Peacock and Geum Kew

Continuing my drawing sessions at Kew has been a delight and has led to a new piece of work developed for Brockley Open Studios at the end of June details of which will be revealed in my next post. Every time I go there are new plants coming into their glory and the resident peacock is now in full Spring plumage and displaying and calling fervently . He has featured in several drawings and is one of my favourite birds . At one time when living in Silverdale , Morecambe Bay , Lancashire I had regular visits from the then farm peacocks and at one point there was a female with three male chicks that grew into impressive birds and would display on my lawn !! Delightful!

So the drawing I chose is of a bright orange geum , Euphorbia Giganticus and the beautiful peacock.

I started with the plants selecting fabrics and threads that would be relevant .

The peacock came next with sampling to try to capture the colour and plumage !

Then came the moment of using applique to attach the bird to the background and stretching the piece ready for framing  Here is the finished piece a lovely reminder for me of times passed and the joy of creating and drawing in beautiful gardens !!

Heron design in process

Work in process is my new Heron Design based on drawings from Regents Park where there is a thriving heronry  and Dulwich Parkwhere there is a lone heron . This came to me as a complete design as a cushion on a yellow background displayed on a lime green ercol sofa which I have yet to source . Firstly I dyed a large piece of vintage linen in sunshine yellow and then set about selecting various fabrics to construct the heron . Herons are a continuing feature in my life from observing them on the shore at Silverdale , creating a tea towel design for the Heron Cornmill at Milnthorpe seeing them on the river in Manchester and now in the parks in London. Next came the fun part applique and machine embroidery to construct the heronness of heron !!

Close up of stitch detail.

Drawing, fabrics and sampling for the herons head .

London Notebooks

The newly designed and printed St James Park notebook 26 blank pages sustainably printed in UK with full cover design . 

St Pauls from Tate Modern, The V and A Hare and Flowers, and of course Birds and Borders St James park

St Pauls , Bethnal Green Park and Big Ben and Hypericum

David Hockney

On a cold february morning what better than to go to Tate Britain to the Hockney Retrospective !

Such amazing work , wonderful colours and such accomplished drawing skills . His charcoal tree drawings blow me away !

Favourite bits were the drawings , the four season videos and his i pad drawings which show so well how he approaches a subject and works through to the end in adding line colour and details , stunning . Will definitely be returning several times before it ends on the 29thMay !

Joseph Frank at the Fashion and Textile Museu

ust been to the Joseph Frank exhibition at the Fashion and Textiles Museum in Bermondsey [nearest station London Bridge] which blew me away ! There are his fabric designs and patterns ,some applied to furniture, and some unknown but beautiful watercolour paintings .Full of colour and optimism it is the perfect place to go to inspire .
Interestingly enough he was creating these in the interwar and the second world war " whilst racism , genocide and bombings affected people all over the world , Frank depicted Paradise . " So appropriate today too and on until the 7th of May so plenty of time for a visit !