Faces In The Landscape

I'm not at all up to date with my blog compared to my face book and flickr pages which is why I have uploaded these images as a mosaic.
I have been using many different methods of recording and documenting ideas, these quick sketches, apart from one, have been on my ipad ( a wonderful Xmas present).
The figures have come about quite naturally, each one emotionally linked to the landscape.

When I was a child I lived in a small Warwickshire village surrounded by woods and fields.
I spent many hours playing in these surroundings, making dens, climbing trees and playing with all nature had to offer.
Not far from the local church, where I played, was a beautiful country track which was free from traffic as it led to open fields.
I will never forget the day when all the mature Elm trees which lined that hedgerow had been cut down, each one lying side by side in full leaf.
At first my friends and I played amongst those fallen branches, excited by the natural climbing frame, unaware of the impact to our local landscape.
A few days latter we returned to find no trees,  I remember to this day the devastation I felt at seeing the tree stumps.
 My vivid memories of this this time form the philosophy of the my art work, my feelings are linked to my landscape.
I will update my blog again very soon as I have more stitch work to share with you ( you can find more recent images on my face book page).
Bye for now.
Michala

Wishing You A Merry Christmas

Our Snow arrived on Wednesday and within about an hour we had about 20cm of snow!
Unfortunately our boiler decided to pack up at the same time!!
I rushed out or shall I say trudged out, in all the snow, to get a couple of heaters and several hot water bottles.
It seems a lot of boilers have suffered in this cold spell and the earliest date we could get someone to look at it was the 29th of December.
So the last few days we have been wearing hats, coats and scarfs indoors with hot water bottles stuffed up our jumpers!
Then yesterday my husband continued to try and fix it and miraculously it worked, although we are not sure for how long.
I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and New Year without travel disruptions or boilers breaking down.
M x

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.

Fabric Art

A new brooch or small picture I made today.
It's made entirely from recycled fabrics an old blanket, wool coat, vintage fabrics and threads.
I am obsessed at turning discarded textiles into, I hope, something beautiful.
Trouble is I'm living amongst piles of fabrics!

Trees And Lace

Hello,

Just back from a few days in France and then we will be off again to Cornwall.

The weather was glorious and I have many sketches to share with you soon.

I found this fine vintage lace in a market, which I have now added to my tree embroidery.

I will not have access to a computer while we are away so do forgive me for not keeping up with my blog list.

I hope to catch up soon!

Bye for now.M x

Surreal Embroidery

Here are some more colourful trees I have been working on for the exhibition.

I have been dip dying various wool pieces, I'm always excited at seeing the variety of colours I can get by using just a few colours.

I have worked in some lovely old silk threads on these little trees.

On Monday I will be in Stratford to help get the exhibition ready, it starts on Tuesday 9th of June.

How quickly that date has come around!

I'm just a touch nervous, hoping it will be enjoyed.

I must say thank you to Annabel Rainbow because without her I would not have been able to take part and she will be manning it with her friend and fellow artist Annabel Shirt.

I won't be there until the Saturday and the Sunday.

I promise to take lots of pictures.

I Wish I Could Fly

I have had quite a busy few days, stitching these little trees.

Also I have visited the Edward Burne-Jones exhibition at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Edward Burne-Jones-Perseus Series

The museum has, in addition, many Pre-Raphaelite paintings.

The stories behind the paintings are fascinating, you can read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Raphaelite_Brotherhood

Inspired by my visit, I have started on my own winged creature.

Hope to bring you more soon, have a great weekend.

Exciting News

Hello,

I wanted to let you know that my embroidery work is going to be published in an American Magazine called Sew Somerset, you can find details here http://www.stampington.com/html/sew_somerset_summer09.html you will see my work at the bottom of the page.

I can't believe my art work and words are in print!

There Is Magic In Trees

Hello,

I found out yesterday that my children's school Easter holidays do not co inside with the school I work at!

I don't know why I hadn't picked up on it, head in the clouds as usual!

They break up a week earlier than me, luckily I'm part time so we can work round it, also my husband is still looking for work so at least he can be around too.

You do have to look at the positives!

I have been working on these brooches and a significant commission which I can't share with you yet, but hope to in the not too distant future.

I have used black as the back ground for the pink and orange tree, it was originally a woollen jumper.

The vintage machine embroidery threads are made by Schurer , the colours are so vibrant, I can't wait to try them out.

I do hope you're having a good week, we have had sunshine and showers today.

Looking out the window, our Magnolia tree is just coming into bud, a few more days of sunshine and those tulip like flowers will be open.

I will be waiting with my sketch book...

Tree Pattern Brooches

I love playing with pattern and yesterday I made these tree brooches.

I still have to finish the backs so a bit more sewing to go.

Looking out the window it seems to be a good day to stay in , we have dark clouds, high winds and rain.

I was going to try and get some gardening done, never mind it looks like I may just have to stitch instead!

A Walk In The Snow And Time To Stitch

Step Into The Olive Grove

Trees In Snow

Kenilworth Casle In the Snow

Views On Our Walk

Today we had no school and no work.

We awoke to heavy snow and the children were so excited.

