Autumn musings; fiction, poetry and colour

Autumnal embroidery in silk and cotton floss on calico.

Well it is no surprise that I love Autumn, I take the same kind of photographs every year, I regularly use Autumn leaves for bookmarks and find leaves from past Autumns well pressed in-between pages every year.

I have done my Autumnal re reading of Kim Wilkins' Autumn Castle, such a perfect read for the season and one of my favourite books ever.

The Autumn Castle has a quote from a poem of Kate Forsyth's, another favourite author (Her poems are published under her maiden name, Humphrey).

"So pure and cold the wind breathes. It pares the flesh from the bones of the land - finds at last the essential shape" Autumn, Kate Humphrey.

Kim Wilkins also includes her own translation from a few lines of Hohenburg by Georg Trakl.

"There is nobody at home. Autumn fills the rooms;
Moonbright sonata
And theawakening at the edge of the twilit forest."

This quote reminded me of another, one that when I read it thought... Yes, that's it exactly! Unfortunately all I remember is that feeling and not the quote. Frustrating. Searching my memory I managed to narrow it down to a Charles de Lint novel but despite searching 'on the google' I couldn't find it (turns out I should have remembered the American and Canadian use of the word Fall).

So I started re-reading 'Jack the Giant Killer' and then 'Memory and Dream' and at last I found it.

"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure in the landscape - the loneliness of it - the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it - the whole story doesn't show."
                                                                                                        -Attributed to Andrew Wyeth.

I had read Memory and Dream in a previous Canberra Autumn, where I was feeling incredibly nostalgic. Canberra is planted with many European deciduous trees, reminding me more of German and English Autumns than any Sydney season could give. I was pondering on why I love winter trees (I mean why would a person prefer bare branches to glorious green?) and the Andrew Wyeth quote drew me to an answer. It is that brimming sense of potential, of becoming, of promise. The tension of the moment before the action happens. I love being able to see the 'bone structure' or bare architecture of the tree branches... I guess that is why all my glass pieces have bare branched trees.

OK Autumn gush over!

Well not quite. The trees in my garden, which I take pictures of constantly at this time of year have inspired me to a small embroidery. Yellow and grey are such a great colour combination, that I kept seeing the tree branches and yellow leaves in stitches. So I have started, the background calico is an old piece (20 years) of stitch testing. When I first went to pattern making college, our first lessons where of threading an industrial sewing machine to a timer and practicing sewing a straight and even line. As you can see mine are a little wavy, but I think it works great as a background giving a suggestion of landscape. The calico has a lovely soft texture 20 years later!

Silk and cotton floss on calico sewing machine stitch samples

Happy Birthday Mum

For my mum's birthday I stitched a small embroidery of a Californian poppy. I have been saving seeds from our own flowers, so I included a little bag of seeds too. Those flowers have given us so much happiness and colour over the last few months, I hope they give the same in my parents garden.

Happy Birthday Mum!

Embroidered Selkie Brooch Giveaway

Packing up an exhibition is from my perspective quite a reflective experience. Comparably there are none of the worries and nerves of installing, as you remove bits of hardware from walls and ceiling or clean up plinths you can calmly mull over what you could have done better or as you carefully wrap up sold pieces feel a warm glow through some of the triumphs. 

So last month as we (myself, Emilie Patteson and Alex Frasersmith) were packing up Depths & Shallows at M16 Artspace I was indeed having some moments of contemplation (probably as I was patching holes in the ceiling). Our exhibition had been, I felt, a success. The 3 of us worked together towards a show from proposal to opening night, through ideas and planning, curating and financing. A rewarding and productive learning experience.

Like many shows, our exhibition was a year in the planning and making, an event we had been aiming at for a substantial amount of time and afterwards seemed to be a perfect time to take stock of where I had got to, along this artists path. 

In particular I felt the incredible support given from the arts community and connections made through my art works. Friendship, assistance, opportunities and more all gladly given. Thank you.

So to celebrate the journey so far and to thank all of the people who have supported me along the way I’d like to give away 3 hand embroidered ‘Selkie’ brooches.

to be in the draw to Win one of these stitched Selkies by commenting on or sharing this post via your favoured social media platform with the name of your favourite folk or fairy tale.

Thank you and good luck!

'Selkie Brooch Give-away' is open internationally and closes midnight AEST Tuesday 30th September. I will randomly draw 3 names and contact the winners in order to send them their gift. Any questions don't hesitate to ask... Spike.

Lamp shade sample

I have been making a sample for a light shade for our bedroom. Stitches, piercings and cuts in differnt patterns on card. I show Dougie, holding it up to th light and ask for some feedback. "It needs to be a bit bigger" he says!

IT'S A SAMPLE! I say, it's not meant to be full size!

Stitching selkies

Here is a first experiment turning my Selkie sketches into textiles with calico, back-stitch, satin-stitch and one french knot. What would be a suitable stitch for hair?

Seal needs one more splotch