Royal Academy of Art Summer Exhibition

 For the past few years my husband and I have travelled to London every year to see the Royal Academy of Art Summer Exhibition.  It is an amazing exhibition that runs every summer.  Anyone can submit a piece to be considered, from a grandmother in wales, a student in Birmingham, a celebrity musician through to a member of the RA-anyone (BBC iplayer usually has a great programme where they follow some of the people through the submission process.  If you ever get a chance to watch them I recommend it).

 There are SO many different mediums from fabric, sculpture, glass, paint, digital etc with styles from classical to modern.  The picture above is a fabric and stitched piece.

  

This one of skaters was one of our favourite in the exhibition.

This Amy Winehouse figure was made from beads and findings.

 

 Some of the artists are instantly recognisable such as this Gilbert and George piece

 Whilst other pieces took you by surprise

 I particularly liked this piece

 This large piece of lace was a great piece to see hanging on the wall

 There was SO many different styles.

 These pieces had money stuffed into their mouths!

 In the architectural section this digital 'blueprint' was stitched onto fabric

 Whilst in another gallery this chair was made from spent ammunition cases

Once again my eyes were drawn to pieces such as this on old book pages.

Inspiration at every turn-a great day out

Kyla

 

Beach huts and tumeric

 Over on the collaborART blog we are taking part in a Chinese Whispers circle journal-full details can be found in my previous posts here .

This month I was sent this parcel of goodies to try to incorporate some in the next make. The picture I was sent was of an autumnal quilt made of small rectangles so I used the inspiration of the colours and rectangles to create my next project.

 I used the dyed fabric as the background and added a piece of fabric I dyed with tumeric (from the colour inspiration) and some left over blue dyed fabric that I was practising stencilling and stamping on.

 Folded over the blue fabric just looked blue with a little faded black in parts-but turn it over and you can see my failed experiment!

 I then stapled it all to a frame to keep it taut

 adding stitching with the machine and some metallic thread for the sea. I also cut out some scraps for a beach hut (using the cardboard shapes as a template).  I painted up one of the brads I was sent and use it on the roof of the beach hut.

 I added  a couple more beach huts and some of the felt I was sent as a door.

 I then added lots of layers for the sea.  Everything from wool, string, silk throwers waste and net which I couched down with free machine embroidery.

So that's my 3rd make-half way through.  I have not received this month envelope yet so not sure what to make, but I am sure it will once again test my imagination-which is the purpose of me doing this, to get out of my crafting comfort zone!

Happy crafting

Kyla

 

Another archway!

 Over on the CollaborArt blog we are taking part in a six month chinese whispers fabric project.

Each month we use another participants previous project to inspire us and a small envelope of goodies are sent to try to use some of them in our next project (full details can be found on my previous blog post here).

  The lovely Chris sent me (a larger than expected!!) envelope of goodies 

(such lovely building fabric)

 

 and this fantastic card titled "The Socialites Boccee Tournament.  Friendly competition ensues on the course but it's no reason to put down the wine"  A sentiment I concur with!!

 The picture of the project I was sent had some stamped images on the fabric (a lovely art quilt representing a season) so I thought I would use that as my inspiration spring board.

I used some fabric I previously dyed in a tea bath and stamped an ornate archway and attached the printed fabric, batting and muslin.  I made a mask to ensure I was covering the archway with the patterned fabric.

 I then free machine embroidered around the stamped image and then with a deep breath cut through the top layer (being extra careful NOT to cut any deeper) to reveal the layers below

 I then added some of the decorative edging and a metal button Chris sent me and made 2 ribbon roses (thanks to Jill and Arlene at the Coven for their patience in teaching me how to do this!) and used some variegated thread to add a couple of hand stitched leaves

 I also added some hand stitching on some of the buildings to add to the quilted effect.

Month two down.  I have already had my photo for the next inspiration, but this project has taught me to hang fire on deciding what to make next as it can be difficult to incorporate some of the items you are sent (which is good as it stretches the imagination).  

