What an unprecedented experience for all of us, both close and far - something which will probably redefine "normal" for most of us once we have got beyond this stage of lockdown For us, me and my dear man, life is in many ways unchanged, we are both retired, but the loss of weekly markers, Bridge for him, various things for me, lends a sense of timelessness to days, a stasis which is quite hard to rise above.
The garden has provided a retreat and sanctuary space for both of us, and as I have sat out there I have been much more mindful of my surroundings. The extra level of hush brings birdsong to the fore; an aircraft passing above is something to remark on, rather than ignore; the textures of things around me, visual textures and sounds, are things to focus on and enjoy. So, I spent some time taking rubbings of things, first on paper with a simple wax crayon - some came I was very happy with,
So focusing on those I liked, I took some cotton out into the garden to collect again, this time with candle wax. The marks are there, but could be more definite, what you can't see here are the lovely contact marks the dye made on the back of the cloth. I will add more marks, and more colour, and see where we get. Had I thought, I could have left the first layer of wax on, taken a second layer of marks and then added colour, but I was too hasty with wanting to see what it looked like so it has all been washed away. I will do my best to overlap the rubbings so I retain some of those white marks
The other thing we did was to look at the imagery attached to the virus, drawing it in various different ways. I played with stitching and clamping, linen and ramie, to see what shibori methods could do to evoke that spiky ball - lots to think about here, and to play with some more
You're having a wonderfully creative and topical play here!
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel, yes, having fun indeed, and I have no idea what I shall do next! It’s a strange topic to be exploring and I haven’t quite decided where to go with it yet, just enjoying the journey
DeleteWonderful that there is someone there who keeps you all on your toes ;-)
ReplyDeletelots of new experiences !
Hi Els, yes, we are so lucky to have Christine to encourage and inspire us creatively. She has been through all sort in the past several years and she just keeps bouncing back with new ideas or ways of doing stuff. Studio 11 is a wonderful thing
DeleteThis is the first post with the words "corona virus" that I have liked! My hubby has told me if I should see that "spiky ball" to come running! Your versions in stitch are delightful, as is the background color.
ReplyDeleteHello Mary, welcome to my blog. I’m glad my post made you smile, we are living in very strange times aren’t we? Those little spiky balls have enforced a whole new “normal” and we really don’t know what the outcome will be. It is good to try and find some creative response.
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