Leigh Wells

 

Textile and paint compositions by Leigh Wells.

Kanae Entani

The skies have been amazing for the last couple of months, the cloud forms so varied and beautiful they have stopped me in my tracks and filled me with wonder. I thought Kanae Entani's textile clouds and cloud like thoughts were a great way to honour and celebrate these beautiful skies and their fleeting vaporous art.  

The Queen Has Arrived.

The queen has arrived all the way from Italy on the sea of Daniela Tordi's wonderful imagination. Strangely despite being an Italian Queen she reminds me of a morris dancer with her exotic and strange costume. 
Thank you Daniela.

Jenny Beckman

This (top) picture on instagram by Annika Sandin intrigued me and then Annika was kind enough to research as to who's work it was. 
These textile animal heads are by Jenny Beckman a textile artist working and living in Gothenburg, they have that presence of old museum pieces or ancient toys, over loved relics.

Tabitha Cottrill

I have just panicked!!!
I couldn't find Tabitha Cottrill's website  or blog. Problem now solved, as you can see and hopefully you can find this recent graduates beautiful and charismatic work too now. 
Tabitha graduated from Bath School of Art and Design in Textiles Design for Fashion and Interior this summer. Her work is mainly in illustration and embroidery.

Carla Sonheim I

Carla Sonheim's creatures are just one element of her work as an artist. Sometimes they are so primitive and 'wrapped' that they remind me of James Castle's magical assemblages.

"Animals enrich our lives on so many levels… the facial expression of an irritated house-cat or the sheer bulk of a hippo inspire and nurture our souls. For me, creating my own menagerie of animals has a similar soul-healing effect…." Carla Sonheim

. . . and more play. . .

Sunny Sunday and time to work on a jelly loving lady from Lochgelly.

Mary-Beth Quigley

Mary-Beth Quigley's degree show at DJCAD Dundee, features a life size giraffe called Geoff, and a menagerie of other creatures peering at you from unexpected places. 
Mary-Beth's work has evolved from a love of costume,installation and film. Scraps of fabric giving shape to childhood memories and evoking a time of joy and innocence.

Haggis Day

The top haggis I made in my textile class for a bit of fun. The middle Haggis has been made (rapidly) for a christening in Ireland this weekend of the grandchild of one of my student's support workers. 
He has nipples a hairy chest and a string (lace) vest. (or as Freya said "he has wonky pimples")
The bottom two are a drawing of Haggis by my student Joan Cargil. 
It is Burns Day in Scotland, a time to drink whiskey eat haggis and enjoy poetry.

Scottish Limericks

I had a wonderful piece of fortune on Friday ( I will tell you about it soon) which caused me to return to my Scottish limericks this weekend. 
So I have powered through this piece at quite a pace. I feel sorry for this lady from Crail as her story is not a nice one. However she is smiling and happy so I think she probably swam off to somewhere where she was better treated.

Happa Do I

Beautiful box art assemblages of textiles, wire and illustration from Happa Do, a website full of beauty.

Shino Suzuki

I was very excited on Friday to be given a parcel with a very recognisable 'Kickcan and Conkers' label on it, by my wonderful friend Jay Anderson who certainly has just the best timing for giving parcels. 

Well I was in a meeting, and I very carefully pealed away layers of washi tape and lovely paper and 'Edward popped out' completely disturbing the meeting (which was perfect).
Poor Edward has made a long journey from the South of France to Scotland, from the Mediterranean to the Forth and apart from his scarf he is not very appropriately dressed, but then most of the time neither am I as I try to pretend that I am in the Med and not freezing in Fife. 
However I will keep him safe and try to keep him warm as we now begin the long winter.

He (Edward) was made by Shino Suzuki who graduated from University College Falmouth in 2009 and was featured on the Selvedge blog but has since vanished from the Internet so if anyone comes across Shino Suzuki and can provide a link to her current work please leave a comment.
Thank you Jay for a wonderful present and thank you Deb for your wonderful shop.

Doinky Doodles Forest

 

 

I have been watching Weng Pixin's (Doinky Doodles)  forest of surreal plants growing, she is propagating more all the time and they are wonderfully imaginative and fun. How could I have an 'art room plant' and not feature such fine specimens?

Michel Nedjar

 

These are a selection of the incredible works of Michel Nedjar a French outsider artist who's work I discovered in a book that I bought last weekend in Berlin. 
Michel Nedjar was born just outside Paris in 1947 most of his maternal family had died in concentration camps during the war. Michel's father was a master Tailor and so Michel grew up surrounded by fabrics and machines. His first dolls were made of offcuts of material and sticks. Michel trained as a tailor also but after military service he travelled extensively. He has always made these dolls, totems of humanity, but he also draws and paints and makes films.

All work and no play . . .

It is a holiday weekend, but it is all nonsense to me as I am busy preparing for an exhibition opening next Saturday and so many other things and working away, every spare minute, on a new series of works based on Edward Lear's Limericks . . . 
I want to finish all the ones pictured, this weekend, but last night I was distracted by a big bag of  fangles and tangles, which is no more.

Suckeracko

A wonderfully strange cloth illustration by Chinese illustrator and cartoonist Suckeracko.

Jung Ji Yee

I am so happy to have discovered the work of Jung Ji -yee, especially as I have been busy working on some new textile works, I love her imagery and her wisdom.
"If you don't draw, how can you show your idea? If you practice scribbling, you will be free. 
Be more you than ever, by drawing images that you like and think without any fear" Jung Ji-yee