Tag Archives: fabrics & sewing (machine)

bookbinding : : The City of Light

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Played with my sewing machine today, and used the bright, layered fabric I had made on a journal cover. It’s great to do things in the spirit of fun, but still end up with something that I’m happy with and can use in my work! Feels good to be productive without really putting pressure on myself to produce.

The City of Light was inspired by—naturellement!— Paris; by the cabaret, by visions of whirling boulevards and sparkling laughter spilling out of nightclubs…by la jeune fille élégante aux cheveux rouges, the magic of a glittering metropolis at night, every light an iridescent sequin flashing. And by the poetry of T.S. Eliot and this excerpt from The Bistro Styx by Rita Dove…

…Fruit and cheese appeared, arrayed on leaf-green dishes.
I stuck with café crème. “This Camembert’s
so ripe,” she joked, “it’s practically grown hair,”
mucking a golden glob complete with parsley sprig
onto a heel of bread. Nothing seemed to fill
her up: She swallowed, sliced into a pear,
speared each tear-shaped lavaliere
and popped the dripping mess into her pretty mouth.
Nowhere the bright tufted fields, weighted
vines and sun poured down out of the south.
“But are you happy?” Fearing, I whispered it
quickly. “What? You know, Mother”—
she bit into the starry rose of a fig—
“one really should try the fruit here.”
I’ve lost her, I thought, and called for the bill.
*******************
Book no. 907 is in my online shops


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Nicky Perryman’s Textile Art

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blackberry_bird_detail2, originally uploaded by Nicky Perryman.

I’ve wanted to run around to all my crafty friends for a while now, squealing about Nicky’s work.

She’s an amazing embroiderer, both by hand and machine…she uses stitches that everyone knows, and yet her work’s so distinctive, and unique! The way she layers her fabrics, and the way she seeds them with color, the subtle gradations and textures…make them really stand out.

Some people are neat stitchers, some people have an eye for colour, some people bring fascinating texture to their work…she seems to have perfected all these facets, and more, of textile artistry, and brings them together in a harmonious whole that isn’t (as one would expect) garish, loud, heavy, or busy. A real master. AND she’s super nice, too. Gosh.

I’m inspired to embroider when I see her work, at the same time I find myself thinking “Oh, why bother with Nicky in the world?!”

So that someday you, too, will become as good as Nicky Perryman? *sigh*

Nicky Perryman’s Flickr set and blog

Encarnación: real and imagined women

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Cion web 21

Apologies for the long silence, there…as the opening day of my exhibition loomed I was caught up in last-minute work, as well as having to repaint the gallery walls, hang the pieces, and prepare the food for opening night.

hand-embroidered on cotton handkerchief

hand-embroidered on cotton handkerchief

All up there were 16 separate pieces on show and, although I was worried they were too small and too few to fill the gallery, once I had everything up I realized there wasn’t room for much more than what I had. Thank heavens it was a small room!

So many friends turned up for the 6 pm opening that, at the beginning, there was no room in the little gallery for us to do more than stand still, holding our champagne glasses protectively under our chins and craning over each other’s shoulders to view the walls. My especial thanks to Dave and Jan Tassel, Jan Carter, Melanie Ketterer and Katrin Ladurner, Sarah Pirrie, Bob and Alison Watt, Jo and Ruth Gerke, Helena Blundell, Mark Misic and Bek Mifsud, Laws, Maria, Claire…and a dozen others who dropped in to have a look, a drink, a chat. My deepest gratitude to Lisa Wolfgramm, DVAA’s fabulously efficient administrator, who was just wonderful about everything, and to Kris Larsen, my best friend and belovéd, for the thousand invisible helps and his strong, steady love and encouragement leading up to my first solo exhibit.

You’ll find a dog’s breakfast of pictures from the exhibition, as well as pictures of works-in-progress, research, and inspirations, in my Flickr set Señorita Encarnación.