A friend invited me to come take a picture of the perfectly-positioned web by her dining room window (pristine windows, by the way… crystal clear, unlike mine…).
Of course, I went over to play the paparazzo (paparazza?)
Then, we got close and personal…
Wet feet!
And bonus, my friend had lovely Skimmia japonica bushes in her garden, which turned out very nicely:
And here is another take on the same plant:
This long weekend, if you are near Saturna Island and are looking for something to do (because there really isn’t much to do… other than playing in or on the water, walking in the forest and trails, hanging out with friends and family, and so on…), why not take in the Saturna Studio Tour?
On Sunday, August 2nd, from 11 am to 4 pm, from one end of the island to the other, several artists will open their studios and invite everyone to drop in and have a look at their work.
Interested? Click on the link below to download the PDF brochure with links to the participating artists’ websites and locations:
Saturna Studio Tour 2015 Brochure
If you prefer, here is the brochure in pictures (links are not clickable). Keep in mind that several other artists are also showing their work at the ArtSaturna Point Store Gallery, above the pub (at the ferry dock), and at the Saturna Café. More reasons to come explore, have a bite, and fill your eyes with beauty.
If you are in Duncan, on Vancouver Island, it’s a good idea to stop at the Quw’utsun’ Cultural Centre.
When we arrived, the man at the reception desk was knitting a classic Cowichan sweater.
Outside, some large totems are on display. They have been there a while, and the wood is showing some checking.
I think it adds to the symbolism. Beautiful, powerful work. Sorry I did not write down the name of the artist.
More on my sources of inspiration. (My previous Quilt and Stitch posts are here: One, Two, Three, Four and Five.)
I look for lines and it’s very easy to find them everywhere.
I like lines that curve and repeat, obviously…
I think nature is right up there with the Goddess, the Boss, the One in Charge. I don’t even try to reproduce exactly what I see because, frankly, I don’t think I could do it justice. I am happy to just interpret what I see.
Above: beetle tunnels under the bark, revealed once the tree is dead and has fallen on the ground.
And now, I take you on a side trip to visit the culprit (probable culprit…), of those “mines” as they are called on the fact sheet from Natural Resources Canada, the Golden buprestid (Buprestis aurulenta Linnaeus). A true jewel, don’t you think?
Well, it’s a jewel when it emerges, but its larvae mine channels through wood, even after it’s been milled, sometimes after many years. The record is 60 years, apparently. How about this piece of jewelry emerging from one of your baseboards?
And on the West Coast of BC, the water’s edge is rich with lines and texture. Another of my image hunting grounds.
Above, kelp at low tide, at Botanical Beach, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Which can be interpreted this way, with some fairly dense threadwork…
Here is another abstract photo of kelp at low tide, drying in the sun and waiting the returning waters. I love that gleam.
Machine play that evokes water, flow. Water here, water gone.
And when water plays with rocks, it’s a powerful creator of shapes. Here is an example from the Sooke Potholes Provincial Park on Vancouver Island, where the Sooke River offers a series of waterfalls, calm water and rapids.
And I leave you with these smooth rocks. May the stitching and texturing go as smoothly.
Wanderings are a great source of inspiration for mark-making.
(My previous Quilt and Stitch posts: One, Two, Three and Four).
A few years ago, I returned from a trip to Australia with a camera-full of photos of rocks, vegetation, landscapes. And a head-full, too!
Once I got home, I got busy hand-dying fabrics to build a palette that reminded me of the rocky landscapes and the exotic vegetation I had seen Down Under…
Above, a shot of the erosion on Uluru, or Ayer’s Rock. Very interesting lines. And that colour!
The quilt top went together quite quickly and it was soon time to add the texturing layer, the quilting. I decided to try wool batting. I found it very “puffy”, light and resilient. That puffiness is useful if you are looking for a way to create contrast between areas of dense quilting and others with looser pattern repeats.
In the texturing, I tried to evoke scales, seed pods, leaf veins, water flow… I also had fun with filling-in larger shapes. It’s amazing, really, how a set of lines added inside a shape can completely transform that shape.
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Above, a palm tree on Normanby Island, south of Cairns. Everywhere I turned, trees had lots of personality. Lines, ridges, thorns…
Above, a set of thorny lines, reminding me of a certain palm tree that was covered in thorns. Nasty thing! (Yes, I accidentally brushed against it and learned a valuable lesson about watching where I am heading…)
Above, the wool batting “puffiness” quality shows up between tighter lines of stitching.
I think that by varying the scale and density of mark-making, I can achieve a more interesting surface. Big contrast.
Above, another angle.
And to close this post, a leaf that was washed ashore near Cairns. With a little filter play…
