Rugmaking

 

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I have been attending a 10 week course at a local library developing my rug making skills and as apart of the course we had a demonstration of making a braided rug.  This is one Louise Underwood (Louise Underwood @obsesivcreativ) made, the colours are fab and the material used is cotton.

History of Braided Rugs

“A braided rug was a staple in early, Colonial American culture. Settlers would use scraps of clothing and other excess materials to make a floor covering that would provide warmth and protection for a particular home’s inhabitants and guests.
Braided area rugs can be constructed in a variety of different ways including a banded braid construction, cloth braid construction, flat braid construction and yarn braid construction. Banded braid constructions boast wide bands of either solid colored or variegated braids made from predetermined patterns to offer an appealing, thick look. A cloth braid construction is indicative of a time when outgrown clothing was cut into strips and then hand braided into a floor covering. This particular construction is unique to one manufacturer, Thorndike Mills. A flat braid construction is a common construction as it’s one of the easier and more classic methods. Simply intertwine three ropes of fabric and/or yarn, and you’ll have yourself a braided rug. A yarn braid construction evolves from yarn in its initial state to a uniquely finished area rug.

Braiding is an extremely old yet versatile technique that has been modernised over recent decades to display its appeal and charm”.

Source:
Dr Shari Stoddard Associate Professor, Art, Central Washington University USA – The Making of Braided Rugs

“Mason Dixon Knitting” Paintings by Rogerio Degaki

I like these knitted pictures. I would love to have a go at my own ones but need to work on my knitting colour techniques.

ArtStormer

The first time I heard the term “blogging” it was in reference to my friend Ann Shayne and her dial-up modem era blog, “masondixonknitting.com“.  She is an incredibly talented writer and her efforts have led to several books including an excellent novel, Bowling Avenue(recommended summer reading).

Rogerio Degaki’s PAINTINGS certainly caused me to knit my brow.  Warm and fuzzy as a fair isle sweater they are clever pieces of trompe l’oeil.

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Kaffe Fassett Exhibition at Fashion Textiles Museum, London

I was lucky enough to be able to visit London for a week end and visit this exhibition. I enjoyed the experience very much and took lots of photos.  I especially liked the knitting, the colours and patterns were fabulous and made me want to come home and start knitting like mad!  Unfortunately as I have a few craft projects on the go so the knitting will have to wait.

Below are some pictures I took of the exhibition.

The above were ‘throws’ or bed coverings.  Knitted by hand. Amazing.

This is Kaffe’s touch board.  Apparently it  gives him inspiration when looking for his next design.

Us mere mortals were not allowed to touch it.

Needle point coved a chair.  I love the cat!

Kaffe uses old china/pottery plates for inspiration

 

One of Kaffe’s sketch books

Assignment1finished

Yesterday I handed my assignment in person to Judith Reece, my Tutor.  Because it was so sunny yesterday, myself and my two kids (16 and 20) decided to have a run down to Whitby, which is about 60 miles from Sunderland.  Judith has a studio in Whitby, where we also had some lunch as well as a look round at her work and the work of other artists in the area.

The link for her studio is:-http://www.theartcafe.org/gallery.html

 

For my last assignment sample I used a part of a flower from a William Morris textile print.  I really enjoy the embroidery part of things and look forward to doing more machine embroidery in the future.

 

Pictures from yesterday in Whitby.

 

  

 

So now I am just waiting for feedback, and will start the part of the module this week after  I have done some catching up with other stuff like the ironing and cleaning!

There is a lot of work involved in the course, but I suppose they don’t give degrees away for nothing!  I think I need to be more organised and methodical in carrying out tasks while doing the other required things, like artist research,visits to exhibitions and art galleries and sketching.

Overall an enjoyable start to the course.

 

Examples of work from Project 1 exercises

It is too time consuming for me to upload every piece of work so I am keeping a paper learning journal and just up loading certain items to my blog. 

Pictures from Bowes Museum, County Durham

Some random photos of the exhibitions on show at the museum and in the gardens.  I took them because they appealed to me.

