Art Brooches For Galleries

Amongst my larger textile pieces and paintings I have also been working on a new range of landscape brooches for The Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry and also for the Leamington Spa Gallery.
Each one is unique, signed and taken from ideas in my sketch book, individual drawn thread worlds, miniature art works which could also be framed.
They should be available to buy from the galleries by next week.

I'm hoping they will make unusual, original gifts, in time for Christmas!
Thank you so much if you have visited and left a comment, apologises If I have not replied.
My normal blogging should resume shortly.

Immersed In My Work

Hello,                                                            
I have been so immersed in my painting and stitching and getting back to the busy school routine, I have not had chance to visit blogs or write here recently.

Yesterday the Herbert Art Gallery contacted me to say they would like me to have a stand in their shop from this October for my brooches and cards and also to produce a range of cards for them especially for the exhibition.
It's very exciting but I wish I had more time!

There are many pieces I am working on, some which I will keep as a surprise for the exhibition.

Here is another quick drawing from my sketch book.

So for now I am going to plug in my ipod and listen to Chopin while I stitch in a world of my own, ignoring the housework again!

Working For The Exhibition

Another piece finished, smaller this time 28cm by 36cm although when framed it will be of course larger.
Inspired by the trees, near a small village where I live, their beautiful roots exposed and entwined.

I have a very busy a week ahead with school, I am working with the A'level art students which is very exciting for me.
There are lots of new displays to put up and many projects to sort out, not to mention all the stitching I have to do when I get home!
My children also start back and for one of them it will be their GCSE year, how did that come around so quickly?

Bye for now M x

August Stitching

We have had so much rain this August, I can count on one hand the dry sunny days we have had.
It rained here for at least 48 hours non stop this week, so apart from taking the dog out we stayed in, this gave me time to work on my handmade felt, stitching my "August Walk" landscape.
If we get a dry day we hope to go blackberry picking, it looks like a good year which is maybe because of our wet August!

Before I forget I must say thank you to Twiglet for her blog award.

P.S If you click the image you can see the whole picture, I have uploaded the extra large size but it won't fit on the page!

A Sea Of Grass

Stitching, stitching, stitching!!
Thank you to Madeira threads who provided their Lana wool threads which are used in this piece of work.

Festival Of Quilts Day Out

It was my first visit to the Quilt show and I wasn't disappointed as there was so much to see.
Luckily as I had pre ordered tickets my Mum and I got in fairly quickly, but for those who had to buy a ticket there was a very long queue.
I took quite a few hurried photo's, so these are the less blurred pictures.

I hope the artist's will not mind me sharing their beautiful work as I don't have all their names.

This is The Ground Zero quilt by Lois Jarvis, it places the pictures of 621 individuals who perished at the world trade center.You can read more about this artists work here http://www.loisjarvisquilts.com/GZQ/gzq.html

A face in Patch work.

This is a sea of bonnets each one hand embroidered with the name and date of the women who were sent away to Australia from the UK on the convict ships.

In some cases they only committed petty crimes, such as stealing bread.

A demonstration area

There was also lots of tempting stalls, so I did buy a few silk fibers and a book on European Quilts!

After all the excitement of the show it was back to my own work and I completed my "Thread Life" painting.

More Sketches

We had a lovely day yesterday with the children at Ragley Hall which is famous for it's sculpture park.
See HERE.
We chose a perfect day to go, warm and sunny which has been rather lacking this holiday.

I took many photo's of the gardens, sculptures and woodland which is exceptionally beautiful and well worth a visit.
I have continued to sketch between stitching, I'm almost afraid to stop, as I know how much work is ahead of me.
Every opportunity I have, I look for inspiration from nature and landscape.

Here are a few more sketches which I have been working on.
Tomorrow is my Birthday and I am spending it with my family and no doubt we will be out for coffee and cakes!
Thursday I'm visiting The Festival Of Quilts, a birthday treat, so a busy week.