Textiles and Linocuts

It is my first year Blogversary next week and I will be having a blog giveaway again. I will probably have three winners but I haven't created the prizes yet...ha ha. All will be revealed as they say...next week.

I got my paints out this week and had a dabble with watercolour. This turned out completely differently to how I planned but I like the result. If you have ever wondered what hides beneath tree roots, now you know. It is the "Spirit of Trees". The golden accents are from a wonderful gold leaf pen I bought from the stamping tent at a local craft fair. It cost an arm and a leg but is the best ink resembling gold that I have ever found.

This is a pen and ink drawing called "The Woman Who Planted Trees". I really enjoyed all the detail on this. I may decide to do some more versions with different women and different trees.

This is a closer look. The textured body of the tree is thousands of tiny circles.

This is my second attempt at a linocut. It is the best of quite a few tries. I find the cutting fairly straight forward but the inking up and printing very difficult. I always seem to have too much or too little ink. This is actually carved from one of those soft pink speedball pads which are wonderful to cut through (no cut fingers) but I don't suppose you can get as much detail as with the more rigid lino. Still, I don't think it is too bad for a beginner.

If you like finely detailed and complex images then this one by Georgian artist Nick Japaridze should appeal. His style is incredibly fine and the colours glow like jewels. He has a technique whereby he multi-layers oil paints. He has lots more like this on his website here.

I really like the colours in this contemporary image by Edward Vardanian named "The Eden".

Love this touch of vintage plate design with a folksy feel. This is a Norweigian plate and is from Etsy seller EyeCandi.

Some more delicious spring flowers. These are grape hyacinths.

I popped over to my brother and his partner Lesley's home today to see how the kitties are getting on. There are three of them but they are notoriously difficult to photograph. This is the only picture that came out reasonably. This kitten is cute perfection itself. I love his big feet and spotty belly.

Sheba is a very elegant and superior sort of cat with some awesome claws.

My mind has been turning to linocuts this week. You can see my effort at the top of this post. I had a good old browse on Etsy to see what other people were producing and found some lovely images.

These two images of crows are by artwellspring on Etsy and I absolutely love them. I love black birds anyway but they are so beautifully textured and very simple and graphic. Just what linocuts should be, although these are linocut and woodblock combined. I will just have to keep practising. It is a technique I find very enjoyable but the printing seems to be a bit difficult.

Another nice contemporary linocut over collage image by ciaobirdie on Etsy. I particularly like the palette she has chosen.

If you like black cats you may be tempted by blackcatsonly on Etsy. She has some lovely linocut images of cats and they are reasonably priced too. I love this one especially.

At one time I used to see a lot of Roger la Borde greetings cards around but I haven't seen any for ages until I spotted these two little gems in a local bookshop. If you want to see some more of their designs the website is here.

I found some lovely gift wrap by Caroline Gardner the other day. Her work is so gorgeous. This is Caroline's website here.

The following images are all tapestries and embroideries from some wonderful textile artists.

The following 5 beautiful hand stitched embroideries are by the Finish textile artist Riitta Liisa Haarvisto. These must have taken months to stich by hand but they are so lovely that it was well worth it.

This is Soul Birds by my favourite tapestry weaver Kirsten Glasbrook. You can find Kirsten's site here.

This tapestry called The Norns is by Faroese tapestry weaver Marianna Matras. It depicts the Nordic goddesses of fate who weave the fate of mankind at the foot of Yggdrasil, the world tree. It is a beautiful iconic piece - simple and graphic and is inspired by a painting by William Heinesen. The Norns would make a good subject for a drawing I think.

Beautiful tapestry by Inge Flierl who is a German tapestry weaver. You can see a few more of Inge's tapestries here.

Tapestry by Murray Gibson called Visitation. I love this piece, especially the central motif and the way it fades at the edges. You can find masses of Murray's lovely complex tapestries on his home page here.

Tapestry by Liza Collins. I love her bright, spontaneous, organic pieces.

Easter is with us once more and has brought in some wet and drizzly weather with it. Lovely word, drizzly and exactly describes that irritating, persistent light rain that is "neither nowt nor sumat" as they say up north. Apart from being an important Christian festival, it is also a time for families to do things together and I feel really sorry for all those people who have arranged family days out only to find that the weather is inclement to say the least. Nearly all Easter events take huge amounts of someone's time and effort to arrange and unless they are under cover, they can get ruined at the last minute. Such a shame.

Primavera....A Little Early

Anyone who reads this blog regularly will recognise this from the pen and ink drawing that I originally posted a couple of weeks ago. It has taken forever to colour on the computer but it is finally finished and is quite pleasing. It is called Primavera which is Italian for spring. Lots of leaves this week.

I am very pleased with this image as it turned out better than I had expected. I used my 85 year old mum as a model for the hands holding the apron. It is pen and ink with digital colouring and is called Gathering the windfalls.

I decided to go a bit mad with the hair here but I like it. A very elegant lady indeed.

Can't possibly have a blog post without a tree somewhere

Just a practice drawing of long hair

The following images are of Kirsten Glasbrook's tapestries, a page from her book and the front page of the book. I hope you enjoy looking at them.

It's been a bit of a "pickly" week, this week. Not quite sure why but lots of things seem to have gone awry for some reason. Even simple things that should have been easy had their own particular gremlins. Drawings that should have practically drawn themselves have worked out quiet ways to be awkward and not do what I wanted them to do. Sometimes I think they must have a life of their own.....no, not really but it sometimes feels that way. I often start out drawing something in a sketch book and I have a good idea of what I want it to look like but during the process of making it into a "proper" drawing, something happens and it goes off in a different and unexpected direction. Sometimes these are good and sometimes they are completely wrong and the picture ends up in the bin and I have to start again. I am sure all artists and craftspeople have much the same problems. Something to do with the creative process we are told: whatever that may be.

One incredibly useful tool, of course, is the computer. Oh the hours it saves me. I can create an image and whereas in the past I would ponder over what to do next, nowadays I just have to scan the image into photoshop and fiddle with it to my heart's content. When I have decided, I can go back to the original and know that I am not going to ruin it. Some people would say it takes away the spontaneity but who cares about that, if the end product is the best image possible, and who can spell spontaneity anyway. I can, but only because I have just checked with the computer on answers.com. I was very resistant to computers for many years but once I had one the addiction started. They make life so much easier that I wonder how anyone can manage without one.

Talking of computers, I am very upset to find out that my favourite website "Statcounter" has disappeared into thin air. I love checking my blog stats to see who has been for a visit and even nicer, who keeps returning. I am statless at the moment but hopefully that will soon be sorted out by dint of Google Analytics. Hopefully Statcounter is only having a bit of a glitch and will return soon. Then I will have two websites to check my stats with....hurrah. Oh and thanks to my brother and his partner Lesley for very valuable computer assistance without which I would be in a very deep muddy hole with steep slippery sides.

My featured artist/craftsperson this week is actually someone I have met. She is a Danish tapestry weaver called Kirsten Glasbrook and she creates the most wonderful pictorial tapestries. Her style is contemporary but with a folky twist and a definite hint of myths and legends. I met her when she was exhibiting at the Waterperry Art in Action show near Oxford a few years ago. She had transported a huge upright loom into the marquee and was showing people how she creates her work. I was hooked from then and when she produced her book on tapestry weaving I was probably one of her first customers. Her website is well worth a look - Kirsten Glasbrook. I have included several of her lovely tapestries and if I came into money I would definitely buy one. I cannot weave by the way.