Taking LEAF

We had a lot of garden clippings indoors for our foliage printing workshop! Beautiful work began appearing on the carpeted walls.

And we perfected a new technique introduced by Monica! Margaret mastering 'whip-it'.

L-R Mary, Irma, Wilma, Maggie, Carol, Ruth, Margaret, Sue and me.

With Monica who brought this piece in the next day with the next stage of stitching, added to it!

Leaf it Alone Taiwan style

Yesterday I taught Leaf it Alone. I'm wearing the official  exhibition T-shirt and love the pink trim.

In the morning my students included 3 masters of quilting- L-R me, Lin Hsin-Chen, TIQE curator who introduced me to the students, Jin Yuan Shan, China, Mary Pal, Canada and Misik Kim, Korea. It was an honour to have them in the workshop.

This is how much fun we are having every day!

Mary, Sherry, Sofia, my wonderful interpreter and I had collected many leaves and grass for the students.

At the end of the day my wonderful students with their beautiful printed pieces.

I always finish my workshops in a particular way, ssshh, a little secret!

More prints from Warwick

Mary

Mignon

Noreen

Vicki

Ginny the printing is a direct method mostly using the actual leaf.

Leafing it alone in Warwick

Had a great 2 days of workshops in Warwick with the talented ladies from the town and further afield. L-R Mary, Lyn, Vicki, Noreen, Dorothy, Mignon, Joyce and Karen with some of their Leaf it Alone pieces.

The workshop room at the back of the gallery had newspaper covered tables and the students printed many leaves and grasses they had collected. We missed the action and jazz at the Saturday market outside the gallery, but as you can see many beautiful pieces were printed. Joyce above.

Karen

Lyn

Zion plants

Yucca- we are seeing it throughout the canyon, on the walks. I have forgotten the name of this yellow plant, which has been everywhere.

Below is 3 stages of the Sacred Datura.

The wildflowers are out & it's very interesting to see where different species grow.

And because I have some paint & fabric to print & rub on my travels, I took advantage of this cabin writing desk.

Mexette playday

I took time out from dress sewing, which was my first love of sewing years ago Chris, to have a play day with Mexette friends. Leaf printing, direct printing of found objects & some oil stick rubbing rounded out our day which was so much fun that we had lunch at 3pm!

L-R Diane, Sue, Marg- photo taken by Mexette Jennie from Adelaide

Marg had the brightest yellow twill fabric & used geranium leaves for her prints creating a unique one-off piece.

Leaf it Alone workshop- Queenstown

While my first load of washing is rolling around in the machine, I'll blog! Great to be home & sleep-in with today a public holiday in Australia. What a wonderful week at Symposium thanks to the organising committee. Convener Marg will probably be putting her feet up for a rest, after the hard work of her team for the last 3 years.

My suitcase did finally arrive after 3 days [missed my first workshop] being held up in Christchurch by Customs who searched through it, but left my small paint pots & oil sticks in tact. I designed a new, small quilt for the Leaf it Alone workshop & like it so much I'll make up a sample. Petra from 2dye4 kindly gave me paint & supplies for my demonstration. So thanks to all my students over the 5 days, for spending your time with me- it was great fun!

The Remarkables were our photo backdrop for each workshop, the tree losing more leaves as the week progressed.

Printed by Lynette

Printed by Rose-May

Printed by Marian

Printed by Lyn

This fabric was printed by Clare. A full selection of class images will be in the Workshop/Student Photos section of my website, once it is updated in a month or 2 by my webmaster Brenda Gael Smith.

Queenstown #3

Snow on the Remarkables greeted us earlier in the week on one of the coldest days during Symposium. The many colourful leaves provided us with great raw material for printing in the Leaf it Alone workshop. I'll be able to post many more photos once I'm home. I'll try to get rubbings & print before leaving, but as you can imagine many social events take place during a Symposium, such as wine tasting, gala dinner, daily happy hour & exhibitions to view!

New Zealand Symposium

It's been a long time in planning, but next month the Remarkables Symposium is taking place in Queenstown, New Zealand on the South Island. Are you joining me in 1 of the 3 workshops I have on offer? Above is 'Opal Necklace' from the Opal Fever workshop. My other workshops are 'Leaf it Alone' & 'Divide & Conquer' with images in the student gallery section of my website.

Jane & Virginia, thanks for your comments yesterday & I hope you both enjoy your blogging journey.

A new quilt

This fabric piece has been used for the testing of ideas for an invitational quilt to go to Michigan, USA. The theme is an interpretation of little miracles & can focus on comfort, hope, peace, strength & courage. I first looked at interpreting the universal symbol of the heart & 'x' for kisses, but was drawn more to nature- it's miracles & soothing balm for our soul, hence the leaf printing. Indian wood block printing is in the background of my work.

Almost ready for the facing.

AiR #2

Alison, I was able to print, here in the Santa Fe hotel room & rub as I travelled, so it gave me great souvenir fabrics & instant colour in the AiR studio.

I'm also playing with commercial prints & have a changing design wall as ideas unfold. Below, "Day of the Dead' [Fiesta de los Muertos] first seen in Disneyland & celebrated on November 1, just as All Saints Day is in Italy.

I'm in love with the vibrant colour & joy this seems to encapsulate.

Leaf it Alone workshop

The last workshop I taught was Leaf it Alone & there were double the amount of students, to the lovely ladies in this photo, but they were 'leafed out' & 'leafed' the room. High spirits abounded as paint was splashed around & art cloth came to life. Some examples of the great results below.

Thanks Francie for 3 creative days shared with you & Bronwyn.

Dorothy

Meg

Kathryn

Carol

All the workshop photos I took from the 3 classes will eventually appear in the workshop/student gallery on my website.