Leaves and Berries

Here are some lovely Rowan berries to get into the Autumnal spirit. The Rowan or Mountain Ash is also known as the Witch or “Wicken Tree” and is supposed to bring good luck if one takes root in your garden. One hasn’t taken root in my garden yet which could explain the lack of people hammering at my door offering me work!

At this time of year the berries look almost luminous on gloomy days and today is certainly one of those. It is cozy though to get the stove going and curl up with my latest bit of design work (some more heat transfer prints on fleece). I also got a chance to follow Lyndsay’s instructions and learn how to put a © watermark on to my images-thanks Lyndsay!

Yesterday I got an e-mail from Helen Stevens at Cleveland College of Art and Design,telling me about an event she is organizing at Middlesbrough Town Hall. It sounds great and I’m hoping to be able to get some stuff together for a stall.Apparently there are still stalls available so anyone who’s interested should take a look at the website, www.designersmarketplace.org.uk. Should be worth a visit anyway and as I’ve said before its about time Middlesbrough made the most of its creative talent.

Leaves,Flowers and Giant Bugs

So, next week is the big week with the Degree Show opening night on Thursday. We get Monday and Tuesday to put it all together, I haven’t seen my space yet but I hope its not too big because I’m worried I haven’t got that much to hang! I will have to go for the minimal look.

Its taken me ages to get around to posting this because for some reason “Safari” kept “unexpectedly quitting “whenever I tried to use WordPress. It let me do everything else though so maybe it was a hint! Anyway I just had to dash into the village to download Firefox instead and it seems to work miles better.

These pictures are from various projects, first, second and third year, with the little jacket being one of my favorite pieces from Minor Project. It’s a combination of techniques on recycled woolen blanket,including heat transfer printing and appliqué using heavy wool dyed with Elderberries.The design still on the hoop is part of a dress for Final Major Project,you can’t really tell in the picture but the flower is screen printed devoré cotton so it is actually transparent.

I’ve been getting some nice comments on “Stitchin Fingers” which have been cheering me up alot but I still need a plan of action for finding work. We had an Enterprise Day at college yesterday. The most exciting thing about that was hearing about Platform Arts who are converting part of Middlesbrough train station into studio space for artists. Middlesbrough has had a pretty grotty image so this project, as well as Mima and Cleveland College of Art and Design ought to help make it a bit more vibrant and cultured…hopefully.

Meanwhile, its all wonderful in the garden. We spent yesterday making improvements to the willow house which now almost has a door, thanks to Jake, and no thanks to a HUGE BUG which made us all scream like fools ( I think it was a Cockchafer, can that be right?!!).