Category Archives: Inspiration

10 days in Japan

Posted on by
Reply

Just back after spending 10 days in Japan over Easter. Cherry blossom time and also some wonderful exhibitions of scroll paintings (combining both beauty and some wonderfully comic scenes). We also met and had dinner with a Meiko (training to be a Geisha, a five year process) and two Deiko (or Geisha). Their dances where all of the emotion and story is through the hand and body movements (their feet always remain on the ground).

While in Japan we visited one of the main shibori dyeing towns where I found some wonderful fabric and I also bought some pieces of vintage kimonos from a shop in Tokyo which I can never resist visiting.

As I always do, I took both my paints and scissors and glue and made a series of collages as inspiration for future projects. Our daughter came with us and her stylish hats and dramatic art student black and white clothes may also inspire a quilt!

Pat Archibald at the Edinburgh Festival

Posted on by
Reply

[vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_column_text]Off to the Edinburgh festival to see the exhibition of “Rhythms” by Pat Archibald’s students of whom I am one. As always it is fascinating to see how differently the different people in the group interpret the theme and where they get their inspiration from.

Some time ago when in Venice I photographed washing hanging in a back alley and the colours and architecture made it beautiful –I used that as my inspiration and experiments with using nets as a way of making shadows.

See more of Pat Archibald’s quilts.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Scotland, where I find my inspiration

Posted on by
Reply

[vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_column_text]The inspiration for my work comes from the forms and patterns I see around me. The landscape of Scotland, where I have a cottage on Harris, always inspires me; Harris being an island surrounded by sea my works reflects the constant movement of sea and sky. I also travel a great deal, particularly to Japan, which is an endless source of new ideas.

I use my own dyed fabric as well as commercial fabric and love to find fabric when I travel which I can then use in my own work. By nature asymmetrical compositions appeal to me and abstracts rather than representational images interest me and my work reflect this. Colour, even more than music, is what stirs my emotions and I find unexpected combinations in nature, art in galleries or just the street.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”15780″ img_size=”full” qode_css_animation=””][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Recycled ribbons

Posted on by
Reply

[vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_column_text]Some time ago I noticed how attractive the ribbons are which smart shops wrap packages with and decided to make my friends bags as Christmas presents using the recycled ribbons and scraps of fabric from my larger projects. As always time disappeared but I did finally manage to make six and really enjoyed the process of creating each one and deciding what style might appeal to each friend.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Working on a triptych

Posted on by
Reply

[vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_column_text]Working on a triptych- people have lived in the Outer Hebrides since the Bronze Age and have left traces on the landscape- standing stones, bronze pins and more recently the stones of long deserted crofts,‘ the marks of long forgotten fields on the hillsides and the peat diggings. The piece I hope evokes the ideas of these without making exact representations of them. I am submitting it to the SAQA “Made in Europe” show.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row]