Hampton Court

Me and mother went on a little trip to Hampton Court Palace yesterday.
It was really quite nice, however it was a little dark inside and most pictures didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. Still, an enjoyable day out!






















The rest of the photo's are on my flickr

I love it when the wind blows the window shut

I walked home in the rain with no umbrella and holes in my shoes. It was brilliant. I definately love spring. Everything was damp smelling and green.

Added to my wall...I can't look up without seeing something inspiring or that makes me feel happy. Productive workspace.

Oh la la.

Such a long and tiring day today. I'm ready for bed, but I feel the urge to do some drawing. Though as I can barely sit up properly, I don't think I'll last very long.
I'm so proud of what I did today. I havent photographed it properly. I think tomorrow, or at the weekend, I'll photograph everything properly, and just do a huge post full of photos.
But for now....



warps dyed and ready


I love the colours and tones...I'll be doing this again!


wound and threaded


I'm so happy with this. I haven't woven anything that feels like real fabric for a while. I'll be sticking with the fine wools now!


this is the back...I was too lazy to lift all the shafts I needed, so the pattern is on the back


beautiful colour gradation throughout the samples...it makes me so happy!


this is what the front side looks like...the colours are off because i took it from under the loom and edited it lighter.


beautifully productive day!

Blogging from the bath

My bath was becoming dangerously full so I decided to hop in. I then near-scalded my feet.

A midweek bath can only mean one thing: an intense few days.
Here is what I have created so far this week
(I'm currently photographing last weeks samples, so they'll be here later on!)

So

I've watched a tonne of miami and la ink today and france won the six nations. Prooooductive. I did download weavemaker with the intention to sort my technical work out.
AND i sent some photos off to be printed. thanks emma for the tip off about that promo.

I also finally dragged my arse back to twitter....twitter.com/jesscox2
boring professional sounding name. not as fun as jessicanary.

Not the earliest morning...

I awarded myself an accidental lie-in. I just couldn't stay awake at 7am.
I'm waiting for the bathroom to free up, so I thought I'd post the update on my weaving so far...

First warp:




my entire set of pintucked samples!


I crammed and spaced the warp and painted it...the colours are beautiful!






the denser and lighter areas of warp give really interesting textures and varying depths and intensity of colour, I'm so pleased that I painted it!


I've yet to photograph this one in it's finished state!



Now for this weeks warp! I've only completed one sample, but I've been learning techniques, which I shall explain later, or tomorrow, as I've left all the photocopies under the loom! I think theyre called Danish Medallions though? (a quick google says I'm right!)








detail of the rope twisting


textural.

Up-hill struggle

I feel like I have so much work to do, and time is just slipping away before I can do anything.
I'm falling asleep over my laptop, but feel compelled to post pictures of the dye book I have just started. I only have two yarns and four dyes to put in it so far, but will be adding to it over easter with anything and everything I can find!






I feel like an alchemist, experimenting and documenting my findings.
I've been doing alot of weaving lately, here's a sneak peek at my pin-tuck work...I'll post more tomorrow.

Hej, Sverige...

I have just had the biggest rush of longing for Sweden.

The tiny, antique shop and cafe crammed streets of Gamla Stan, Stockholm...

An injection of colour

I can't believe I forgot to post pictures of my recent trip to Kew Gardens. I've been looking forward to that for some time, it's perhaps the most enjoyable day out in winter! Of course, the actual gardens are pretty dull in winter, but the delights inside the greenhouses are what I always go there for!


We said these leaves were patterned like dinosaurs.


Yes....it's slightly immature...but still amusing.


This plant was, honestly, huge. It also looked like a triffid and scared me.


I was struck by the resemblance of many plants to genitalia...I love nature and it's strange ways.


The tropical room in it's entirety.


A display of various orchids and other plants (my horticultural knowledge is pretty slim).


The size of the trees is quite astounding, despite the rusting metal walkways making me increasingly nervous.


I love the 19th century construction.


If there is one thing I must have in my house, it is an over-grown white metal spiral staircase with wooden handrail!

Perhaps my favourite room of this visit: The orchid house.
So much colour and life, it was so refreshing on a cold, rainy winter day!








This is most definately my favourite photograph, I love the way that the orchids look as if they're clamouring to be photographed, like children...very Alice in Wonderland haha.

Beginnings and ends....

Two beautiful photographs that I have taken this week, the weather has been so wonderful.
What a nice start to sprigtime...


Sunrise on Wednesday


Sunset on Friday

Really pretty...makes me wistful for summer.

Artist Statement

I just wrote a rough draft of my artist statement.
I'm not sure if I like it, I don't really like writing personal things about myself. Perhaps why I don't tell people much about this blog.....
Actually that's really bad of me, how am I supposed to be an artist if I don't like people knowing my personal thoughts and ideas???? I've gotta do something about that...perhaps I'll link people to this blog?
Hmm...anyway, artist statement...enjoy.

I have always been fascinated by nature and the way things grow, change and develop. I suppose this led onto my fascination with weaving, and being able to see and control the way a fabric or art piece forms. This translates to the way I work on the loom; allowing my ideas to develop in an organic and spontaneous way whilst I weave.

I use photographs that I take daily as an inspiration to my artwork. Currently I have been exploring ideas of scale; cropping photographs and enlarging them to see the minute textures and shapes that form within nature. This has motivated me to create very large textile pieces that play with these shapes and textures. The subtle colour changes and differences that occur have also inspired my dyeing techniques and colour choices.

I feel that waste and destruction of environment within textiles is a very important issue, and where possible I try to use every last bit of yarn as well as taking on waste from others. I try to make sure that my yarns are either recycled or from sustainable sources and will also use waste yarns. All of the colours used within my current work are derived from vegetable/natural dyes, which adds an extra depth to my work; it becomes an embodiment of nature.

Change of name..

It was an old name and needed updating. Plus this new one is pretty accurate hahaha

Here are some drawings from my life drawing classes last month. I'm not really attending anymore, I have more pressing things. Despite the fact that it was fun and quite relaxing.
I'm particularly pleased with the hands and feet, as I'm not usually too good at them. And the proportion.