WOYWW a different take

Not desk from me this week as I have been away, but hopefully Julia won't mind that I have linked up to my latest post about the Grayson Perry exhibition as it covers weaving, appliqué and many other mediums.

Whilst we were in London recently we went to the Serpentine Gallery for the free Grayson Perry exhibition titled "The most Popular Art Exhibition Ever".

There was a collection ceramics, digital tapestry, mixed media and much more.

As I live in Bristol I particularly like this little "Banksy" rat hidden at the base of one of his large ceramic pots.

The exhibition was very political and fitting considering everything that is going on at the moment in our politics in the UK and USA.

 

 His ceramic pots are quite large and have so much imagery on them that we were all slowly walking round them so we could see each and every piece.

His digital tapestry's were very cutting edge and each had a statement

from the decline of the working class

 to a modern take on the battle of Britain.

 Some pieces (this was called "Our Mother") stopped you in your tracks as you took in everything and stood in silence as you considered the message

Other pieces took a while to read through each of the statement.  My favourite was this red tapestry mapping out everything that is wrong with the modern cities and the segregation of society and class between the 'have' and 'have not'.

He also had some appliqué pieces

As well as his bicycle (and motorbike, not pictured as I had seen it at a previous exhibition)

 

 as well as several assemblage pieces 

and even a skateboard deck!

A great exhibition and a nice companion piece to the Chris Ofili hand woven tapestry exhibition we also visited during our stay (on my previous blog post).

Kyla

 

Whiskey Money Boxes

 Just a quick update as I realised I hadn't blogged a money box I made recently.

The photos aren't great but basically I use the tin/cardboard tubes from whiskey bottles to create money boxes.  This one was especially poignant as it was the last bottle my father had before his death so I decided to make a money box for my mum.

I start by gesso'ing the tube to create an even layer then add torn papers and emphemera.  I often add a watered down gesso layer to blend everything together adding gems, items of importance, ink dirbbles, stencils etc. 

 I cut a slit to add the money and the sunflowers are torn from napkins with a lady bird added

 I added leather die cut flowers, buttons, the word 'Mum' from metal etc

I then applied several top coats of a spray varnish to protect it all.

Full of sentimental value and made with love

Kyla

 

Bargain Mix Media books and inspiration stikes

 Hello peeps.  I hope you have all been keeping well?

Last weekend I had a free weekend (which is rare) and in Bristol we have a book shop where all the books are £2 each! Well imagine my surprise when hubby found a box of American mixed media books hidden under one of the tables!

Now, lets be honest I could have bought most, if not all of them....but I decided to show restraint (yes I did!) and bought these 2 fabulous books-what a bargain.

I haven't had time to browse them properly (I am saving that for my next ultra long bubble bath!!) but it did inspire me to mess up the Room of Shame (odd.....every time I type that I hear it spoken in a deep booming voice!!) and have a go.

This card has a patterned background, toned down slightly with some corduroy DI.  The tag is Dylusions and DI with some water flicked over then some script over stamped with pink DI.

The heart was a piece of watercolour paper which I added ephemera to then scraped acrylic paints over with an old store card and then wiped some gesso over to mute the tones a little.

I then die cut it, stitched round it and added it to the tag with some more stitching and ribbon.

The best part?  I cleared up the Room of Shame (ooh, there's that voice again!!) straight after so its still tidy!

Right, I think I need to have a lie down after all that tidying!

Happy Crafting

Kyla

 

Latest mixed media canvas

Afternoon all.....so in the UK we are back to cold, wet and windy!!  Mind you, the Bank Holiday was glorious, so we shouldn't complain too much!

I thought I would blog another canvas I have made.

This one is much paler and gentle and is one I made just a few days after my dad's death.  I have used many layers of acrylics in cream and whites with some touches of yellow and blush.  I added some texture with some paste and this time I added an inclusion (top right).

 

 I added 4 jigsaw pieces which I painted and added a little gold foiling to the edges and some charcoal to ground the pieces.

I added some stronger colours to the bottom of the piece with oil pastels

The inclusion was made by cutting through the canvas and adding a matchbox tray which I painted and then added texture paste to blend it in with some acrylic, oil and charcoal to bring the piece together.

 I hope you like it.

Happy Crafting

Kyla

 

Inspired by Finnabair

 Hello peeps.  Over on the Snazzy's DT blog (a fabulous craft shop in Swindon...I recommend it if you are looking for the unusual and are in the West country) they have a challenge to be inspired by Finnabair.

Well, let be honest, its not difficult to be inspired by her work (if your are unfamiliar with her amazing work check out her blog)

So I decided to do a page on thick watercolour paper (its so thick I though it would be able to take the gesso and all the inks I planned on using!!).

I have not tried anything like this before and I was quite pleased with how it came out.

I started by using some texture paste through a butterfly necklace pendant and some sequin waste.  I added some fabric, flowers, beads, homemade resin flowers and hearts, washers, 2 hot glue cogs (I LOVE using hot glue like this) and then added some hot glue lines for even more texture.  I then gesso'd the whole lot (but forgot to take a photo of this stage!!).

 

I then used a selection of Dylusion inks and Tim Holtz DI to colour the page.

 

I then flicked water to add some distressing and flicked some black dylusions too.

I added a photo of my dad and me when I was first born, scratching the ink away and adding a little colour to help blend it in.  I finished with a hand drawn frame around the picture.

I think i will definitely try this technique again.

Happy crafting

Kyla