Whitstable

We spent the Easter weekend at Whitstable in Kent. It is a pretty town with so many art and craft shops it was difficult to know where to start browsing and shopping! The house we rented was owned by local artist, Lynda Fairbairn, who runs Bridge House Arts, a former pub, now art shop which also offers art lessons.

Beach huts painted every colour of the rainbow

English seaside architecture at its best

Buttons

We went to a vintage brocante sale in Whitstable. These lovely textures comes from the stall belonging to Sheila Alldridge of Clover Crafts and Curios. You can find her on e-bay as Sheila Juno, should you need anything for your stash! In case you are wondering, yes I did buy some things, some cards of buttons, heart shaped ones, thread and an old thimble. I shall use the thimble, the other things are probably too nice to use, but will look beautiful in my stash!

Easter Eggs

Here are some painted wooden eggs from when we used to live in Warsaw, Poland.

The Polish cockerel picture is made from gummed paper, cut using very large scissors

Wallhanging-painting up fabric

I have decided I like the fabric samples painted in Koh-i-Noor best. I have been trying to paint up my strips to my satisfaction using this paint. However it looks a bit pale to me. When I am painting it looks the right colour when wet, but as it dries it gets paler. So I have had to put on another coat, and maybe will even need another. I find it hard to imagine the finished result with stitch over the top of it. No photos of this,as they just didn't come out right-too pale. I am going back to painting, I think I will try another layer.

Textures at the British Museum

A selection of textures from the British Museum. I like the third one, which is woollen Viking cloth from York. The carved stone looks so like fabric-amazing to see!

Experimental Sample-Canvas Work

This is my original drawing

Collage in tissue paper

Canvaswork in ribbon, strips of fabric, net, wool and embroidery floss

Wallhanging-Still doing samples

I am still experimenting with samples for the wallhanging. I used Koh-i-noor paints to colour the calico, then applied painted scrim and added stitch on top. The first is stitched using wool and thin ribbon strips.

Chain stitch in embroidery floss

This last one is calico painted with acylic, diluted with fabric medium which I did wet on wet.

Now I am not sure which of these paints to use, as I started with acrylic, but I confess to a preference for the Kho-i-noor, as I like the effect. They go onto the fabric so beautifully, and I found it hard to stop painting once I started! These are just a selection of samples. I will stop looking at these choices for a bit, and wait till after class on Thurs to proceed.