The Beauty of Barcelona and the gorgeousness of Gaudi!

I haven't blogged for over a month, how very remiss of me! It has been fun with my girls being on school holidays but better still I've been away for a few days to Barcelona- it was definitely a work trip, research and inspiration all in one! I spent lots of time just taking photo's of all the amazing buildings and sculptures. 

The area leading up to the National Museum of art was particularly beautiful and impressive. The area pictured below is actually flowerbeds and fountains.

However, the Gaudi architecture was my absolute favourite- there are hundreds of photo's I could show you but here is a taster....

Sagrada Familia outside and inside (above)
Dragon gate Guell estate (below)

Casa Batllo (above) and Parc Guell (below)

My youngest daughter thinks this building looks like the perfect gingerbread house.

We had a wonderful time at the Joan Miro foundation too. Although I was unable to get a photo of it, his large wall hanging/weaving was incredible. Barcelona rocks! I hope you all had a good summer too.

Feeling Inspired

I am feeling inspired today, it's been a while since I've had time to think, let alone work! The summer is always a bit tricky as there is so much going on at the end of term and the girls are then on holiday so I am busy spending time with them, however, today I am on my own and so I've been drawing in my sketchbook and starting something new inspired by flower formation. (Nice choice of yarns for this item, even if I say so myself!) It started off with a wander around the garden.... first I collected a basket of yummy veg

then I took some photos of the gorgeous flowers with interesting centres, or seed heads...

How could I fail to be inspired with all these around me, and the sun is shining! Have a happy inspiring day.

P.S. I said I'd show you the results of the party costumes and cake...

The birthday girl as Edward Scissorhands,

and with her sister as Marilyn Monroe,

and finally the cake!

The collusions begin....

A week or two ago I visited all my installations at both Thornham Walks and Lackford Lakes to see how natures imput had begun.

As you will see the weaving is holding out nicely with very little change to it so far and the knitted mushrooms still look fine if a little droopy!

The moss carpet seems to murge into it's surroundings even better than before and has some wonderful ripples in it that make it look very organic,

There is also a collection of debris slowly gathering on the surface too.

But something strange and exciting has occurred..... an infestation of caterpillars!!!

I am pleased to say 

that some of the children's groups that meet at Thornham have been making some creepy crawlie critters to add to my moss carpet- this was a collusion I hadn't expected but I am honoured that they were inspired by my work (although I have to admit I was a little concerned that people may think I had made them however it is a public project and why shouldn't they collude just as nature will).

As for the work at Lackford Lakes, the purple feathery reed heads are fading a little.... 

the green tassels are not so green any more.

The bracket fungi are collecting debris and some are fading a bit,

There are signs of life here too which is really pleasing, it is being inhabited by spiders!

As for the puffballs little has changed but as I have been so slow adding this post I will be going back to take more photos very shortly and maybe things will have begun to change even more.

Part of the reason I haven't blogged for a while is that I have been having some time off work and then it has been full swing on fancy dress birthday party bits, the theme is movie characters, I am currently finishing an Edward Scissorhands costume and a Marilyn Monroe dress!!!

Rural Idyll 2 opens

Rural Idyll 2 is now open and you'll be pleased to hear I did get all my pictures completed in time. There are eight in total, you can see them here hanging on the wall in the barn with my sculptural work in the foreground. As you have seen the majority of the pictures in my last blog I will just show you the last three ( including the one shown incomplete at the end of my last blog).

Here are some images of my felt and wire maquettes.

I also included my sculpture that you may have seen in the early days of my blog.

And there are some wonderful pieces by all the other artists but this feather fall by Ruth Richmond is amazing.

If you are in the area why not go and see for yourself- Rural Idyll 2 is open every weekend in June 2011, 11- 5 or weekdays by appointment, at Little Dodnash Farm, Bergholt Road, Bentley, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP9 2DQ.

Studies after Linnaeus

 

As you may remember from my last post I have been working rather frantically to make my new set of work for Rural Idyll 2, the exhibition at Little Dodnash Farm, Bentley, Suffolk, open during the weekends of Suffolk Open Studios. My new ideas are based around the work of Carl Linnaeus the Swedish botanist who created the system of binomial nomenclature (two Latin names, genus and species). He also put plants into family groups depending on the number of stamens(male sexual part) to pistil(female sexual part) in the flower of each plant. He described each family as a marriage, for instance a flower with three stamen he described as "Three husbands in the same marriage."

The compositions are made up of hand embroidery, buttons, knitted flowers and selections of fabrics.

I am still working on the piece below and I am intending to do one more flower study and an embroidery of the original drawing by Georg Ehret in Linnaeus' Systema Naturae when he published it in 1735 - a bit like a key to the rest of the work.

Rural Collusions opens at Lackford Lakes!!!

The private view of Rural Collusions at Lackford Lakes was another wonderful occasion. Again we were lucky enough to have fine weather for the evening and many of our dear friends came to join us. Special thanks must go to SWT but particularly Emma Kerridge, education officer at Lackford whose fantastic organisational skills made for a fabulous spread of drinks and nibbles that never seemed to run out.

As for the work, I am really pleased, it looks great placed around the reserve. Three trees are adorned with my bracket fungi, a sand bank has become home to my reed heads, and a leafy canopy holds out a branch for the puffballs to cling to.

Don't take my word for it though go and take a look if you can!

We were really pleased to get so much press coverage for the exhibitions. On Sunday 8th May we ran workshops at Lackford as part of Lackford Lakes' Spring Fair- many people came and made their own reed head with me that they could take home and Ruth helped them make their own little feather islands like her beautiful full sized one on the lake by the visitors centre.

This project is not finished, however, as I will be returning to both venues on a fairly regular basis to record how the work changes as nature colludes with us by reclaiming the pieces and I'll let you see the developments.

I am now on full throttle making work for Rural Idyll 2, I'll tell you more about that in my next blog- but for now Thank you to all of you who have supported me in either the production or in coming along to Rural Collusions, at both venues.