Spurn – Alice Fox’s residency exhibition

On Thursday last week I went with Miles our son to Spurn to see Alice Fox’s exhibition in the lighthouse. It was grey and raining when we set off but the sun was shining by the time we got there (about an hour and a half). It’s always worth a trip to Spurn but this was extra special. The work was fabulous and echoed the colours and textures of the inside of the lighthouse. It was displayed over the six floors and as usual nosiness overcame my fear of the height and winding staircase. I just had to take it slowly in places – which gave me longer to admire the work. The views from the top were stunning too. You can see a long way all the way round and it  gives you a whole new perspective of the place.

Its an intriguing place – a long narrow spit of land with the Humber Estuary on one side and the North Sea on the other. Unusually there wasn’t much wind but it was still an invigorating walk on the beech, the tide was going out and  later Alice commented that it was a lower tide than usual when we were at the top of the lighthouse.

We found lots of treasures as usual, shells and pebbles and what looked like a giant’s pencil, unfortunately far too long  (about 10 size 11 feet) and heavy to bring home!

I’ve also taken loads of photos of the tops of the groynes, some wonderful patterns and textures.

Just a couple.

I’ve come away with some ideas for a new body of work, but at the moment the ideas are just beginning to flow.

I did a whole series of pieces on Spurn a few years ago for an extended project when I was doing my  A level Art.

This one is a combination of silk paper and felting techniques.

A close-up of a Brusho piece that was part of a mobile.

It was a good end to the summer holidays. The next day was the first day back  in at uni. Start properly tomorrow.

Summer Holidays

Busy, busy, busy summer. Have spent time with Czech friends, German friends and lastly a Spanish friend ( and English ones too). Lots of day trips while the Czech and Spanish friends were here,  Lincoln, Whitby, Flamborough, several of the National Trust properties;  The Vyne, Beningborough, Gunby Hall and Keddlestone, as well theYorkshire Sculpture  Park, more that I can’t recall just now. Also lots of eating and drinking (plenty of walks too, to try and counteract all the good food).

The eating and drinking also took place in France camping before we went to the German friends just outside Frankfurt (yet more good food and local cider (apfelwein), further camping was planned but in the end it was so wet we did day trips instead. Again the walking and cycling helped the waist line.

One of the reason for going to Germany was to take the quilt I had made for the latest edition to the family, Sanna Matilda; she finally arrived 10 days late two days before we were due to leave and we had the great privilege of seeing her in hospital the day after she was born.

Lime green,  yellow  and sunflower fabrics ready to start the cot quilt.

 

Section of finished quilt.

 

Day old Sanna with her quilt.

Have seen and done lots of new things which will have an influence on my work  over the summer, now the holidays are over its back to reality. I do enjoy my reality, I’m very fortunate in that I enjoy my work (holistic therapies) and I’m  looking forward to going back to uni for my third and final year of my Contemporary Fine Art Practice  degree course in just over a week. It’ll certainly be challenging and plenty to keep me busy.

Before that though I’m  again opening my studio for insight www.insightopenstudios.org.uk the North Lincolnshire  Artists’ Open Studios weekends on September 22 & 23, 29 & 30. I’ve been sorting out the space (I’m a terrible hoarder and think everything will come in useful sometime, so I’ve been trying to be realistic about some real junk – it’s so difficult to part with things!!!) and now I’m nearly ready to starting hanging paintings etc.

Rachel Lombard workshop

Inside or outside of the box bottom?

 

Where has the 6 months gone since I last posted?  (Written in June and couldn’t upload photos). I couldn’t believe it was so long. I have done lots of creative work, mainly work for my fine art degree course, much of which I don’t like to post before it has been assessed (tomorrow and then the feedback).

I have now finished a fabric box that I made at a workshop with Rachel Lombard www.rachellombardtextileart.talktalk.net/at Scunthorpe Embroiderer’s Guild a month or so ago. I got on really well on the day and almost finished it much to my and everyone else’s surprise – I just needed to sew up the sides on the base and the top, but wanted to photograph it first. There were a couple of options of which way I should stitch the base, the same way as the top or a contrast. The top I had little choice about as the fabric bubbled slightly when I ironed on the iron-on vilene, so the design on the top was to hid / disguise this as much as possible.

Gold thread used for  the  joining stitching

In the end I decided it worked best with the contrasting top and bottom.