TAST - Basque Stitch

Here's my TAST sample for Basque stitch - a bit behind but I'm sort of catching up. This is another stitch that was new to me and I enjoyed doing it especially once I got the hang of the curves.

Cherries!

It's cherry season again! When I went into town yesterday lunchtime I spotted cherries on the fruit and veg stall and had to buy a pound. I only stop at the stall in cherry season but the owner recognises me and knows exactly what I want! I had a smile on my face all the way down the road after I bought them. Last year's crop was excellent so I hope this year's will be just as good. In season I eat a pound a day whenever I get the chance to buy them. My daughter's given up trying to claim one or two and just leaves them all to me. Here's an ATC I made last year in homage to cherries - it's an image I use over and over again.

TAST - Woven & Whipped Wheel

I'm trying to catch up with the TAST challenge as I'm a few weeks behind. Here's my go at woven and whipped wheel. I have done this before and love the effect, this time I got a bit distracted by the half wheels, I think the resemblance to fans took me back to my fan sketchbook. The straggly one originally had a bead in the centre but the bead I chose was too bulky and it ended up just looking silly so I cut it off after I'd woven the wheel - hence the untidy look which I actually quite like.

Creative Sketchbooks

I spent yesterday at the final workshop for my Creative Sketchbooks class. Because we were all struggling with the deadline for the second book we've had a welcome extension from June 7th to July 5th so I can breathe a bit easier now. It was fun to spend all day playing about, trying out things and seeing what everyone else was coming up with. The variety of ideas and techniques we each bring to the same task is amazing and bouncing ideas off each other is a definite plus. We've each come to the class from different backgrounds and with very different interests and experience and all of that feeds into the mix. I'm very behind with the TAST challenge but am busy doing a little blackwork sampler for my sketchbook of a design I found on a leaded window during my photographic tour of Dorchester. I must get that finished before I get back to TAST.

Windows

Activity is on-going here but there's not much to show for it at the moment. I'm coming to the end of my City & Guilds Creative Sketchbooks course and my first sketchbook on fans passed assessment thank goodness. I spent Easter putting together a portfolio of all my samples of the different techniques we have learnt over the weeks and now I am working on my second and final sketchbook which has a very scary deadline! The first book was an altered sketchbook but the second one has to be constructed and freestanding which is rather more tricky. I'm planning to use 2 canvases as the ends and make a concertina book between them using mountboard and my theme is windows. On Friday I had a day off work so I walked round town taking pictures of windows and I was amazed at the variety I found.

I put some of the photos together in a collage - the most mundane window in there belongs to my house! I took a copy of the collage and cut it into strips and did some paper weaving with it and I'm now thinking of what else I can do with the photos for my sketchbook. Gradually it's starting to come together.

Lisa Vollrath's Countdown

Lisa Vollrath has another countdown on her website, offering free images to download ready for Mother's Day (American one). Take advantage of her offer here http://countdown.tentwostudios.com:80/