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PAINTING EMBROIDERY BY SABATINA LECCIA

“Sabatina Leccia is an artist/designer based in Paris. She recently graduated from MA Textile Futures at Central Saint Martins School London. One of her passions is embroidery. Her aim is to make a revival of this ancestral technique in the contemporary world. For it, she makes mostly abstract drawings, she uses bright colours or stains that she is going to rework stitch by stitch.

Well worth a look at her site.  She is trying to make embroidery more contemporary and I like the range of colours in her work, the variety of stitches and the use of paint on fabric.

Getting side-tracked!

I feel i have been neglecting the practical work of the course, and instead visiting museums and a couple of exhibtions and also taking loads of photographs.

So in the next few days, before I return to work, I am concentrating on the Excercises in Project 1 (A creative approach).  I am up to Exercise 3 and finding this exercise time consuming but enjoyable.

L. S. Lowry

There was a small exhibition of L.S Lowry paintings and sketches in the Museum too.  Unfortunately, once again I was not allowed to take pictures, so I made a couple of sketches of what was on show.

Lowry is famous for painting scenes of life in the industrial areas of North West England in the mid-20th century.  He never studied at art college full-time, but did attend evening art classes for many years in Manchester.  Lowry had a day job as a rent collector but tried to keep this under wraps as he did not want to become known as a “Sunday Painter”.  He looked after his ill Mother for several years and painted in the evenings when she had gone to bed.

In later years, Lowry spent holidays at the Seaburn Hotel in Sunderland which was then in County Durham, painting scenes of Seaburn beach and nearby ports and coal mines.

“When he had no sketchbook, Lowry drew scenes in pencil or charcoal on the back of envelopes, serviettes and cloakroom tickets and presented them to young people sitting with their families. Such serendipitous pieces are now worth thousands of pounds; a serviette sketch can be seen at the Sunderland Mariott Hotel (formerly the Seaburn Hotel)”.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._S._Lowry
Sketches

I was surprised at how basic Lowry’s sketches were.  However, these are the first well-known artists’ sketches I have looked at.

1.  I made a rough copy of his Bamburgh Castle (1959) sketch, which originally was done in pencil and ballpoint pen on the back of a letter.  Normally, Lowery went onto paint the drawings in oil paints.

2.  The second one I copied was a sketch Lowery did as a ‘self portrait’.  He drew 4 during his life time, showing variations of the theme a ‘pillar shape surrounded by the sea.

Oil Paintings

Lowry composed his paintings in his studio, working from memory, sketches, and imagination. His later paintings had fewer figures in them; some none at all. He also painted some large portrait-like single figures, landscapes, and seascape (painting.about.com).

Lowry is most famous for his paintings of bleak industrial and urban scenes with lots of small figures. With factories and tall chimneys bellowing smoke in the background, and in front of this a pattern of small, thin figures, all busy going somewhere or doing something and being dwarfed by their surroundings.  The smallest of his figures were little more than black silhouettes or various muted basic shapes.  However, when Lowry came to paint larger figures there was more clear detail of their actual clothes although they were always drab.  The skys were typically grey due to smoke pollution or an overcast sky.  Shadows were not depicted in his paintings, or the weather.  However, Lowry did like to include dogs and horses sometimes hidden behind objects.

Lowry worked in oil paint on canvas and did not use any mediums such as linseed oi.  His palette was limited to just five colors: ivory black, prussian blue, vermilion, yellow ocher, and flake white.

In the 1920s, Lowry started applying a layer of flake white before he started painting which came about due to a disagreement with his teacher (Bernard  Taylor), who thought Lowry’s pictures were too dark.  Taylor was proved right as over the years the flake white in the paintings turned creamy grey-white which pleased Lowry.

The flake white also filled in the   the canvas resulting in a rough and textured surface which went well with Lowry’s subject matter.  Lowry was also known for painting over his old canvas with new works and also making marks with objects other than a paint brush, for example sticks, opposite end of his paint brush and nails and even his own fingers.

