Scaled Up!

I've now gone life size....

Currently working on figure number two of three...

Final reveal will be on Monday!

Yesterday Net...

and today, lace...

all it took was some encouraging blog comments, some persistant sampling and suddenly my mojo is back. As Julie said... I'm firing on all cylinders. Thank you!

It's Been a Struggle

Despite my attempts to stay positive is has not been easy over the past couple of weeks. News from Middlesex University isn't great. Those students who are due to graduate in 2012 will be supported for the coming year (although this is still subject to various arrangements). The rest of us will be supported through our current module until the end of July, after which... we're on our own! We will have credits which we can use to transfer to another course or we can cut our losses and walk away.

The only distance learning option in Textiles is with the Open College of the Arts. I have looked at this in some detail but for various reasons it is not what I want. The other option is to find a local University with a course I could transfer to - which is what I am currently investigating although sometimes it feels easier to walk away.

But, I'm not one to take the easy option (well, not just yet anyway) so I am intending to complete my current module so at least I have the option of taking my 240 credits elsewhere. For my Personal Specialism site specific work there has been text on tulle ribbons...

I've also worked more on the portraits of people using mobile phones... looking at ways I might emphasise the figures if I were to make them life size... from scribbled sketches...

to free machine embroidery.

Which made me think of the wonderful work of Rosie James and gave me the idea...

of appliqued net under my stitched figure to make her stand out.

which finally feels as though it is getting somewhere.

Especially when I layer it with the ribbons.

It still feels like a struggle, but I'm taking it one step at a time.

The End of an Era

I'm feeling a little lost, in shock, confused. Last night, along with all my fellow students, I received the news that the Julia Caprara School of Textile Arts ceased trading as of yesterday. My degree course no longer exists.

For the past four years this has been a major part of my life - everything has revolved around degree work. It was the result of a lifelong ambition to take an arts degree and I have loved every minute.

There have been times it has been so all consuming that I've felt as though I've wanted to give it all up, but that feeling never lasted long. I have learned so much and been stretched in directions I never thought possible. I've discovered new artists and new ways of working. It has taken my work places I never imagined. It has enriched my life.

I was looking forward to starting my dissertation in September and excited that in less than two years I would be having a degree show in a London gallery. And now I feel that has all been taken away.

Middlesex university has an obligation to provide a suitable alternative to all its students yet it remains to be seen whether this will be a viable option - it is unlikely to be distance learning which I have found to be best for fitting around my work and family commiments and I would imagine the cost will go up too.

I know the time and money invested so far have not been wasted - I have already gained so much - but it feels incomplete. I have already decided to continue with some of the work I have started for my current module, but without the tutition, while I see what the future will hold. Somehow and somewhere I know I want to finish this degree.

But I do feel numb, lost without direction. I'm trying to embrace the change and take the chance of some time to focus on other things - the numerous half finished projects, my garden, open studios... even myself. I have been tired for four years!

Even this blog was started as a way for me to record my progress through the degree... I never really saw it lasting more than the six years of the course... but I don't think I'm ready to abandon it just yet. Guess the tagline on my header will have to be changed.

The photographs are a random selection of things I've done over the past four years - just a tiny selection because I have done so much. (One job to do is sort out all the photographs!)

Some are just samples or works in progress others are finished projects.

I guess none of us knows what the future may hold.

I would like to to finish by thanking Winy and Willem Smit and Sandra Flower, who when the original school Opus closed a little over two years ago, stepped in and founded the new school, investing heavily of their time and own money. They have worked tirelessly to make it work providing excellent course material and tutors and yet circumstances beyond their control have forced this decision. Yesterday was a sad day for a lot of people, especially them.

Webs of Lace

I've been very good today and have immersed myself into my next degree module which is a personal specialism about making site specific work. My interest still lies in all things to do with lace and in particular the way it can reveal and conceal and so I have been researching artists who use lace type structures in site specific work.

Aunty Peggy has Departed, 2003

I have been fascinated by the work of Shane Waltener whose fabulous doilies range from those on a small scale such as this installation in a 1940's phone booth in the disused Aldwych tube station to the enormous web that surrounded the Chihuly chandelier in the V & A foyer...

Chilhuly Doily, 2004

and his piece World Wide Web which was a 25 square metre knitted cobweb of shirring elastic installed in the Museum of Art and Design in New York, designed to disrupt the gallery space.

World Wide Web, 2007

And as often happens I got disrtracted along the way and discovered the work of Susie Cowie who also does some amazingly beautiful things with lace but on a much smaller scale.

For me this is the most exciting part of taking a degree - the discovery of new and different artists. I love the research almost as much as the making!

Moving Swiftly On...

Thanks for all your lovely messages yesterday. I've felt horrible for a few days now and unable to focus on much creatively. In fact I've come pretty close to giving up the degree course on more than a couple of occasions. Yesterday I didn't believe I had a single creative cell in my entire body. But I'm not one to stay down for too long and today I've been working with gusto on all sorts of ideas for my latest module... which I can't actually share with you yet!

