Module 1 - Chapter 2

This chapter is all about painting and printing papers - being a somewhat messy person, I found this particularly challenging.  Somehow the paint never goes on evenly or else you try to make it blotchy and artistic and it just looks a bit of a mess.  Still, I have now made copious amounts of paper in varying thickness.   Of course my favourite is tissue paper - since it is reminiscent of organza, I suppose this should not be a surprise.  So far I have not used any of the tissue paper, but will look forward to using some perhaps in the next chapter.

Printing is also challenging of course, a bit like Goldilocks - too little paint, or too much, hard to get it "just right".  Still, the more I did, the more control I had; less I found was much more.

Then of course there is the making of the stamps - something I really enjoy.  Mostly I made way too many stamps because you just don't know how they will turn out.  Too simplistic and they are boring, too detailed and they just don't work.  So - on to the pictures.

A- Making Coloured Papers

Picture 1 - Red plus colours either side - reddy orange and violet

Picture 2 Green and colours either side, Lime and Turquoise

 

B - Printing onto Coloured Papers                                                                                               

Picture 3 - stamping all the same direction

Picture 4 - same direction but closer together

Picture 5 - stamp rotated 

Picture 6 - rotated  by quarter turns

Picture 7 - blank spaces between stamping

 (my personal favourite being a less is more type of person)

 

C - Cross Shapes from Coloured Papers                                                                                 

Picture 8 -

Crosses cut from different coloured papers and overlapped or interwoven.

 

(I think the middle one could have some applications, it turned out to stay together when woven slightly. My favourite is still the crossed vine on the simple turquoise cross, just with one arm of the top cross tucked under)

Picture 9 - Different Cross Shapes cut from complementary red paper and glued onto green.  

 

(I love the flowered cross from a photo I took in Quebec City, but it was very fiddly to do, but worth the effort I felt.  I still like my crossed branches and lichen the best, but they may be difficult to use in a lot of circumstances.  I made stamps of them, so will have to play around with them a bit further.  I think I went the "safe" route with the stamp I chose and perhaps should be a bit more adventurous but time was short this week.  I will play around with them a bit more and add my findings to the next post)

Module 1 Chapter 1 colour wheels and rubbings

Last post of the day before I get back to some other work.  Instead of using cool and warm colours together, I tried doing separate colour wheels.

Cool colours (picture 8)

Warm colours (picture 9)

 I did a few rubbings - not terribly successful. You obviously need some significant texture for this to work well.  I will try and do some more in the next few days.  Unfortunately there is not much opportunity to do any outside rubbings as everything is completely covered in snow! I will have to wait for spring.

Tile rubbing (picture 10)

More rubbings (picture 11)

Drawings of Cross Designs

Here are a few Cross words:
cross legged, cross patch, crisscross, hot cross buns, star crossed, crosswise, boarder cross, cross eyed, cross iron, cross bar, cross walk, traffic crossing, cross country, cross purposes, cross stitch, cross bill, cross beam, cross hatch, cross word, crossbow, level crossing, iron cross, silver cross mother, Southern Cross, Celtic cross, cross over, cross bridge, Charring Cross, cross ties, cross out, double cross, Carrickmacross (lace), cross wire, cross bred, cross pollination, cross brace, border crossing, cross dresser.

Cross Drawing (picture 3)

Cross Drawing (picture 4)

Cross Drawing (picture 5)

Cross Drawing (picture 6)

Cross Drawing (picture 7)

One thing I found interesting copying these drawings - I need to take more care in taking photographs so they are square on as many of these pictures were quite foreshortened. Sometimes this isn't possible if you take photographs in museums where the work is angled, but generally there is some control.  The other thing,  some pictures were very plain and boring and others much too complex.  I actually really quite like the ones of lichen and twigs as they are quite funky.  It will be interesting to experiment and see how they work.

Module 1 Chapter 1

The first task was to collect a wide variety of either stars or crosses.

I looked up the definitions to both:
CROSS:
Mark, object or figure formed by two short intersecting lines or pieces.
An upright post with transfer bar as used in antiquity for crucifixion. Emblem for Christianity.
Pass in opposite directions
Intersect
Annoyed
Something unavoidable that has to be endured
Cross shaped decoration awarded for personal valour
Constellation - Southern Cross
Hybrid
Soccer - pass of ball across field
Boxing - a right cross

STAR:
Fixed luminous light in night sky
Stylized representation of a star, typically having 5 or more points
Asterisk
Star symbol used as a category of excellence
White patch on horse or other animal
Star connection (electrical)
Star network (data network)
Famous entertainer or sportsperson
Successful person
Astrology/horoscope

I elected to collect crosses since I am also working on a piece on war where I am using a series of crosses on both organza and knitting, so I am already in Cross mode as it were.  Once you start, there are cross shapes everywhere you look.