In the Sunderland Museum there were several oil paintings, probably not as well-known as his others,

• Dockside, Sunderland (1962)
• Half Moon Inn, Sunderland (1963)
• Dewars Lane, Bewick-upon-Tweed (1936)
• Girl in Red Hat on a Promenade, Sunderland (1972)

I made a sketch copy of the ‘Girl’ painting as I was shocked at how basic and child like it was compared to his other paintings of ‘places’.  The figure had no real shape, no neck, strange facial features and straggly hair.  I don’t think this was his best piece by any means…..possibly the portrait/bigger person painting was not his ‘thing’.

Success did not come to Lowry until later in his life, in the 1964 the then PM, Wilson asked Lowry to paint the official No 10 Christmas card and in 1962 he was elected a Royal Academician at Manchester University.

A few months after his death, on 23 February 1976, a retrospective exhibition of his paintings opened at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

(http://painting.about.com/od/famouspainters/ss/famous-painters-lowry.htm)

Summary

I like Lowry’s paintings as they are unusual.  The use of a limited number of colours, not mixing anything in with his oil paints and using different objects to make marks is effective.

As mentioned previously his figures are almost crude like in their portrayal, for example the ‘Girl in Red’ and some of his figures in the ‘Old Chapel’, Newcastle, 1965.  However, it cannot be ignored that in some of his paintings they really give the feel of the time, poverty, bleak heavy industrial towns.

 

The painting below was sold 2011 for £5,641,250 at London auction house Christie’s to an unknown bidder.

The Football Match, a 28ins x 36ins oil painting, was originally bought for just £250 by Cambridgeshire farmer – and future Labour life peer – Harry Walston in 1951.

After his death in 1991, it was sold again at Sotheby’s in London in 1992 for £132,000.

The Football Match

(http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/ls-lowry-painting-the-football-match-861687)

Pictures and notes from my visit to the Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens

http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/sunderland.html

I had a few hours to spare yesterday so I decided to call into my local museum which I have not visited for ages.  It is situated on the edge of Mowbray park in the centre of Sunderland and consists of an art gallery, museum, exhibition space and Winter Gardens.

The Winter Gardens is home to over 2000 exotic plants and trees, a couple of which I took photos of, I went for the bizarre and the pretty!

This is a type of fern, and caught my attention due to the size of it plus the texture on the bottom with the ferns popping out of the top.

The fish are big!  It was very relaxing sitting and watching them.  They was an attractive mix colours of oranges, yellows and blacks.

Not sure what this flower is, there was no museum staff around to ask, but I liked the petals, the mixture of colour and texture and the prominent stamens added a unusual twist to it.

This was my favourite. Apart from looking like something out of Dr Who, I thought it would be great to sketch due to the straight lines, textured bark and its position amongst the green of the tropical plants.

I plan to go back into the Winter Gardens when I have more time as I felt there was lots of interesting sketching opportunities there.

After a quick cup of coffee   into the art gallery part where there is a mixture of oil on canvas paintings by  several 19th century artists, none of which I had heard of.  I was not allowed to take any pictures even though I showed them my student card, and there were no postcards or other information available about the paintings on show, so it was disappointing to come away empty-handed.

Although, none of the paintings where by artists on the OCA study list  I made some  notes on the paintings that caught my eye.

It was a novel experience for me examining in detail the paintings.  I cannot  comment on technique, so I concentrated on looking at the painting itself to see what is was ‘saying to me’.

The first picture was called the Bolton Court in Olden Times (circa 1834) by Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873).

My Musings

The picture depicted two ladies discussing what looked like the products of a hunt.  Looking at the costumes worn it could be King Charles I and II  period – around the 1600s. There are plenty of animals in the scene, the two dead stags, the hunting dogs and the two hooded hawks.  The women are obviously discussing the kill, next to a gentleman who I would presume is the huntsmen,  and there is a young boy kneeling offering a knife to the women.  Not sure what this signifies.

