Moving on to the next thing

I feel like I could make talisman pockets in my sleep now! All 100 are now complete and just awaiting their hidden messages. Thanks to everyone who has contributed their secret wishes - we'll be writing them out by hand and stitching the papers closed before popping a wish in each pocket. At present the talismans are pinned higgledy piggledy on my design wall but soon they'll be taken to Bilston Craft Gallery for the Through Our Hands exhibition where no doubt they'll be displayed with a little more care.

This is what 100 look like crammed together!

And here are some collagraphs, intaglio and lino prints in more detail.

The installation is called, 'This is Everything That We Are'. It's an apt title because we've used images and artwork featuring significant objects together with photos of family past and present to make the pockets. Finally we've added hand painted detail, drawing and text. While work for exhibition goes on in the background, we are always busy with other things too.

In April, Laura is offering two workshops about her methods for altering books. She knows I've always got several books on the go so she's asked to borrow a few for students to browse through during their coffee break. This one is all about nests and eggs. I've used pigment pen over a layer of gesso to make a scribbly tree. Many of the pages are yet to be altered so I'm hoping Laura might work into it as part of her demos!

The frontispiece has oil pastel with a wash of watercolour and another pigment pen drawing of the tree and nest. Our garden is full of busy birds with beaks full of mud and twigs at the moment so my theme is certainly current!

The original illustrations are too nice to lose completely so I've just allowed the twigs to cross over a corner of this page. If you'd be interested to take the class please contact Laura to see if there are any places left.

It has suddenly occurred to me that Easter is fast approaching. My mom has had a lovely little summer room added to the back of her house and she doesn't know it yet but this will be her Easter present! (I'll tell her it's better for her than chocolate). One of my watercolour paintings that Jamie printed a while ago has made up into a striking cushion. The colours are particularly gorgeous on the velvet fabric! Fingerprint aren't adding these to their website as there are only a few prints available but you might be lucky if you email to enquire. They have two sizes on velvet and cotton fabrics but only a very few of each so you'll have to be quick!

Now that the work for Bilston is as good as finished it's time to move on to the next challenge. Through Our Hands will be exhibiting at Festival of Quilts in August and we have plans for a collaborative quilt that I can't talk about right now. We know exactly what we want to achieve but thinking about something and actually doing anything about it are two distinctly different things. We're actually quite nervous about getting started but if it turns out anything as good as it looks in our imaginations it will be wonderful! What a shame you don't all do telepathy! Lots of research, photography and drawing are needed now. We won't be going anywhere near fabric till we've got all that right!


Have a great week! Love Linda x