Essex and Suffolk Quilters - Jubilee Quilt Festival

I just returned home from the Jubilee Quilt Festival, organised by the Essex and Suffolk Quilters.  I decided to take my Mum as she has been a quilter for as long as I can remember.

When we walked into the Village Hall, I couldn't believe how many quilts were hung up for display.   There were, in fact over 91 individual pieces.  There were too many to mention individually so I will mention a few, which really stood out for me. 

First of all, was 'Jungle Fever' by Sheila Frankland.  Her use of green and purple tones on batik fabric really appealed to me.  I loved the colour combination and the pattern was also attractive.

'Lottie's Jelly' by Margaret Stickland taught me what a 'Jelly Roll' is.  The quilt was a strip quilt with a pink background and a pattern of pink and green tones in the centre, made up with horizontal strips of fabric.  It was a lovely piece.

Pauline Stimson placed two pieces in the show; 'Floral Bouquet', which consisted of pretty patchwork floral motifs on a creamy background and 'Perklomen Valley Quilt', which was made up of various squares and triangles of purpley pink colours, carefully put together to create a subtle and interesting design.

'Mile a Minute' by Hilary Davis was a small quilt made up of squares.  The squares were consisted of oddly angled strips of green and purple fabric.  the overall effect of this was beautiful.

'London Pride' by Sheila Gray taught me a second cakey patchwork term - 'Layer Cake' This piece was made up of a range of typically British images and really captured the Jubilee year atmosphere.

Anne Moscrop had created a stunning quilt, which depicted a beautiful scene, showing, as the title suggests, a 'Mountain, Fields and Water Wall'.  

Lynne Edwards MBE (an honorary member) exhibited a quilt using what is called the 'Cathedral Window' technique.  She had used this in an interesting and different way, which made it look rather like an abstract peacock. 

I was also impressed by Sarah Impey (another honorary member)'s piece called 'Timelines', in which she depicted a collection of words to do with time.  It really appealed to my geeky language loving side!  The use of colour accentuated particular words to good effect.

Aside from the exhibition, there were fabrics on sale as well as items made by members.  Really good if you want to buy some unique Christmas presents.

I am not a quilter but I enjoyed the exhibition.  It was well worth a look.

The exhibition of work by members of the Essex and Suffolk Quilters was held in the Village Hall, Ford Lane, Alresford and will still be on tomorrow, so, if you are interested, go and have a look!

The Essex and Suffolk Quilters meet on the 2nd Thursday of the month at The Hythe Community Centre, 1 venture Place, Colchester CO1 2FG.

The Minories, Colchester

Recently, I went with my sister to The Minories Gallery in Colchester.  We had heard about the Open Studios which have been taking place around the local area and, having read that some of the work produced by the artists was on display at The Minories, we decided to go an have a look.  

We ended up looking around the whole gallery.  I had never been inside before and I thought the location was fantastic.  Wonderful natural light lit the works of art and the view over the gardens was peaceful and relaxing.

In The Minories' Collection, there were a number of works, which I liked.  

The 1926 portrait of Victor Batte Lay by Frank Daniell captured me from the other side of the room.  The subject beams out from a black background, which, to me, was reminiscent of some of Leonardo Da Vinci's work.  I was really taken with it.

The 1965 'Gull Head' by Bernard Reynolds in bronze looked brilliant.  I liked that he had the beak pointing upwards, lending an abstract quality to the piece.

Other pieces I enjoyed looking at were:

• Michael Rothenstein's 'Night City' (1977)
• (Copied from) Joseph White of Derby's 'Boy blowing up a bladder by candle light'
• John Sell Cotman's ink drawing of St Botolph's Priory.

The 'Open Studios' exhibition was lovely.  It was great to see such a diverse selection of work from local artists.  I was particularly taken with the work of three of the artists.  

Firstly, a series of photographs called 'From the Monument Project' by Chris Meigh Andrews.  The series consisted of four photographs, showing a panoramic view of London at dawn, morning, dusk and night.  The way the view altered with different light was very interesting.  This was of particular interest to me, as I have been thinking about using a similar approach to create a series of images around Charlotte's pool.  It certainly gave me food for thought.

Secondly, there were two pictures depicting local scenes.  'Karl and Onions' and 'Crate - Manningtree Market' by Michael Checketts were well executed and vibrant.  I particularly liked the view of Manningtree Market.  The colours used really brought both scenes to life.

Finally, I was impressed and inspired by Anne Barclay's piece.  There was no name on it, but it showed a small, child's dress, hanging in a frame, embroidered with a piece of writing.  It was wonderful and, again, I was inspired for my work about Charlotte.

This weekend is the last weekend of the Open Studios but the exhibition in the Minories goes on until Tuesday 2nd October.  Do go and have a look!

For more information, look at the website for Colchester Open Studios - www.colchesteropenstudios.org

Charlotte Exhibition Preparation Part 2

Since the last time I blogged about this, I have been working on ideas for my first piece of art for the exhibition.

My initial idea is to put together a woodland scene with the ghost of Charlotte hovering somewhere around the centre of the piece.  

The first two pages (below) show different photographs of woodland scenes, which I have examined and the options I looked through in order to decide what the ghost should look like.  I have thought about her hair, dress and position as well as the degree of transparency the ghost should have.

The following two pages show my final choice for the woodland scene and for the ghost.  In addition to this, I created a media experiment, in which I have recreated the woodland scene in 4 different media: acrylic paint, watercolour pencils, colouring pencils and oil paint.

I have decided that  I will make the final piece an oil painting.  I like that the paint doesn't dry so quickly, which enables you to blend the colours much better, whilst building up an interesting texture as well.

My next step will be to experiment with the ghost to work out how best to paint her whilst maintaining her transparency.

To purchase a copy of 'Charlotte -The Lady in White' a novel based on the Life of Charlotte White, nee Smyth, please click the link below

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/704533011/charlotte-the-lady-in-white-by-annie?ref=shop_home_active_1&crt=1

Charlotte Exhibition Preparation Part 1

As you are aware from my previous post on Charlotte's Pool, I have been working on a story about a young lady called Charlotte White (nee Smyth), who died in 1845 and whose ghost is said to walk the Earth still, especially in the area around Berechurch Hall and Friday Woods in Colchester. 

I became interested in this after I was set the task of writing a story based on the theme of Colchester.  I remembered hearing about the legend of Charlotte's Pool at Lethe Grove when I was in Primary School and decided to investigate in more detail.

My research took me and three others (Lesley, Sioux and Hollie) on an intriguing journey as I described in my previous entry.  Now we have decided to collaborate on a larger scale project, putting an exhibition together about her life, her story and the various sightings and experiences of her ghost.  We are not sure where the exhibition will take place but it should be somewhere in Colchester.

Between us, we have a massive range of exciting ideas we are looking to explore in a variety of media.  So far, it looks like there will be paintings in oils and acrylics, prints, poems, stories, photographs, music, and filmed performances.

I thought it might be interesting to show pictures of my sketch book as I put it together.  The most recent pages are shown below.

To purchase a copy of 'Charlotte -The Lady in White' a novel based on the Life of Charlotte White, nee Smyth, please click the link below

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/704533011/charlotte-the-lady-in-white-by-annie?ref=shop_home_active_1&crt=1