3 week recovery

I have spent the last few weeks signed off work with a week's leave to finish (and was grateful for I needed more time off).  The first week I spent sleeping and in front of the TV.  I read a few books on creativity and documented my week by making a doll for each day of the week. The doll template which I styled to be a slimmer and taller version of me I got from the book that I found most fun to flick through Mixed Mania by Cheryl Prater and Debbi Crane.

Notice the lack of jeans - trouser wearing that week (and even now) was not the most comfortable option.  As a habitual trouser/jean wearing girl it was stretching my wardrobe to find enough skirts to wear, but the addition of a comfy dress helped.  Two of the skirts - the red one, and the patched one - were skirts I had made previously, one from a Clothkits kit and another by appliquéing some of my mono-printed patches on to one I had derived from the former skirt.

Thankful

Today I woke up thankful for:

1. the NHS
2. waking up in my own bed
3. a good nights sleep
4. less pain
5. the person next to me

I am now nestled in my cosy kitchen sipping peppermint tea and listening to Johnny Cash and watching someone else do chores.

Luckily I had completed my postcards for iHanna's postcard swap and popped them in the post before the last 48 hours occurred.

The sent postcards can be seen in more detail from my Flickr set, unfortunately they aren't the best photos as I only had my camera phone to hand.  Check out the rest of the swap pool.

Peacocks travel best in pairs

Where Flowers grow there is hope

Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all

This is based on one of the photos I have snapped on one of my many cycling adventures. Again this is derived from a well known phrase which is derived from the Tennyson poem In Memoriam:

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

This summer had a loss and when I was feeling particularly sorry for myself I would think the situation was hopeless and that it had all been for nothing. This was not the case and I know that at least I had had a chance and that it can happen again. Referring back to the previous work Life is Risky - it is better to try than not to try at all.

Proverbially English II

Many hands make light work.


All good things come to an end.

Proverbially English I

These are like old friends to me now - I first conceived of them when participating in a postcard swap based on the colour spectrum. I added a further theme by using proverbs as my inspiration. As some of these postcards were going to far off places (one went as far as Australia) I decided that the proverbs, where possible were English. Further to that I found the proverbs I chose helped me think about my creative process. When I created the postcards I made a twin - so I had record of what I had done and a connection to the card that had sent overseas.


Mighty Oaks from little acorns grow. This proverb was chosen to remind myself that its okay to start with something small even if it is just a small seed. Presented with the horror of a blank canvas and no ideas. Just one small idea can be played with, thought about and enlarged upon. Ideas can also be like magnets attracting further ideas until you find a large project on your hands. If you're really lucky a finished piece.


A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner. I think I have learnt the most when something in my work has gone wrong or hasn't turned out as expected. Even if it is to never do that again!


A Stitch in Time Saves Nine. A devotee of the leaving it to the last minute movement I still recognise the wisdom of such advice. As a school girl I did leave some key essays to the very last day before handing in but I always got away with it. Unfortunately paint has to be given time to dry, fingers can only sew so fast and take so much punishment (especially as I never bother with a thimble).

Life is Risky

The title was taken from a quote from a video that M was watching as part of his counselling skills course work.  The man who said it is Carl Rogers one of the founding fathers of psychotherapy research : "Life is risky. To take the responsibility for being the person you would like to be.....".  This year I have taken some risks they have all borne some fruit some of it welcome, some of it not so welcome.  The unexpected outcomes have not been happy times but I do think I have come out stronger and I am more aware of silver linings in situations which I may not have wished for.  You can look at things in a negative way but you can also recognise the good. 

This piece can be viewed in two different aspects - the view shown above represents the idea of growing and blossoming, the view shown below represents the idea of falling and tumbling. 

Tread Softly

 

This refers to the last line of the Yeats poem "He wishes for the cloths of heaven". I was introduced to this poem when I was at college. Studying for a computer science degree didn't mean a lot poetry study but a friend of mine gave me a copy of it when we graduated. Since then my dreams have changed considerably.

By the way

I think its about time I started the online exhibition!

I have an interest in proverbs and sayings since my earliest childhood. I remember my paternal grandmother quote the odd proverb and there were many times where my mother would quote her own grandmother. A proverb is also known as a nayword or byword and is a simple and popularly known saying expressing a known truth or basic rule. Aristotle considered proverbs a survival of an older wisdom. The word proverb comes from the Latin translation of the Greek word paroemia. Oimos was the ancient Greek word for road or way. So I chose to call this first piece "By the way".

This piece is the first I did using this technique. It is typical of my style of working colour and heavy hand stitching. The hand stitches used are running, seeding and woven circles. I have used a combination of natural and synthetic fabrics, some of the pieces used in the background are hand dyed or painted.

My First Exhibition

Last weekend started off busy as I was putting the finishing touches to this:

My first solo exhibtion! It is part of the larger county wide exhibition organised by Hampshire Libraries: New Artists in Libraries. This year the spotlight is on textiles so encouraged by Mr. Happy (now also known as my Exhibition Manager) and C, I appeared in front of a selection panel in April and was selected to show my work in Havant. The exhibition runs from now until the end of September.

I received the brochure in the post a few days ago and found that amongst some others our artist biographies have been missed out so just our pictures and no infomation is shown. So I include it here:

"Kitty Redwood

I have stitched, painted, dyed and embellished textiles since my teenage years, using the medium of textiles to express my creative side whilst studying and working in another discipline. I have taken this further by completing a City & Guilds course in Design and Embroidery at Eastleigh College.


Currently, I am finding inspiration in folklore and cultural references, in particular the work presented here explores the use of traditional contemporary proverbs and quotes to convey life experiences in a layered language. Colour plays an important part in my work, using my own hand dyed fabric and threads to achieve vibrancy and texture."

I appreciate some of my regular readers won't be able to make it over to Havant, so I have decided to have a little bit of a mini online exhibition during the month of September. Also some people may have made their way over here after seeing my work so I will talk a little bit about the background of my exhibition pieces as well as peek inside my studio.

A long summer

It has been over 2 months since my last post. A number of reasons were involved, most of them resulted in me being very tired. And then a bit emotional. I'm not going to explain or apologise (reminding me of my college friend American mother's saying - "Never complain, never explain" - or something approximating it). Instead I will concentrate on saying a big thank you to the many people who have been a shoulder to cry on, given their support or just understood.

More recently I have picked myself up and have got back into the studio and also out and about. Which means I have plenty to retrospectively blog about. A few more blog posts this month - catch up with you tomorrow.

A quick trip down memory lane

My folks have just paid me and M a quick visit. They have been doing some tidying up of their home and bestowed on me a couple of boxes (and sacks) of some of the detritus I left behind 15 years ago.
Going through the stuff I have made the following discoveries about my past:

1. I have a preliminary certificate in trampolining which I don't remember taking.
2. My hairstyle in the early 90s made me look like a boy.
3. I went on a trip to Northumbria when I was 11.
4. My mum drew ace pictures for my trip write up which I then coloured in.
   
5. I managed to pass a grade 4 clarinet exam - goodness knows how.
6. I got an award for house tennis in my first year at secondary school - I don't remember this either.
7. I took exams in acting and got awarded merits.
8. My taste in handbags was boring (thankfully improved).
9. I can only remember the names of my maths and French teachers.
10. I got an A for my appliqué cushion cover.
    
11. I knitted some questionable sweaters.
    
12. My family loved me very much (even my sisters).

The other thing they left here - if you are reading this Mum - is their coolbox with half a carrot cake. Yum!