Machine embroidery Leaves

I've had a request to see close-ups of my Leaves - so first the basket, which is how I originally displayed them.

©Christine Linton

Machine embroidered leaves

 Then some of the openwork Leaves.

©Christine Linton

Machine embroidered leaves

To make these, I zigzagged over copper wire for thick pieces, and over beading wire for thin lines.  Broke a few needles if I went too fast, or the wire bent back towards the needle - slow is best for this technique.  I used different colour threads for variety.

More next time.

Paisley as text

©Christine Linton

Map of Life

©Christine Linton

From my journal.  Painted recycled papers over a map, hand lettering.

Still paisley-ing

Paisley

I'm in the middle of making a book - needing a bit of time to let my head rest.  So I looked through some stuff I had been collecting for ages on Paisley.  I love this pattern, probably because it takes me back to when I was a teenager in the 1960's, and I have started to try out a few paisley designs of my own.  Just a bit of sketching.  You can see by the different background colours that this is a sketchbook I made from recycled paper.

©Christine Linton

Stormy skies

Procion dyes on voile 

©Christine Linton

Paper collage, and some magnificent Aboriginal art

I wanted to make a sample paper collage to depict a wild garden, brilliant with colour.  This is just as a background. I tried my hand-dyed papers, but they were too muted, too harmonious and gentle on the eye.  I wanted something that leapt out at me.  I pulled out the commercial papers, coloured tissue paper, crepe paper.  This sample gave me what I wanted.  The ragged edges don't show because I scanned it rather than photographed it for convenience, so keep in mind I always leave edges ragged.  The colours are a good contrast.  The piece going in a different direction is a flap, I had in mind using it to half-hide a flower under - not quite sure yet if that works.  What do you think?

wild garden collage, commercial papers ©Christine Linton

I attended an exciting exhibition yesterday at Tandanya, some very talented Aboriginal artists, and bought a sketchbook in the Tandanya shop, with a beautiful cover designed by an Aboriginal artist, and yes I did check with the assistant if it was ok to post a photo of it on my blog.  Apparently if something is made in multiples like this and bought then it is ok to publicly show it.  So the assistant said.

Art by Janelle Stockman Napaltjarri, "Dancing Bird Spirits 2008"

This is so beautiful, so feathery.  Here is some more of her art.  What a talented lady (now deceased).