The Klimtesque Journal Quilts

Life has returned to normal and so has the weather. It's a grey and damp day but I'm only too happy to be able to return to my studio, with the lights on, the radio playing and my laptop in operational mode!

And as promised here are all the 12 Journal Quilts (all sized 12 x 8") I made this year on the theme of the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt for the Contemporary Quilt Group shown in the order they were made, left to right and top to bottom. This won't necessarily be the order in which I will sew them together as for that I'm going to find the best compositional arrangement and they will probably be on a background fabric with space separating them but all that is for the future.

For the moment I'm enjoying the sense of achievement that comes with having finished them!

No Power

 

We thought we had gotten away with it when the storm passed over and we still had our electricity but at quarter to three we lost it due to fallen trees and the like and we still don't have it back. Hence the picture taken early this morning of our electricity line!

I'm writing this from the side of the road in West Linton as I can't even get to my trusty lay by due to ice!

Update:

we got our power and wifi back by 3pm today after 24 hours without either. Thanks to our generator we managed fine for light and heating but I'm quite shocked by just how much I miss my online connection! It's like my lifeline to the world outside our little hill in the middle of nowhere!

 

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Klimtesque 12 Journal Quilt

It was a horrible night filled with storm force winds and even the dogs refused to go for a walk this morning. So it was a quick trip around the garden for us and back into the house to recover. The worst seems to be over and I'm uploading my Journal Quilt now just in case we have power issues later.

It's amazing to think I've come to the end of my Klimt inspired journal quilts. These were all made for a challenge by the Contemporary Quilt Group and the group set the size to 12 x 8". We were to select our own theme for the year and as you will know by now mine is the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt.

For this one the detail I selected to interpret in fabric is the above part of The Embrace which is to be found on the Stoclet Palace Frieze and was painted in 1909. In fact this frieze has proved to be very fertile in delicious details so it's specially sad that at the moment it isn't possible to visit Stoclet Palace, in Brussels. Hopefully some time in the future we will all be able to feast our eyes on the frieze again in person.

I used a commercially available Klimt spiral black and gold fabric for the background and layered ovals on top, starting with gold fabric and followed by a selection of batiks. I have used the same fabrics for all 11 previous Journal Quilts too as I plan to put them all together into one quilt. I will make a start by photographing all 12 together, so look out for that in one of the coming days.

I was looking how to interpret the centre of the oval,  and as luck would have it (and by another amazing example of synchronicity!)  I had bought these eye like embellishments on Etsy some time ago, just because I loved the look of them. It was glued on and then surrounded by seed beads to hold it in position.

The quilt was both hand and machine quilted and hand beaded as you can see above. This might have been the last one but I think it might be my own favourite. If someone told me I had to continue making Klimt inspired journal quilts I would have no problem finding more inspiration in his work. It has proved to be a very rich source and it has made me appreciate his work even more.  

Roses in Winter

Roses in winter are almost more exciting than roses in summer. In the summer there is lots of colour about everywhere and the roses are only a part of that greater glory. But a rose in winter is rare indeed.

These roses caught my eye when visiting the Newsagents in West Linton. There were only two bunches left and together with the shopkeeper I managed to inveigle John to buy them both for me. There was a bit of haggling involved but we were successful in the end! One bunch was deep red and the other orange and they make for a splendid display in our kitchen.

They are also fulfilling their ultimate destination of featuring in my blip today! Oh yes, there is method in my madness! It's the top picture that takes the spotlight. It was taken with flash on which added all that delectable detail.

Gelli Plate Print

It's still miserable outside and I was longing for a picture with colour. Normally I don't do that much painting when the colder weather comes as my shed gets rather fresh, but this year I decided to bring all my paints and paraphernalia inside into one of the spare rooms and carry on regardless. I'm a very messy worker so will need to remember to take a bit more care there! After transferring everything I couldn't help playing away immediately using my gelli plate. Even I was surprised by the amount of chaos I managed to produce in just one afternoon. But I did tidy most of it away! This is one of the colourful results. This is on paper. I also managed to produce an entire series of painted cotton. More about them in due course when I have put them to good use.

A New Beginning

Due to the strange calculations by the Blipfoto site (such as ignoring the extra day in leap years) it's in fact today 3 years ago that I uploaded my very first image to the site. You can see it below and also here. As you can see the weather was completely different from today. Then we had snow and frost and today we had a beautiful (albeit cold) start to the day and although the sunshine didn't last long the day was quite okay weather wise. I took the above picture that became my blip for today, during my trip to Peebles to take in an exhibition and a craft fair.

I have been rather astonished (actually, make that flabbergasted!) by the wonderful reactions and comments for my 1095th blip birthday (see previous post) and when I feel down and depressed in future I will return to that blip and read all the comments left there and I'm sure it will serve as an immediate pick-me-up! That sky picture reached the top of the Spotlight page too, which was an additional bonus. It took me all that day to respond to all the comments and by the end of that day I was completely google eyed but what a treat it all was. Joining Blip is one of the best things I've ever done, both for my personal development and also for my artistic one.

I hope that my photography has  improved substantially in the intervening 3 years between the 2 pictures shown above but in all honesty I think that first one was not bad at all either!

1095

What is the significance of that number mentioned in the title? Well, 1095 is three times 365! And I've reached my 1095th blip today, which means I have been uploading daily photographs to the Blipfoto site for 3 consecutive years without interruption. Blip doesn't include leap years in its calculations and that's the reason I have reached this milestone today. I actually started blipping on the 30th November 2010 and that seems at one and the same time like yesterday and like it was an eternity ago.

I seem to have no problem finding a daily picture although needless to say on some days those pictures are easier to find than on others. Like many other people on Blip it's the commenting that I have problems with occasionally. When you're not careful that can take over your life and there are days that I'm simply not in the mood or don't have the time. From now onwards I will give myself permission to simply abstain on such occasions.

On the other hand I love the contact with people from far and wide and I have learned an incredible amount from fellow blippers on a wide range of different subjects so it's very appropriate on this, Thanksgiving Day to say a HUGE thank you to them all and to the Blipfoto team (based in good old Edinburgh) for making it all possible.

Will I stop? Will I heck! Blip is way too much fun to give up on so I will continue and no doubt get in the same flap as before during those times when our dodgy broadband has one of its bad moments and I panic about the blip. Just for blip I have a mobile broadband subscription so I can use my iPad from nearby lay-bys!

The weather gods were very kind for my blip festivities as the sun was shining on our hill while below the mist still hung around in the valley. Thus I was able to stop on my way to Edinburgh and take the pictures shown above, of which the top one became my blip. The bridge you see there is very much like the railway bridge next to our house and was on the same railway line but is now located in the middle of a field, still with a sign next to it showing the maximum load that can cross! You can see the fog below and above the wonderful cloud formations.

I went on a flying visit to Edinburgh to hand over my secret project to the next person so I can cross that of my list. So satisfying. All in all definitely a day to say thanks for!