Fibrearts Workshop with Glenys Mann

Glenys Mann, an Australian Art Textile Warrior ( not sure if she'd like that title) but I have bestowed it upon her. She has been at the forefront of contemporary fibre arts here in Australia for many years.

I had the pleasure of 3 days of her company and saw the Art Textile Biennale in Toowoomba  as well.

Her workshop didn't teach me a new technique, but I delved into the thought processes of an artist. Studied other Artists and along with the other 11 participants met new ones. 

The second day exercise was to speak about an artist you liked, and do a small project based on secret messages, pockets from that artist.

A few days before the workshop, I stumbled as you do, on a blog called Tanglewood Threads by Penny Berens of Nova Scotia, Canada.

Wow, I was amazed at her stitching, but her words and lack of them amazed me. Her messages still come through. Don't believe me, read her blog and you will understand my message.

Here are 2 photos of the beginning and end of my day2 assignment. Yes, I know its poor quality photography, I am working on that. Step 1 has arrived but am still waiting for a new camera.

 The secret message  has to do with paths, rocks and everything in between. Send me a message if you want to know more. 

House Repairs and Possible New Directions in Art and Photography

 I am sure you are familiar with the old house we moved into in 2010. This photo is from 2014 when I had finished painting the south eastern corner of the veranda. I am now in the process of finishing the north western side. I have spent hours removing paint, sanding the palings and railings down for more painting.

Work in progress, and I am happy to say a final sand with the finest grit paper is left for this panel. Then the arduous task of priming, undercoating and painting begins. Take a note of the floorboards here as well, they need replacing and my goal is to have the palings all painted before that happens so I don't have to put masking tape around each one of the palings before painting.

This shows the poor state of the post decoration prior to a sander being used on it.

This is the inside of the north east corner and I have a problem with the support beam. It has fallen down onto the post and is  hollow for about 15cms up the roof support beam. I think I will get some expander filler and place in there, hoping it will keep the roof up for awhile yet. Speaking about the roof, that is starting to get to be another big issue as it will probably start leaking next time it rains ( maybe there is an upside to a drought after all).

Back to my art. This is a poor quality photo taken on my iPad of a piece I made based on Mark Rothko's art. It is called Simplicity and was part of the Tangled Threads word challenges in 2017-2018.

It is made from 2 pieces of fabric. The dense quilting hides the seams and I attempted to make the piece look like a woven piece. I have always liked the weaving art of Ptolemy Mann and short of taking up weaving, I would like to make some textile pieces emulating it. I am yet to figure out a way to do that with the quilting threads. So I will keep experimenting in some new work. 

This piece was also in the Tangled Threads Word Challenge, called Habitat. I saw a similar piece on pinterest and tried 3 techniques in this piece. Mum has it on her wall in her Nursing Home giving her much joy to look at it.

The photography is pretty poor for both of these pieces, so I am currently researching ways to improve it. I already have a photography backdrop stand for quilts so am now investing in some lighting equipment to see if that improves the images using the small camera I have. If not, then maybe a new camera and some lessons in how to use it and maybe more lessons on photoshop for me.

More stuff to try and learn, it certainly is a busy journey.