Hot or cool -playing with pattern

Inspiration for an exercise

May, from An Almanac of twelve Sports (image from here)

(image from here)
Yesterday I posted an image I've been working on, with an idea at the back of my mind influenced by the woodcuts of William Nicholson.  I first saw his prints on the wall of the grand staircase of the Mayfair offices of the publishing house William Heinemann in the 1970s, and they have been firm favourites of mine ever since.

Cow from The square book of animals (image from here)
I admire the way he conveys so much with such simple, seemingly static lines and blocks of limited colour.  And although one can see the influence of both German and Japanese woodblock traditions, Nicholson's work is decidedly British in feel.  I think that the gentle humour has something to do with that, but also unfortunately the categorisation of various 'types' which are certainly not now politically correct emphatically tell of the time and the attitudes when he was working.

Both from An Alphabet (images from here)
I also very much am attracted by the use of typography as part of the composition.  There were often such benefits from it having been cheaper to have the artist encapsulate the caption within the illustration - if of course skilled like Nicholson.

The Lady and The Barmaid from London Types (image from here)
I so like the heavy black, and especially the black border which makes his prints immediately distinctive.  The figures burst out of their confinement, alive despite their flatness.

Quick proof prints, and a fascinating book

I did some quick proofing to check what still needed cutting away from some lino plates-in-progress.

Also, I wanted to try out some colour/background combinations.

Still quite a bit of work to do on all counts.

And yesterday I finished an excellent book: Who Built Scotland: A History of the Nation in Twenty Five Buildings.  The 25 buildings start with Kathleen Jamie's poetic imaginings of the prehistoric life, and end with a consideration of The Bothy Project which aims at sustainably leaving nothing ultimately to tell the kind of story from which we learn so much about the past - in some ways a perfect circle. 

Sweeny's bothy, Isle of Eigg (image from here)
I found the book to be engaging, informative, and thought-provoking.

Back to the 3D thing

This week I went on a two day workshop on sculptural textiles with Debbie Lyddon at InStitches.  I have been following Debbie Lyddon's blog for some time and am intrigued by and attracted to her work and her methods.  When the opportunity arose to attend a workshop close to where I live - well, it would have been daft not to try it out.  Especially as I have this longterm background itch about doing something 3D-ish.

Debbie Lyddon: Auricle (detail) image from here
The two days worked really well.  The venue is great - a good space, well equipped, friendly, and generous folks.  The other participants provided such a broad range of input, and fun.  And Debbie herself is a great instructor, provider, and facilitator - as well as being great fun.  Obviously I had a great time!

But it was a productive time too.  I think that maybe this time I have come closer to what might suit my needs.  On this workshop I actually made a more or less complete piece of work.  Usually my intention is to make samples to remind me of techniques, but this time I was moved to try to marry one technique - stiffened pleats - with some element which would make the piece mine.

Wax as a surface, a material, an idea has long held an allure for me, reinforced by an excellent Experimental Batik on Paper workshop I attended some ten years ago or so at West Dean with Hetty van Boekhout (the course is on this year too).  It was the wax element of the Debbie Lyddon workshop that was initially what interested me the most.  And the sample I made for myself has ignited even more enthusiasm.

A piece of muslin was stiffened overnight with a coat of emulsion paint.  On that I stitched (using an awl to make the holes before threading the needle through) quite a thick slippery, disobedient but scrummilly beautiful space dyed thread round an outline.  Ironing wax all over this gave a fabulous feel to an even stiffer cloth, flattened the thread into the fabric, filled out the awl holes, ... gave me something very exciting.
So much to bubble away on my back burner now!  Even though I did say a couple of posts ago that I enjoy thinking, I do also enjoy trying things out.  As Andreas Gursky the photographer said in the Guardian newspaper yesterday: 'As I'm always telling my students: you won't get anywhere sitting at a table thinking.  You learn by doing.  And even if you do something wrong, the result may be much more interesting than what you went looking for.'

Whence?

I sometimes wonder whence visual ideas arrive - but it does not trouble me for long.  I just enjoy playing with the results.  The main thing is not to go poking away trying to replicate, because, as far as I am concerned anyway, it doesn't work.  Like overnight elves, these gems arrive when I'm not looking.
Playing with the idea of symmetry (or not quite) produced this:

Don't ask what it means - if anything - but I am enjoying the sense of drama and mystery, and that mental drift it induces.  After all the birds which have been my companions over the recent years, it is good to get back to fish.  So far it calls itself Worship.
It also has that stark wintery feel to it; pared back, ... which reminded me of another design I started many years ago and put on an almost forgotten back burner: Winter sunshine.  Perhaps I shall work on them both as small stitchings in January after my hibernation.

No snow here, just cold that is not much felt because of the sunshine and lack of wind.  Sunglasses and ice.

More runners

The stamps generated this version of the runners.  The Greek ones date from the Cyprus problems which involved Britain, in the 50s.  My father had to put up with a lot of gentle criticism in Greece that summer, and it was the first time I thought about politics. 
The German stamp fitted visually as well as thematically, then the runners arranged themselves.  But something was needed to bring all together.