusiastic, due to this I am looking foward to next week to see where our creative journey takes us.

The Tree and The Mountain

The Tree and The Mountain

We returned from our holiday in Italy last week which already seems a distant memory.

As an artist the Italian landscape seemed like heaven.

Our journey took us inland from the coastal town of Albenga, travelling up into the Maritime Alps.

I became fascinated with the mountain's, densely populated with trees, it led to me sketching and photographing them everyday.

It has inspired a whole series of paintings and drawings as I try and capture the intensity of the light, the living breathing mass of vegetation and the sheer dramatic beauty of nature.

The Wistful Landscape

How did August arrive so quickly?

It seems as if the seasons are all mixed up , last week like autumn and now back to summer.

The last few days have been humid, yet there is a distinct Autumn feel to the trees, the leaves already yellowing, many on the ground.

Our Magnolia tree however is in bloom again, perhaps confused by our weather?

Last week I visited The Royal Academy Of Arts Summer Show in London which is on display until the 15th August.

It was a day of discovery and exciting to see the work of many artists shown altogether.

My sketchbook is filling up with many drawings and I have just started another two large textile pieces which I hope to show you soon.

Have a good week.

M x

Sketching Stitches

This week I'm working in my sketch book.

I'm experimenting and developing my composition, looking closely at how I relate to my landscapes, how do they make me feel and how can I become a part of them?

I have finished my last piece for the exhibition which is a great relief and now I have some time to tidy my mass of jumbled threads!

Tears In The Forest

I'm still here amongst my piles of threads, busy stitching my dreams and memories.
Here is a sketch that I'm working on at the moment and this is leading to many other ideas in my sketch book.
I have the half term break this week so it's a good opportunity for me to catch up with my blog reading and to really focus on my work.
There is always so much to do!

Life Study And More Stitches

Last week I returned to life drawing, It's going to take me a while to get back to the discipline of studying the figure, I forgot how much I love it and how I use what I learn, to bring life to my landscapes.

The scene I'm stitching at the moment is draped over my sewing machine, I have started to add heavier stitching with many different types of threads.
My work space is small and cluttered, I don't seem to find the time to sort it out, stitching is more important!!

Drawing

Today we have been in Meldreth, which is near Royston, in Hertfordshire for my Grandma's 90th birthday party.
It was a lovely day for her and all her family from far and wide who came together to celebrate.
On the journey down I took lots of photographs of fields, trees and skies.
Oh dear, too many and I'm filling up the memory on the computer!

Here are a few sketches I have been working on this week, these have been done while out walking.
I think I may try painting the pen sketch to experiment with colours.

I hope your having a lovely weekend.

Working Sketches

On Sunday, a glorious Summer day I went out with my sketch book.

 I sat in the long grass surrounded by the tall, waving meadow sweet and yellow buttercups.
The landscape felt fresh, the new growth vibrant in the strong sunlight.

My aim is to spend a lot of time in my sketch book so I have a good range of work to select and develop from.

Inspired By Landscape

Close up of foreground

Close up of sky

Oil Pastel Sketch

I have managed to list one of my paintings in etsy today for the first time.Here

This painting on paper is a combination of acrylic and oil pastel.

In shades of blue, green and purple.

Looking to the distance, a view from my imagination.

I think I may have to stitch this too, I keep seeing it in thread!

The oil pastel sketch is the magnolia tree in our garden.

It was bitter cold outside, the snow had started to fall as I gazed out the window.

The colours, I think, reflect the freezing temperature.

You will also find other items I have listed on etsy today, post cards and a few small brooches.

The sun today has been very welcome, although according to our weather short lived.

I hope you have a great weekend.x

Stitch News

Today we have had the most awful weather, heavy rain and it's been so dark.

I took our dog out for a walk with my son and we got soaked to the skin!

Just in case you are interested, my work will be featured in The Embroiderers Guild Stitch Magazine.

You can see it herehttp://www.embroiderersguild.com/stitch/currentissue.html

I was asked to make four embroideries which represented the four seasons, you will also see other work and an article on how I create my pieces.

My work will feature in the October/November issue 61.

I'm also excited because they will have my work on display at The Knitting & Stitching Show on the Stitch Magazine stand. I have never had work displayed at a sewing exhibition before.

I do hope I will be able to visit the show at Alexandra Palace in October.

