Primitive, Naive ...

I have been having a wonderful time lately painting a couple of spreads in an altered book I am doing with the girls from my little art group....Julia, Dot, Ro and Patsy (still blogless).

I have recently been inspired by Katherine Dunn. I bought her book, "Creative Illustration Workshop" and have been blissfully reading through and taking in her wonderful primitive style art. The pages below were painted for my friend Patsy... she is a gorgeous, vivacious, fun loving friend and these pages seemed to flow so easily with her in mind. "Peace Carriers" (inspired by Katherine Dunne and Haitian art).

The full page spread.

A little blue bird of happiness, trailing along behind the Peace Carrier.

"Peace Keeper"

For these pages I first painted an undercoat of black gesso and then painted with a mix of acrylics and gouache ( I do love the pigmentation of the gouache...rich, strong colour). I have also used pastels and ink and some collage here and there.

I really love this naive style, both in my painting and my stitching...I am having fun with it! Jude and Judy have showed me the way with cloth and Katherine and Lynne have showed me the way with paint.





And....there has also been a little stitching. Not much... but a bit. I am working on Christmas gifties (as usual I am running a little late), cant show them yet.


Over the weekend I went to my friend Nats art exhibition opening....wonderful day... pop over to Nats blog to see photos from the day. Lots of indigo and cloth, wonderful basketmaking and bookmaking....

MOST OF ALL,

LOVE YOURSELF.

-SARK-

Sending love and colour.

Jacky xox

Happily stitching....

A weekend at home ....bliss. I've been doing more blog visiting than creating lately! It's a bit too easy to spend hours visiting wonderful blogs and then not leave yourself enough time to play around !

After a visit to Storycloths blog, I was reminded of a book I had purchased by Janet Bolton whose fabric art I have always loved. If you pop over to visit Storycloth you will see she has made two of Janets lovely angel cloths . This inspired me to get out my book again and have a play....below is my very rustic version of these angels. Click for a closer look...you will note the pins and needles....more stitching to be done tonight. This little cloth is approx. 4" x 8". I am wondering whether I will make a pair too. Whatever, I am having fun stitching my version! And this gorgeous little fellow below is the owl I recently received in a swap with Robin Olsen...I do so love him. Very funky isnt he
and I love the colours she has chosen for me." William the Wise" by Robin Olsen.

Above and below ....how did I manage to do this and I havent found a way of deleting one of the duplicates!!!

The images are from one of the Collage Boxes that Lawendula is sending around the world. Each person takes between 12-20 pieces from the box to use at a later date in their art. They then replace with images etc. from their own stash and forward the box to the next person. I have chosen my pieces and will be sending the box on its way again tomorrow. Such a fun swap, thanks for organising FM.

And finally a bit of dyeing from my recent efforts...and I must tell you that recently I havent been having a huge amount of success. Many insipid looking pieces coming out of the pot. I thought I should show some as my friend Nat is an avid dyer and always keen to see what I have been up to.

The two below I was quite happy with. The first piece with the natural colours was done by steaming leaves in some dupion silk (they werent native leaves, sorry I dont know the name). At the same time I had also steamed some soft cotton the same way. The silk took the colour quite well, but the cotton just looked dirty...a project to overdye down the track.

The one with the pinkish tinge was from steaming some found fuschia flowers. I was very happy with that colour, but dont know if I will wash again as it seems to lose colour each time I wash/rinse. I used a small piece of kimono lining silk for this one. These pieces will be nice to include in some cloths at a later date.

I hope you have all enjoyed a creative weekend too and I look forward to visiting my favourite blogs to see what everyone has been up to.

WAKE UP TO SEE THE OTHER SOULS AROUND YOU.

LET THEM AFFECT YOU.

-SARK-

Jacky XOX

Wise little owl .....

A wee little owl I stitched a couple of weeks ago...it's a long time since I made one of these owls. This little one is winging its way to the USA for a swap I've done with Robin (an inspiring textile artist). I will post a photo of the owl she sent me next post.... I was in Dubbo last week with my mother in law Norma. While she was in town visiting her optometrist we visited a couple of 'op shops' and I found these! Very happy with the little indigo cotton jacket, soon to become part of my boro quilt. I love the fasteners and I will find a place for those in my quilt I think.
Found lots of little lace doilies and lovely embroidered pieces for 25 cents each. I have a couple of projects in mind for these.

My friend Maureen has just returned from a visit to India...this is one of the many beautiful quilts she bought home with her. Such lovely fabrics and details.

There was such a beautiful sky the other night, so I thought I would share it with you. The clouds seemed much brighter and pinker in real life, so lucky to live in such a beautiful area.

GREAT ACTS

ARE MADE UP

OF SMALL DEEDS

- LAO TZO -

Enjoy your week.

Jacky xox

Progress....

Indigo gifts..... my sister and her family recently visited Malaysia and knowing my love of indigo fabrics brought me home these lovely indigo dyed fabrics from Chang Mai. The colours are not represented too well in this photo...they are not quite so bright...very inky indigo colour and lovely denim coloured blue. There's also a snippet of a beautiful japanese shibori cotton gifted to me on our basket making day by Nat. These are the fabrics I have been using for my fabric basket. Indigo gifts.
Remember these baskets...you can click to enlarge this time. That is my base at the very front.

I've been making progress....the sides are growing....it will soon be finished.

I've been busy sorting some fabrics today. I *needed* to do some sorting, things were becoming a MESS. I have sorted my fabrics for dyeing in one tub, my indigo/japanese fabrics in another, my sari silks/velvets etc. in another. I think I need more tubs!!!! It was fun. I love handling fabrics.

Some fabric dyeing has been taking place at my home this weekend....not terribly successful, but there is always the chance to overdye. I will post about this another time.... Visit Jude's blog and see the wonderful pieces she has dyed.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER AND YOU WILL BE HAPPY.

IT'S AS SIMPLE AND AS DIFFICULT AS THAT.

-LEUNIG-

Have a great, creative week!

Jacky xox