Cross Selection 1

Cross Selection 2

Time for a new Adventure!

I have not added to my blog since 2009, so my new year's resolution for 2014 is to start on a new adventure and post my progress on this blog.  This time, my adventure is not going to take me to distant places, but rather a creative journey.  I have always regretted not finishing my City and Guilds course as I am not one to like loose ends, so I have signed up with Sian Martin and her Distant Stitch Course to take City and Guilds Level 3 in Embroidery. 

First thing is to change the look of this blog..........So hang on - it will likely be a bumpy ride!

Well, we have just returned to Doha from a trip of a lifetime! We were joined by Liz and James, which made it really fun to have someone to share the adventure with. We packed a lot into just under two weeks, however, we managed to see most of the major sights in both Egypt and Jordan. The tour guides were amazing, especially Walid in Egypt. He was a mine of information and we learned so much history and archeology from him. Above are of course the pyramids, just on the ouskirts of Cairo. The drivers in Cairo are even worse than Doha and frequently drive 3 or 4 abreast where most people would have just two lanes of traffic! I was glad we were driven by some great bus drivers. We stayed at the Marriot and the food was really great. We saw all kinds of temples and the Valley of the Kings, you name it - we saw it.

An extra side trip we decided to take was to go to Abu Simbal. I am so glad we did, it was amazing and so well preserved. We cruised on the Nile for four days, getting off for various sights. I had never been on a cruise before and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. After an early morning start to sightseeing, we really enjoyed our afternoons lying on deck and watching Egypt unfold before our eyes as we floated down the Nile. We were able to see the local people going about their pastoral lives and the sites role by like a giant screen. It was so relaxing sipping our beer watching the world go by and sitting in the sun.

From Egypt we flew to Jordan with several others from our Egypt tour. Again, we packed in a huge amount in three days, of course the highlight was Petra. Walking through the siq, you know what you are about to see, but your first look at the Treasury is as magical as everyone says it is going to be. After lunch, we continued on with a few other brave souls and went up to the Monastery, which is like another version of the Treasury but 700 steps further on and up. However, when you get to the top, there is an amazing view of the Rift valley and of course it is downhill on the way back!

Our flight out on the last day was not until the afternoon and originally we thought we might try to change it to an earlier time. However, we had wanted to see the Dead Sea, which was not included on out tour. The tour director quickly organized a couple of minivans to pick up 12 of us and in about and hour we were there, lathering ourselves up with mud and then floating in the very salty water. It was so buoyant that try as you might, you just could not turn over and it was really funny to see us all bobbing around.

We had such a wonderful trip and took literally thousands of pictures between the four of us. Enough to bore most of our friends for years to come! As the plane touched down in Doha, we both had the feeling that we were coming home. What a great way to end our adventure to the Middle East. We now have a couple of days to finish packing up and to say our goodbyes then back to the snow and ice and to our real home, although I have a feeling that now we have had a taste of adventure, we will have a hard time settling into a rut again before looking for more!

This weekend we drove up to the north west of Qatar and went to Al Zubara. It had been a large settlement area at one time housing about 5 or 6,000 inhabitants. They fished and harvested pearls, until a siege in 1878 bought things to an end. At the moment archaeological excavations are taking place. However, we also found that it is right next to a wonderful beach with lots of wierd creatures to find on the beach. Derek saw a ray and there were lots of sea birds. It was very shallow and would be a wonderful place for young children to play and explore the little tide pools with their small fish.

We walked out along this man made breakwater of local rocks full of tiny shells. I presume it had been here for a long time. All around it were little rock pools full of crabs and small fish, amongst other strange purple wormy like creatures were hadn't seen before. There were also some brown mushroom looking creatures as well.



It is hard to show just how vast this area is, but this gives a little bit of an idea. This is where they are going to build the Friendship bridge to Bahrain. On the map it said 2013. It seems so shallow here, you could almost walk across!

Here is a picture of what is still remaining of the settlement. This is just a small portion of it, there is a surrounding wall with some turrets and the area is suposedly about 54 hectares. We had a great time, paddling in the water and then poking around the settlement. It was an interesting day and unfortunately it is likely to be our last adventure in Qatar. I still have a few more pictures of the leaving party that his coworkers gave him and I went and took more souq pictures of things I always see, but hadn't captured before, so will add some more tomorrow.