Under the Sea - Irene MacWilliam

As I had recently completed a number of sea/fish pieces I was a bit stuck on this theme so I took the angle of pollution. 
I made a printing plate (see second image) from foam scraps that a friend was discarding. The grey shapes as printed represent all the bits and pieces that float around our oceans.
 I used a lino cutter and a school rubber to make the fish skeleton stamp. The letter stamps for 'Pollution'  were made from a wooden alphabet bought on ebay several years ago. The fabrics are all scraps or a

recycled old sheet, dyed or in some cases paint dyed. Free machine quilting.
I have had another idea so I might be contributing another piece, who knows.

Fiddler On The Roof

I laughed...I cried.  And many of the lines and songs from this movie are a part of our life now.  One of my favorites is when Tevia is talking to God in the barn about wishing he were a rich man.  "Would it spoil some great eternal plan...if I were a wealthy man?"  And the relationship with his wife and the loves of his daughters...so many faces of love and devotion.

Fiddler On The Roof - Kelly

This piece has all kinds of my own fabrics - hand-dyed, snow-dyed, discharged, ruching, confetti dyed, stamped, drawn on, painted. Only the fiddler is not my fabric but black Kona.

Ash Dieback (to the theme of Text)

I printed on white calico the background dots to represent the fungal spores of Chalara fraxinea that is causing dieback in our ash trees. I also printed the text one letter per 3 inch square. Free machined leaf and seeds. I now realise that the seeds would probably fall or spin with the seed or heavier end at bottom so my seeds are the wrong way up, however I think aesthetically I would prefer them as I have done them. This is the first time I have worked with browns or autumnal colours and to my surprise I quite enjoyed that. It is also a very pale piece, not my usual.

I have killed - 2 birds with the one stone- as they say, because our embroidery guild exhibition is to the theme "Blowing in the Wind" so this suits that theme. I have stitched my finished piece to a 12 inch canvas frame for our exhibition but it easily removed.
Irene MacWilliam

Gillian's Chickens

Inspired by..... This has been a very difficult challenge for me as I seldom work from images or text which was what the title implied to me. I have been thinking a lot about my friend who is ill and her hens so I decided to do a piece inspired by her hens wandering round her garden.

I first coloured some white cotton with inktense blocks and pencils. I then drew in lots of grasses using, paints, acrylic inks, Derwent Inktense blocks and pencils, Derwent Aquatone pencils and gel pens. I stamped the flower shapes with household rubbish and home made stamps and further embellished them with the same products. I screen printed the straw/sticks of the centre panel.

I then used free machining to draw in the hens.

I thoroughly enjoyed the making of this as using many of these products is fairly new to me.

Sorry for putting this in again but I forgot to include the image to go with the text. Apologies for a repeat of the text.

Irene MacWilliam
www.macwilliam.f9.co.uk

Gillian's Chickens

Inspired by..... This has been a very difficult challenge for me as I seldom work from images or text which was what the title implied to me. I have been thinking a lot about my friend who is ill and her hens so I decided to do a piece inspired by her hens wandering round her garden.

I first coloured some white cotton with inktense blocks and pencils. I then drew in lots of grasses using, paints, acrylic inks, Derwent Inktense blocks and pencils, Derwent Aquatone pencils and gel pens. I stamped the flower shapes with household rubbish and home made stamps and further embellished them with the same products. I screen printed the straw/sticks of the centre panel.

I then used free machining to draw in the hens.

I thoroughly enjoyed the making of this as using many of these products is fairly new to me.

Irene MacWilliam
www.macwilliam.f9.co.uk