So here are some pictures of our walk around Kenilworth Castle.

I took lots of pictures and I'm sure I will use quite a few as ideas for my sketch book.

I was excited because I could spend some time on my sewing.

For this piece of work I went back to my sketch book, drawings of an olive grove from our holiday.

Quite a contrast to our white landscape.

Hope your having a good week and keeping warm.

Flower Tree

I wish you could see the raspberry pink silk I have used here , the light is so poor that the colour looks flat.

I will take another picture when the sunshine's.

Again I have been playing with patterns and the need to use french knots!

That's what led to the little blossoms on my tree.

I want you to step into my colourful landscape.

Tree Patterns

Sold

I have been trying to blog all day but my daughter had lots of homework, mainly research for different projects and was glued to the computer.

I did squeeze in just to upload on to flickr!

I decided to embellish on to this vintage linen cloth, it's worked quite well, although I have used quite a lot of machine embroidery over the silk to stop the edges fraying up.

The next stage is to add the hand stitching.

I have also finished the brooch above, based on the patterns that I see in the trees.

We bought lots of the energy saving light bulbs this week, they had them on offer in Sainsburys.

You could buy one for 99p or five for 50p !

They should last a lot longer than a normal bulb, allegedly ten years.

I now have to get used to the light, they do take a few minutes to warm up and it is a softer kind of light.

I may do my shopping list Saturday later, providing I can get to the computer.

I can see, that we may need to have a rota soon!

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 Trees

Sold

I thought you may be interested in some of my tree paintings.

You can view my paintings on flickr, but not everyone uses flickr and some blog friends may not have seen them.

It helps to look back at past work to see how you develope your ideas.

I do so want my embroidery to come 'alive'

Hope the start of your week has been a good one.

Inspired By Christmas

Angel Worked In Split Stitch

Working On Frost Tree

Tree By Moonlight

Hi,

I hope your Christmas preparations are going well.

Luckily we are almost done, presents wrapped, house decorated and food cupboards stocked up.

My daughter will do some Christmas baking tomorrow and I, frantic cleaning!

I am inspired by the magic of Christmas, so here are some pictures I have been working on.

While working on these trees, I was reminded of a programme I watched as a child called the Singing Ringing Tree, a magic tree in a fairy story.

How I loved this programme and now with the internet, I can find all these images from the programme which I watched in the 1970's.

Funny how memories are triggered and all of a sudden I have gone back in time.

I wish any one who reads my blog a very Merry Christmas.

Threads

I have been sorting out my work table today.

Since I had my embellisher machine, which was a surprise Christmas present last year from my husband, I can never seem to throw out any scraps of thread or fabric away.

I think I may have some kind of obsessed thread fetish!

I'm sure I may have said that before...sorry.

Even when I'm at school I check the bins after the textile classes to save thread.

You can imagine what the children quite happily chuck in the bin and I'm the one who is fishing it all out again!

I keep a lot of old trimmings and threads in my Marshall & Snelgrove vintage box.I believe this was an old department store in London's Oxford Street which closed in the 1960's.

Threads are exciting because they can become anything I want them to be, is that my fascination?

Even the smallest amount can transform from a twisted scrap to an image from my dreams .Here are some more threads that have become trees.

Christmas Trees

Such a busy week but we did manage to put the Christmas tree up.

The little felt angels and choir boy I made when my daughter was small.

Out they come every year, a reminder of the time I spent at home before the children started school.

Yesterday evening I was at the Warwick Art Centre to watch sing along Mamma Mia, the film with subtitles for all the songs.

A group of us went and we decided to dress up !

My friend said that every one dresses up for sing along, so I made a real effort, rummaged through the dressing up box, and wore a sequined crochet skull cap, sequin top, flares with butterflies printed all over them and makeup seventies style, you know, lots of blue eyeshadow.

I didn't manage the silver boots though.

When we arrived at the cinema we were the only ones dressed up!

We did have a great time, lots of laughter, singing and dancing which is what we all needed, a real tonic when the days have been dark and cold.

To add to the Christmas cheer I have made a Christmas brooch.

Hope all your Christmas preparations are going well.

A Magical Forest

I had a brilliant time in London and I will share more with you soon but today has been a sorting out today, catching up with the jobs I left behind.
My head has been buzzing with all the wonderful art I viewed.
So all I can manage today is a mosaic of some of my trees, it has been quite useful for me to see my different colour combinations.
A very busy week a head as I'm sure most of us have at this time of year!

I really must start writing my Christmas cards.

Have a good week ! x

More Creative Mess

Tree Brooche sold

I think I may need to sort this out today!

When I am in my creative world I cause havoc around me!

If you love threads as much as I do you will love this picture or you may despair at my unorganized mess.

I am sure if I kept going you would find me buried under the pile of silk tops, wool, threads and more threads, not to mention paints, pastels and books!

The trouble is do I have time to tidy when I am in full flow ? ... no, yet now I must pause so I don't waste time finding that exact colour of thread I need, although I quite enjoy that.

I am in such disarray that I still need to do my Shopping List Saturday , I hope to bring you that later but I really must sort myself out.