Linda Kemshall

Where have you been I hear you ask?

I can only apologise for the unforgivable time that I've completely abandoned this blog! I hope no one has been waiting patiently for posts that never came! I've no excuses really other than, like everyone else life gets in the way sometimes and something has to give. I shall aim to do better! Of course, Laura and I have been busy as usual with Designmatters TV - I hope you all know about the regular creative videos on our website? What you may not have heard unless you visited DMTV over recent days is that we have a new recruit. We have finally persuaded my daughter Frances to join the team. She has worked behind the scenes for a while but we really wanted to showcase her making skills. Fran's first video shows step by step how to make a box bag. The image below is a ready made example from her online boutique maxandrosie.co.uk

I've had one of these bags for a few years now and it's in daily use as my cosmetics bag. Laura uses hers to keep her current, small sewing project handy. The bags are fully lined and really capacious so I hope you might watch the video to make your own.

I'll be back soon with news of my latest quilt. I'm really excited to let you see how it's coming along!

Bye for now - Linda

Such a lot to look forward to!

I don't want to dwell on 2018, or even the start of 2019 - we're just happy that time is over! Now it's time for Laura and I to look forward to new challenges. We've decided not to take part in a major exhibition until 2020. We may do one or two smaller events but we want to focus all our energies on new work so we can be sure when we are ready to exhibit it will be the best we can offer! 

With that in mind I’m still making quilts! This one I’m calling ‘Twilight’. It’s about that time of day when the light fails and the creatures of the night come out to play. We often see a barn owl cruising along the field margins and sometimes swooping over the hedge almost touching our heads. But completely silent! I’ve only made a brief start to the quilting - just yesterday in fact. As ever it will be a crucial part of the piece and will provide the ‘bones’ I need for the painting that will follow. I'm intending that the quilting and painting will break through those rigid lines of the sashing and the border. I'll update you with my progress when I make some!

In between quiltmaking I’ve been working in my sketchbooks as usual - here’s a recent pen and coloured pencil drawing of a woodpecker. I've used a Pitt Artist pen with a very fine nib. Now I need to draw the tree he’s clinging to and I may add a wash of watercolour to give it a bit of substance. I'm keeping a log of the different birds (and moths) we see in our garden - woodpeckers are one of my favourites although I have to say this fellow is lovely but the green variety are the best!

If you follow me on Instagram you'll know that I’ve just finished a portrait of a Standard Poodle. My client saw it only this morning and loves it so that’s a big relief - I was quite nervous to show him what I’d done! I've not painted a dog for years but I really enjoyed doing this one. It's worked on a lovely wooden box panel which I primed with white gesso and then used Golden Open Acrylics and their glazing medium.

Thanks for taking the time to catch up with me here. I hope if you don't already subscribe to our weekly DMTV newsletters you'll do that soon. That's where you'll find the most current info about what we're up to. Just provide your email details at the foot of the DMTV page and the news will arrive in your inbox every week.
Bye for now - Linda x