Hope your having better weather than Warwickshire!

Sketches

Happy Easter to anyone who may pop in and visit my blog and a big thank you for your kind comments.

Thank you also for some recent tags, sorry I have been a bit slow on the uptake.

I will try and do them this week as I am on holiday...at home.

We have been visiting family the last few days and I did manage to do some sketching so here they are.

I have used a mixture of paint, oil pastels and soft pastels in these drawings.

The tree drawing is from my imagination and the lavender field is inspired by an old post card with some added trees.

I can completely loose all track of time when I'm painting, my husband thinks I am in a trance like state, almost like I have been hypnotised.

I hope to have some more stitching to show you this week, but now it's back to eating chocolate!

A Landscape Of Stitches

As you can see my sketch book is always used for exploring line, colour, composition and just experimenting and having fun!

It's useful to record all my visual thoughts.

By working the stitches on to the boiled wool I was able to create furrows in the land.

The sketches I use as a guide, I will change aspects and develop pieces as I progress.

I do get frustrated some times, as I just wish I had more time to devote to my art work.

I'm sure I am not alone in this!

I had better get back to my sketching.

Hope your having a good week.

Spring Pictures

Sold

The feel of spring is in the air and the sun is out today.

We had a lovely walk yesterday and we came across these snowdrops.

This gives me the opportunity to share this picture with you from my sketch book of a woodland scene.

I also finished my orange tree picture, I have backed it with fabric and added the vintage ribbon.

Such a beautiful shade of blue.

Of course it could still be framed if you wished.

I hope to add it to etsy to see if there is any interest, if not I will have it for a summer art exhibition.

Lets hope we have some more spring sunshine to lift our spirits.

Drawing,Painting And Stitching.

A busy week, sketching.

Trying out pattern ideas with stitches.

Working from my sketch book.

I wanted to try working on some small pictures.

So I decided to use my colourful sketch of woodland.

This one measures 11.5 cm by 15cm.

I will continue with a few more hand stitches, I'm just going with flow and I'm not sure yet how I will display it.

I have noticed that it's getting slightly lighter in the evenings, at last!

Tree Badges

Hi,

My Mum found these beautiful vintage silk threads and she knew how excited I would be to use them.

They are so fine and the mix of colours and lustre are beautiful.

So the best therapy for me is to keep busy and last night I started these tree badges.

Intense colours shining against the wool.

I also want to try out pattern ideas from this painting in my sketch book.

Shopping list Saturday will be on my usual Sunday.

We are off to take the dog for a nice long walk, the sun is out!

Painting And Some Stitching

I did manage to get to life drawing this week but we had a lady with clothes on!

So this is more of a portrait.

I painted with acrylic and used some oil pastels.

She looked quite a formidable character, a stern staring expression.

I hope she never sees this!

To brighten up the page here is the felt picture I'm working on.

I am now adding some hand stitching, sorry the picture is not brilliant as the light was fading.

I will take some more pictures tomorrow in daylight.

Lastly my friend gave me this pattern from the 1950's.

I love it!

Shades Of Purple

We had a very busy time on Wednesday night at my art society.

It was a great opportunity for us all to try out different ideas using texture in our sketch books.

Here you can see I used coloured tissue paper torn and glued down with acrylic paint, inks and pastel worked over the top.

You can see I left some of the underneath papers showing through.

I will develop this further, hopefully!

You can use anything to build up textures, wallpaper, paper towels, sand, plaster the list is endless.

Everyone produced exciting work and all so different.

Here are some purple brooches, as you know it's a colour that features a lot in my work!

My Mum says my bedroom was purple when I was very young, perhaps it is a sort of comfort to me?

A Few Different Projects

Brooches for gallery

Sketch book

Work inspired by Henry Moore

Hi,

Tomorrow evening I'm going to my Art Society, which I love.

So many lovely friends with so many talents.

I am sort of running a work shop on painting with textures, I say sort of because we just have a fun time trying out different techniques and we all learn from each other.

I also made a few brooches for the gallery.

I had a very rewarding day on Monday helping a fourteen year old girl from Somalia who had suffered a terrible trauma of loosing a family member in an explosion and in which she lost an eye.

She is learning embroidery and I spent time with her, showing her how she can use different stitches.

To see her excitement of learning a new stitch and her enjoyment of playing with the threads and fabrics was wonderful.

Hope you have a good week.