The Experts Views However,  after doing some online research I found the following:-

(http://www.bridgemanart.com/asset/429312/Landseer-Sir-Edwin-1802-73/Bolton-Court-in-Olden-Times-oil-on-canvas)

“One of this country’s most successful nineteenth century painters, Landseer is best known for his skill in portraying animals – based on detailed anatomical study and a deep understanding of their habits and character. The subject of this painting is set in the early sixteenth century, and shows some family ritual: a lady of the household is being presented with a knife after the return of a hunting party whose ‘bag’ is displayed before her. the painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1838”

The Victorian public were delighted by his work, and he was popular with Queen Victoria and did portraits of her pet dogs as well as later, portraits of her children, always with a dog though.

However, later he fell out of fashion as the public grew tired of his tendancyto” humanize his subjects to tell a sentimental story or point a moral”.

Landeer also painted portraits and historical scenes.  He later was commissioned to make 4 bronze lions for the base of Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar  Square, London.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/edwin-henry-land

 

The second painting I looked at was ‘The Sick Boy’ by  Joseph Clark (1834 – 1926) , Painted around 1857.

My Musings

The painting depicts an ill child, surrounded by his family, or his mother, sister and a doctor.  The characters ‘ooze’ anxiety, even the little girl by the fire place gives a feeling of concern to the viewer.  Childhood illnesses were common in Victorian times as there were no immunizations or antibiotics.  Therefore any childhood illness must have sparked fear for their parents. The boy’s flushed cheeks depicts his illness as does the general feeling of his malaise.

I liked the details in the painting, the cat rubbing up against the man’s leg, the dog on the hearth rug and the ornaments on the mantle piece.

The Experts Opinions

“The mother in this scene looks anxiously at the man on the left, who is perhaps the sick boy’s father or the doctor. In Victorian times, even ordinary illnesses could result in death. The room is fairly comfortable, but indicates that the family is not well off. This picture is a fine example of the scenes of everyday life painted by the London artist Joseph Clark. His pictures often featured children”.

http://www.bridgemanart.com/asset/429382/Clark-Joseph-1834-1926/The-Sick-Boy-c.1857-oil-on-canvas

Joseph Clark specialised in depicting domestic genre subjects of a ” tender nature which generally featured children and he also painted a small number of biblical subjects.

“Many Victorian painters sought to demonstrate their social conscience through emphasising in their paintings the importance of family life and Joseph Clark was no exception. Whilst avoiding the overly sentimental style of some of his contemporaries, he frequently chose subjects which sought to remind people of their good fortune in having a caring family at a time when many children grew up as orphans in workhouses”.

Joseph Clark enjoyed considerable success with his paintings and in 1876 he was awarded a medal in Philadelphia for his paintings ‘The Sick Child’ and ‘The Nest’.

http://www.burlington.co.uk/artist-biography/joseph-clark.html

 

Third Painting – Roker Beach (1865) by William Crosby (1830 – 1910)

 

My Musings

This painter was one of the leading artists in Sunderland.  I had to include this as Roker Beach has played an important part of my childhood, and many a happy time was spent at Roker, although it has changed greatly since the 1800s.

It was difficult to find any other information about the painting and the painter.  This image does not do it justice, the sand (nearest the viewer) was painted in a very realistic  way and appears very textured when viewing the real painting.  While the use of the green ‘mossy’ stones work well and some of these stones are still present today (when the tides goes out).  It also includes a family next to the cliffs, so like the other two  Victorian paintings I have discussed above once again it shows how important family life was to the Victorians.

I personally find it a calming picture of a local coastal scene.

After a little research I did find this little snippet of a description from the following website:  http://www.imagine.org.uk/details/index.php?id=TWCMS:P740

“Roker Beach

Oil on canvas
width: 104.5 cm, height: 60.0 cm

A family group is sitting by the cliffs on a sunny day at Roker Beach, Sunderland. The view looks south towards the mouth of the River Wear and the piers. The tide is out, leaving a wide expanse of sand. This attractive image is one of many coastal views painted by the leading Sunderland artist William Crosby”.

 

I enjoyed my time at the art gallery and will return to explore when I have more time.