But while I've been out and about I've been drawing people using their mobile phones ... and then translating them into simple stitched portraits... black free machining on muslin.

It might be leading somewhere... but you'll have to keep popping back to find out where!

Words

Today I bring you lots of photos and not many words... because I'm struggling with words. Only four days into my new module and I'm struggling to make sense of the words in my first assignment.... so while I attempt to "Destabilise the Familiar"... I bring you more SPECTRUM sketchbook work.

Collage in the style of Sue Dove, worked from an article published on Workshop on the Web.

Which led to this small textile piece.

And some machine texture samples from the class in St Albans on Tuesday. Despite my reputation for knocking shelves off the wall, Chris invited me into her home to teach her and three friends. We had a lovely relaxed day with some excellent work... from Christine...

and Lana...

Lynne...

and Shirley.

And while you feast your eyes on these pretty images I shall go back to making sense of my words... while I "smile an everlasting smile" (or is it a grimace?).... for words are all I have.

Hooray!

Thank you for all your comments and emails over the past week or so. I do usually try to reply by email where possible but have been a little lax about this recently. I've been busy... in between writing blog posts I've been finishing off and tidying up my Professional Practice module which has now all been parcelled up and sent to my tutor... nothing more do do except wait for results... hooray! It feels good. Thank you too to all my new Facebook fans... after this post my number of "likes" doubled in 24 hours... another hooray!

With some extra time on my hands, my love affair with this book continues (and I'm not the only one as Monica will testify) and my most recent bake has been these hazelnut praline muffins.

Admittedly not the prettiest of muffins but what they lacked in good looks they made up for in taste.

And with a tasty morsel of Nutella in every one they couldn't fail to please. Hooray to whoever thought of putting Nutella into muffins!

What shall I bake today I wonder?

The week started well...

I finished my essay

Well at least a first draft which was sent off to my tutor. Now I just wait for her response... or perhaps even an acknowledgment that she has received it... but I'm happy that the end of this module is in sight! It's been useful but very dry.

I made more cake.

This time a tried and trusted favourite recipe passed down from my Mum ... a fruit Harvo loaf.

Mix together 2 cups SR Flour, 1 cup sultanas, 3/4 cup sugar, 1tsp baking powder, 2 tblsp black treacle and a scant cup of milk. Stir everything together and bake in a loaf tin at 180 deg C for approx 1 hour.

Very easy, very tasty and very low fat... unless of course you eat it sliced and buttered like me!

I've joined in a postcard exchange...

because I haven't got enough to do I'm basically barmy... but I'm looking forward to exchanging postcards with eleven other bloggers and creating a little bit of work with no real pressure just for the fun of it. You can watch the progress of the swaps on this new blog.

I'm following a new blogger

When Gill and I attended the workshop with Jill Flower we were telling her all about blogging and encouraging her to start a blog... and she has! She's feeling a bit apprehensive about it so do go along and say hello... you can find her here.

And then today it all went downhill....

After a lovely evening out with friends last night, during which I drank nothing stronger than a lime and soda, I woke this morning with what felt like the most horrendous hangover*... pounding head and dodgy tummy... not a good start!

I then decided I would photograph the various stages in a technique for an article I'm writing to find that the Bondaweb I thought I'd bought on Wednesday was not in my bag. I turned my workroom upside down looking for bondaweb but there is not a scrap to be found. And now even if I found any the light has faded so the photos would be no good! Plus I've got to tidy my workroom, walk the dog and make dinner... and my head still hurts!

But never mind... it is the weekend and I don't have to go to work... so I'm not complaining. Hope you have a good one!

* Not that I know what a hangover feels like, of course ; )

Pottering About

It was a lovely relaxing day yesterday pottering about, not worrying about work deadlines or degree deadlines but just doing stuff around the house and a chance to do some cooking. An asparagus soup made from bits and pieces lurking in the fridge*...

An onion and some leeks sauted in butter, with the addition of a couple of stalks of celery and some diced potato which was then simmered in vegetable stock for twenty minutes. Add a bunch of chopped up asparagus for five minutes, whizz the whole lot up in the blender and reheat with a small carton of creme fraiche... couldn't be nicer... especially when there was some left over for lunch today.

And even better with some homemade sun dried tomato focaccia rolls... which were incredibly easy to make. Knead together 500g white bread flour, 1 tsp dried yeast, 1 tsp salt, 1 tblsp olive oil, 6 sundried tomatoes and 290 ml water (this can be done on the pizza dough setting in a bread maker). Shape into 12 rolls, allow to double in size and bake for 20 minutes at 190 deg C.

And the whole lot was finished off with a square of Delia's ginger cake... the recipe is here.

Perfect with a cuppa after a walk at Anglesey Abbey

Today it was back to the deadlines... and essay to write for my Professional Practice module... but I still managed a couple of hours work in the garden... and more cake of course!

* Edit - I don't usually have left over asparagus in my fridge but I made an asparagus risotto for supper on Saturday, buying the ingredients on my way home from work. I wasn't sure of the quantities so ended up buying too much. The leeks however had been languishing in the veg drawer for a week!