5 years on

How things have changed!  Roger and I went for a walk on Thursday and as people avoided eye contact and didn't return my hello or smile I thought back to 5 years ago when walking every day was all we were allowed to do, and despite social distancing everyone was friendly.

We walked from Harborne, a suburb of Birmingham, towards the city centre to Edgbaston Reservoir, round the reservoir and back to the start.

Most of the walk was along the Harborne Walkway which apparently was originally a branch railway line built for commuters from Harborne.

There were various bridges and tunnels along the way.

Eventually we came to the reservoir 

We stopped off at the little cafe for hot chocolate and then continued around the reservoir and back the way we came.

On the way back we noticed that one of the tunnels had an unusual construction.  The bricks were laid diagonally.  Not that you can tell from this photo!

Finally we made it back to Harborne where we had lunch at Damascena.  Very nice.

If you're in the Redditch area today, Becca and I will be at Forge Mill Museum for another Meet the Artists event for our exhibition.

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

Changing my mind

In a departure from my neutral palette I have been working on a teal and gold kimono.  It's intended to be part of my Identity series.

My original idea was to have squares of fabric on the teal as broken pieces leading down to the solid gold at the bottom.

It was my plan to put gold stitch to represent the Kintsugi type repairs.

I quickly changed my mind about the pointy sleeves as I couldn't work out how to make them.

The same gold coloured fabric at the bottom of the kimono is also being used for the lining.

I played about with gold relief paste on embossing folders as a possible texture to add.

I started adding the torn squares of fabric.

It was really difficult to work on it while it was hanging up so I tried having it on the table.

 

It was at this point that I realised that no amount of ironing or stitching was going to make this idea work and I needed to have a radical rethink.

 

Which I did.

 

But you'll have to come back next time to find out how I changed my approach to this piece of work.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Meet the Artists

Last Saturday Becca and I spent most of the day at Forge Mill Needle Museum attending our Meet the Artist event.

We had a great time with some wonderful conversations with our visitors.

Whilst I was there I took some photos and some video footage which I have put togther as best I can.  My video editing software is not as intuitive as I would like.  Plus some of the footage is a bit wobbly.  However I hope you enjoy it.

        

Our next Meet the Artist is on Saturday 5th April from 10.30 onwards.  It would be lovely to see you there.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice