Day out and latest printing project

We had a lovely day at Attingham Park again a few days ago. It's a local National Trust property we often visit. We took Amelie but she's not impressed by grand houses so granddad entertained her with football in the grounds while I did a whirlwind tour of the house and its treasures. The stewards are always keen to regale anyone who's vaguely interested with all the history but because of pressure of time I did my best to politely evade them.  I whizzed from room to room and I never expected this photo to turn out so well because the light levels are kept really low to protect the paintings and other treasures

They record the prized cattle of the estate - makes me think I should do something inspired by the excellent beasts who inhabit the field opposite Laura's house!!

The glass cases in the same room house an extravagant number of exotic birds from the day when it was considered acceptable to catch and stuff rare and sometimes endangered species.

I've been working with my altered book again this week. No birds for the moment - I'm focussing on plants and fruits now.

The leaves have been printed using compressed sponge and acrylic paints. After the paint dried I added  a wash of watercolour and love the way the colour sits in the bubbly shapes made by the sponge. I'm thinking I may ask Laura and Jamie to print some of these pages for me in a larger scale. They would be brilliant made larger than life size!

The technique works just as beautifully on fabric as DMTV members will see from this week's video. I'm having great fun stitching into this right now and will let you see the finished piece very soon.

Thanks for reading - love Linda x