Walking on Stoney Ground

Walking on Stoney Ground

Stoney ground makes no difference to Rusty Pups

Who just stream over rocks of every size

I, on the other hand, have started using a hiking stick

to steady me over rough stoney ground.

My stick is just a tree branch but it sees me through.

This piece I thought was finished months ago

but sometimes a piece has more to say

and so I have added to it and renamed it.

Is a piece ever really finished?

Our morning walk beneath heavy laden skies

had the Rusty Pups blending with 

the beautiful rusty marsh grasses

that disappear under the sea at high tide around here.

Shield of protection.... Perhaps

It takes time to know when a piece is finished.

Hanging it one a wall where you will actually see it.

Living with it

not so much sitting down and staring at it

but noting your reactions as it catches your eye.

What is new for me in this piece

I never felt the need to fill the background with kantha or running stitch.

Just the mottled markings of rust and tannin are enough for me.

The delicate random markings....

....in the background speak loudly to me. 

A speckled moon looks down on

silk rouleaux couched down in a shape that I initially

thought would be a rock.

Today I think of it more as a protective structure

A shield perhaps.

Protection for this glowing ember or perhaps a sun.
It might change again as I continue living with it.
The last time I wrote about this piece was mid July.

Seventeen

Rusts and blues....perfect partners

Little made-up cross stitches

above spirals....perhaps shells on a beach.

Talking of beaches

I wish beach weather would arrive in these parts!

A tide is coming in

perhaps to cover my spiralling shells.

Rusty Gate Will Soon Be On It's Way To Ontario

I have been stitching new sleeves to Rusty Gate

in preparation for mailing it to the SAQA show

My Corner of the World - Canada

This piece is a favourite of mine.

It is nice to have it on my lap again.

There are lovely vague shapes down one side

which must have been touching

a row of triangles on the actual gate

when I wrapped this cloth around it.

This one is perhaps a bird.

Perhaps a bell

or a mushroom

or a lady in a ball gown.

Some are near perfect triangles.

What could this be?

It is fun to work out how you interpret shapes

and perhaps record them in a sketchbook for future use.

I am tempted to draw a wee face beneath this cap.

Surely it is a little person with big winter mitts on!

One of my favourite ways of edging pieces
is to fold the top layer edge and the backing layer edge
so that the raw edges end sandwiched between the two layers.
The backing layer is always slightly larger than the top.
I feel this gives a nice hint of a frame
Not too obvious.
(did I describe that well enough?)

Sometimes one just has to go around in circles

circle the wagons

or play

Ring-a-ring o' roses,

A pocket full of posies,

A-tishoo! A-tishoo!

We all fall down.

The cows are in the meadow

Eating buttercups,

A-tishoo! A-tishoo!

We all jump up.

Now that my little Baby-Grand is fast approaching two

I had better remind myself of all those nursery rhymes

from long ago and the new modern ones too!

Collections

The windowsills in the studio

are usually full of bowls that are full of bits and pieces.

 All that will be left on the windowsills for 2015

are small collections

of bits and pieces from my woods

or from the shore...

....sometimes from foreign shores.

Just natural bits and pieces I have picked up over the years.

Admittedly some are man-made

but they have spent a long time in the elements.

Sticky Snow

We woke to snow falling

(so what else is new!)

Snow that clings to rusty gates

Snow that clings to frozen faces

Snow that even clings to the sides of things that stand still long enough.

Pink is the Colour of the Morning Sun

The moon was still high in the sky

as the sun appeared behind me

Small whisps of cloud clung to the marshland across the basin

And morning dew clung to fragile spiders webs

As usual I stopped to admire my favourite rusty post

Back in the studio I doodled another piece of bark.

A bit of a mess

but

there are some shapes in there worth exploring.

Connectivity Woes

No internet connection for days

Our lives changed for three whole days

Didn't quite come to a halt

but nearly!

Glad to be back

Shoreline rust

But just look at those blues

Quarry rust alongside soft grey blues 

and a lovely sandy sediment

I keep forgetting rust eats into things

Even weavings rust

And what kind of bird would want to bring up it's young

Hidden beneath noisy and rusty quarry equipment?

The new quarry equipment is creamy white

How long till the rust appears?

But let's end up with some lovely salt air rust!

Have a great day

Brand New and Really Old Linear things

A brand new piece of equipment appeared in the quarry

Not a speck of rust

yet 

This on the other hand is a very old

very rusty 

decommissioned railway bridge.

Anyone for climbing up there and

getting those rusty XX's 

onto fabric?

Back down closer to the ground

there is design potential

 amidst all those 

textures

shapes

lines

and

repetitions

Ah,but there is rusting potential

 in those bolts

But not as impressive as this rusty beauty!

Posts Rule!

Rusty sentries

Would love to wrap some cloth around these! 

Family of five

Sometimes we force trees into post work

Some posts like to paddle at high tide

Others line up and stand tall

ready to hold back the ocean

Some old posts just loaf around the basin floor

Worn out!

Snuggling in pairs

Some folk like sitting atop posts

and some folk just pretend to be posts

Ha

That was fun!