Blog Award!

Thanks to Jules for my very first Blog Award! It is much appreciated!

Things will be going quiet here for a while - packing has already begun, and we're off on holiday in a few days.


Will post again after the 25th July.....


...until then......


HAVE A VERY HAPPY SUMMER ALL OF YOU



x x x Chris

It's Up! ...and open!.....and all my own work!...

Couldn't wait until Sunday!.....took photos when all was finished today.....

...I'm absolutely thrilled with the way it looks!.......and absolutely elated! (lots of exclamation marks - sorry, but I feel really good about this!)

Here we go......













Exhibition Here - Court Cupboard Gallery

....at last....

...the very last piece has been finished; tagged; labelled and put with the rest of the stuff!.....

...and what did I do next?.......


BURST INTO TEARS!!!!!!!


Stupid! ...maybe....but the last couple of weeks have felt like a marathon...and it was a HUGE relief to have the very last piece done.....


It's all being put into place tomorrow, followed by the Private View party on Saturday.....

...photos will be posted Sunday.....


AND A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE UTTERED WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT OVER THE LAST 9 MONTHS OR SO - IT MEANS A LOT, AN AWFUL LOT, TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE OUT THERE AND THAT YOU CARE!

XXXXXX Chris

.....looking forwards.......

....and a bit "backwards" too......



After a "fit of the blues" day yesterday, I started looking through some of my sketchbooks.....

This one was started a little while ago, but had to be left "on-hold" because of current work commitments.

...I'm minded to make a real start on this subject when I return from my French holiday at the end of July....

I've always loved architecture - and the vernacular architecture in France is an absolute GIFT for me! Quaint; imposing; .....whatever you may call it...it is INTERESTING!

Here are some sketchbook pages with drawings of architectural "features" - doors, windows.... I love the details....









The last one I've already had a "go" at.....



...using the embellisher, and some hand and machine stitching...

I was quite pleased with the result, but need to do a lot more "experimenting" before I get something that I'm REALLY happy with.

Here's another page.....this was an amazing stone sarcophagus set into the church wall at St Nectaire in the Auvergne....it transfixed me....(weird eh?)



..and I did quite a large piece ...again with the embellisher and hand & machine stitch....



Odd subject matter maybe.....but then, that's ME I suppose....



....Now.....it's back to watching glue dry!.....

.....thoughts....

Father's Day....


..2009...


...the first without my Dad .......feels very strange.....


Maybe it's because I'm feeling on my knees a bit at the minute...with all the finishing, mounting etc....but...

THIS June I'm living with mixed emotions.

I lost my son in June 2002; ... managed to get myself picked-up a bit over that one...

...but, this year it has felt "closer" - maybe because his Grampa's not here now....


.....some days are a bit "difficult".....


...although fairly repetative work kind-of helps.....no thought required....


Expo opening next weekend is a definite "upper"....and has been a welcome focus to have had over the last few months....


...hope a holiday will help.....

...it's a Guardian day...

The sun's out again, and I'm working on the Tall Guardian Figures - inserts and bases - to get them finished.

There'll be no more "new" items between now and the 26th - the rest of the time is going to be taken up with finishing and mounting.

...but I MAY get the camera out in a few days so you can see things packaged-up....


I have, though, been playing around with "Hyperbolic Crochet" - sounds like some kind of illness doesn't it!

..but it's really quite relaxing because you can just pick it up/put it down and just keep doing double/single crochet....





...using a nice space-dyed yarn...





...utterly pointless, but enjoyable nevertheless....:-)

..sunglasses on!.....

The sun showed up.......so I went outside to photograph this latest Tribal Textile piece......







....IT'S BRIGHT........






....and I love it!.......



...with all it's "carnival" colours.....

.....Hey!!!! Photo of the Week!.....

Just got an e-mail telling me that my "Tribal Textile 3" pic was the most popular photo of the week at FibreFocus!





Have a look at the site:- http://fiberfocus.ning.com/

..a sneaky peek....

I've had to do a bit of written blurb, and some photos for a local magazine who are doing a feature on my up-coming exhibition.....


.....so......


...I HAD to finish one of the "Guardians" to photograph......



Here "she" is ....(she's definitely a "she"!)






(the face looks a bit "strange" in the photo - but not in reality! It's covered in cracked-copper foil...)

...collages and more...

The small collage panels have now been finished, and I'm happy with the results.

They look good mounted on those little canvas blocks...





The larger "Tribal Textile" piece is coming along too (sorry about some of the photos - they don't do justice to some of the colours!)









...now the scrunchy stitching starts ....FUN TIME!....




....and looking forward to Saturday (maybe) when my fabulous fabric weird brooch arrives from Jackie at Dog-DaisyChains .....

..last of the four....

...has, finally, been finished!....








The first of the larger ones has already been started - it's on a charcoal-grey background (for a change)...


Spent most of this morning getting REALLY messy playing with printing ink!

The couple of wooden Tibetan prayer-flag print blocks, obtained for me by the lovely Adele of the Nepal Bazaar in Hay-On-Wye, have now been used. They are absolutely beautiful!

I'm going to use bits of them in some small fabric collages first; then go on to flag-printing "proper".....

Photos in a day or two ;-)