So I await another visit from my postie

Kyla

London via body snatchers through street art and on to Tibet!

 Last week hubby and I went to London for a few days.  We both love London and usually manage to see some different parts of the city to others (and the fact that my brother, sister-in-law and new baby niece live there is a bonus!).

We stayed close to the Thames as its central to a lot of areas we like and easy to get buses to most places and some lovely walks along the Thames.

This blog post if quite photo heavy-you have been warned!

After walking along the Thames path we cut up towards St Pauls towards the Salvation Army HQ and spotted this church tucked away.  If you are in the area the Sally Army has a fantastic cafe. SO cheap and a great selection, sadly we were quite late in the day so all the veggie food had sold out, but we will definitely be making a return visit.  We lunched at Mangio (in the very cool sounding Knightrider Street) a great italian, really cheap fast italian food of a box of handmade stuffed pasta, made in front of you, sauce, salad and bread for £7.50)

 The view of St Pauls always takes my breath away.  I have photographed it from SO many different viewpoints over the years.

Our next visit was to http://www.stbrides.com/ otherwise known as the Wedding Cake Church (as its spire resembles one)

 

In the Medieval Chapel this plaque commemorates the family and the staff of Associated Newspapers who lost their lives in the World Wars.

 There is also a Roman mosaic pavement and an exhibition about body snatchers

 You can see why it is called the Wedding Cake Church to many!

 On one of our walks we stumbled across this, love the old tiles on the outside of the building

 At the Museum of Film we spotted these  (we didn't go in but this was in the lobby)

We also popped into the British Library, as we often do and this time there was an exhibition of Alice in Wonderland, there was a no photography sign up so no photos of that, instead here is an advertising sign I spotted on our walk to the library (starting off in fleet street) and  this bank all painted was opposite St Pancras station

 In Westminster (New Burlington Mews) I spotted this alleyway with fabulous gates and wall paintings

 and as we cut through from Carnaby street to Soho this mosaic caught my eye

Not sure where I spotted these two (I think one was in Islington on a trip to Cass Art)

 These pigeons are by Patrick Murphy and are a response to homelessness in London (the notice about them explains they are often seen as unwanted guests-banished from centres and branded a nuisance) and helps raise money for St Barnabus on Greek Street.

 

 We also visited the British Museum.  There is SO much to see there we usually only do one exhibition on each visit, this time it was the Egyptian rooms.

 

 

 

 I couldn't resist a quick look round one of the textile exhibition there as well though!

 

 This is the body mask of the serpent demon Kaliya and was made in a monastery where Krishna's heroic life is re-enacted each year

 

 These masks also form part of a dance where the crane demon Bakasura is 

killed in the forest by Krishna.

 This is a weaving technique (Lampas) which is now extinct throughout the whole of east Asia. During 1500-1800 they produced textiles with a ground woven with one set of warp and weft threads, and a pattern woven with another set of warp and weft.

Another day I took hubby to the UCL Institute of  Neurology and Neurosurgery (I know how to treat my man!!).  This was for an exhibition in their library of Embroidered Minds a collaboration about the epilepsy of the family of William Morris.

 

 It was a thought provoking exhibition and something very different to do on holiday.

 I love the old buildings in London, there is always a photo opportunity, even if it is an old fire escape!

 Or even one of the old signs

 As we wandered around the area we stumbled across this blue plaque

Without a doubt, the Thames at night is a beautiful  sight

 They even lit up this building especially for Valentines weekend!

We also popped into Somerset House for the bigbangdata exhibition (not the best I have seen) and the Wellcome Institute for Tibet's Secret Temple exhibition (which was awe inspiring).  

So there you have it, another trip around London and some quality time spent with the family.

Always a shame when it comes to an end, especially since the buses in London are so frequent and seem to work really well-unlike Bristol!

Happy crafting

Kyla