Temporary loss of creative thought ...

Don't seem to have had much time recently to come up with something for this month's Craft Barn challenge.  The next couplet is -

August brings the sheaves of corn,

The the Harvest home is borne.

and we have to include a tractor.

Probably because I'm pushed for time my mind has been a blank on this one - no inspiration whatsoever! Anyway, I've found some clipart and created it on my computer (very unusual for me), and added some glitter to the corn, which you can't really see. The background (of which very little can be seen) was a scrap piece of painted paper I found.

So, all very boring really - I hope to get back on track for next month!

Power(tex) to the people ...

Had a session with a couple of other friends who wanted to try Powertex on a mirror frame. Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of their pieces - sorry!

I've used t-shirt yarn, paper clay roses and dragonfly, and bits of wallpaper, together with ivory Powertex and Bister sprays. I've done a lot of acrylic paint dry brushing on this, particularly in gold, which doesn't really come out in the photos.

Having finished it I can see a touch of Art Nouveau and Mackintosh in it, which just goes to show how we can be influenced by other art, even subconsciously!

Last week I went to this year's Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy. The usual eclectic mix, here are a few of my favourites.

Sanctuary by Barbara Rae

She does a lot of work with the collaged birds, and I love them all.

This year, the red one attracted me!

Golden Wasp Game #7 by Mike Chisholm

This is a digital print. I am drawn to the simple almost monotone image.

Watching by Wendy Freestone
(bronze)
Quite small, which is what caught my eye, and maybe a little disturbing too.











Another fabulous art-filled day!

Abstraction, Modernism and a pinch of Surrealism

I've just remember I haven't told you about the last 2 day workshop I did on encaustic collage.

This combined my love of collage with trying wax, so of course, I had to sign up!

I decided I would do an abstract using a beach sunset as inspiration. I also thought I would not use any paint (apart from a quick under painting), and all the collage pieces would be rectangular - I do like to challenge myself!

I used watercolour paper, which with hindsight is not really robust enough for adding a lot of wax. When I cut it off the support board it becomes quite difficult to handle. I need to think about what kind of frame to put it in.

The wax we used was a mix of beeswax and Damar resin, which strengthens the beeswax.

After doing a quick watercolour under painting, I started cutting up various bits and pieces, including speciality papers, cardboard, fabric, hessian, bookprint, and laid them out as my initial thoughts on construction.

As you can see, it is very rough at this stage, and I took a photo to remember placement, but I knew it wouldn't turn out like this!

Next, using wallpaper paste, I starting sticking everything down - quite tricky to get the order right!

I used the wax to stick the corrugated card and hessian, and started layering wax is a few places. I also spattered some wax for a bit of sea spray.












Finally, after several layers of wax, and a few more additions - including orange for the sunset reflection, and a rockpool (bottom left) using seed beads and abalone shell, I finished with some gold paint through a fossil fish stencil. You will have to enlarge the picture to see them properly.

I liked using the wax as it provides another dimension, but I need to get to grips with the technique a bit better!

This week I had a day trip to Charleston and Farley Farm - fabulous day!

Charleston, home from 1916 to Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, was the country retreat for the group of artists, writers and thinkers known as the Bloomsbury group.

I loved this house, and wanted to move in immediately. Every room was decorated by the artists, with murals on all the furniture, fireplaces and walls. It had a beautiful atmosphere, and the studio was to die for!







Not allowed to take any photos inside so if you want to explore further I'm sure Google will help.

The gardens were stunning too.

















Then on to Farley Farm, which in 1949 became home to Roland Penrose, Surrealised artist, and Lee Miller, American model, photographer and WW2 correspondence.

Another stunning home, full of artworks ... many created by their friends and visitors, including Pablo Picasso, Man Ray, and Max Ernst.

You may recognise this one by Roger Penrose, of his first wife Valentine, entitled Winged Domino.

The gardens were extensive ...

... and full of  modern sculpture.

I was quite taken with this one - Sky Seed
by Mark and Rebecca Ford (2017).

I bought a couple of books and some postcards.













I was fascinated by the stories regarding the Bloomsbury Group, so I'm going to get some books from the Library and have a good read!

It's not about what it is ...

... but about what it can become!

Recently the Fearless Four got together for a Powertex play, using empty Horlicks containers.

We used bits of fabric, string, wood shapes, shells and other found stuff. Also included in our ingredients lists was Bister, acrylic paint and ink sprays. Because the Horlicks containers are plastic, we wrapped masking tape around them so the Powertex would stick.

So, here are the results ...apologies for the quality of most of the photos, but I forgot to take my camera, so used my phone.

Lin used ivory Powertex, with ric rac ribbon around cotton fabric, and embellished with some wood shapes. Bister and gold sprays used too.

Linda used bronze Powertex on cotton fabric, with some string, and a skull (Linda is a little bit Gothic too). She also used Bister and silver spray for colour.

Monica seems has a never ending supply of shells! Some have been incorporated into the cotton fabric, together with lace and string.

Bronze Powertex also used with  silver spray.

Every Halloween I'm on the lookout for likely stuff to use in projects, and I found a bag of plastic skulls one year and still have loads! I had to saw the backs off so they could be incorporated into this project.

I  have always been a little bit Gothic and fascinated by skulls, so I put three on my pot, but the other two are round the other side!

I've used some t-shirt fabric, with hessian, string and dishcloth material.

I also thought the plastic cross added to the look!

I used black Powertex, and dry brushed some blue paint, and also used Linda's fabulous silver spray (I've now bought some too!).

I'm using my pot for some of my (rather large) stash of paint brushes.



So, another fabulous day. We've already booked the next get togther, and guess what - yes - we will be using Powertex again!