New Studio

The new studio has been painted ready for me to move in.  I love it.

The painter at work.

Looks good.

Maybe a candidate for Light and shade?

I will move some of my stuff in tomorrow.  I need to get a new bookcase.  There is a lot of light in the room so it should be  pleasant to work in.

Daffodils

There has just been a daffodil festival in Kyneton and there were daffodils everywhere.

Along the footpath.

Along the River walk.

On the hill.

Beside the river.

"Clouds of golden daffodils".

On another hill.

Under trees in the Botanical Gardens.

In nature strips.

In wheelbarrows on the main street.

On show.

The festival finished with a street parade last Sunday which featured the people, schools, services and interests of the town.  It was marvellous.

Studio

I have been very lazy about blogging of late as I have not much to blog about.  However my studio is built and is in the process of being painted.  I am looking forward to getting in there and getting all the stuff out of cupboards.  Here are the photos.

This is a  view from the outside.  I will get morning sun through the glass doors, lots of it.

This is where I will put my computer desk, bookcases, shelving etc.  It will be painted off white.

This wall is for art work, things that I have still in boxes.  Maybe even new things.

This is the view through the windows through which will stream lots of sunlight.  I plan to have this wall painted red because I have always wanted a red wall.  I bought a wall hanging in Sri Lanka which will go nicely in between the windows. 

Batik

While in Sri Lanka we went to 2 batik places  which were very different from each other.
The conditions of the first one were not brilliant and the chemical fumes were obvious; however the work there was freehand and colourful.

We saw some of the workers having a nap after their lunch.

Sleeping on the job.

The other place we went to was the workshop of Ena de Silva a 95 yr old woman whose designs graced the ceiling of a hotel near Galle.  The conditions there were much better than the previous one and the batik produced was of a higher standard.  The work photographed was for the cieling of a hotel we stayed at called The Lighthouse designed By Geoffrey Bawa.  Ena's workshop was all about design even the plates we ate our curry from.

Very precise work

The last picture I will add is of a cushion cover which took 2 weeks to complete and
which is sold for the princely sum of about $23 Australian.

Beautiful  work; I bought an orange one.

Sri Lanka

It is 2 months since I have blogged and since then I have been on a textile tour of Sri Lanka, done piles of homework and had my Shifu book selected for a book exhibition at the East Gippsland Art Gallery at Bairnsdale in country Victoria.  I was very excited about that;  all I have to do is post it off by Friday.
The trip to Sri Lanka was busy, interesting and I saw some amazing textiles,  unusual sights and went to some different places. The hospitality of the people was warm and generous and we had some great curry lunches.  There is a more comprehensive overview of the trip at srilankatextiles.blogspot.com.au.
The first pictures are of women handknitting and embroidering jumpers for sale in Sweden.

 

The next photos are of lace being made in Galle where we were shown wonderful hospitality in the form of a huge curry lunch - the first of several we experienced.

Lastly, a plate of curry.

Some of the memorable experiences.

Beautiful Trees

I am enjoying living in Kyneton. One of the things that is different is that I have inherited 2 beautiful ash trees - a large golden ash in the back yard that provides shade in Summer and in the front garden there is a tree that is a claret ash.  Both are in glorious colour at the moment.

It glows in the sun.

It has  a lovely pinky tone.  There are a lot of both trees here as well as other spectacular autumnal trees. The council has used claret ash as a street tree and  many of them that are huge, so I know what I have to look forward to.

I have still not done any weaving apart from my Shifu book.  One day

Shifu Book

I finished my Shifu Book and I am very happy with it.  The book is titled "In Conversation" and there are no words on the page; the words are in the page (see last blog). The pages were easier than I thought to sew together using chain stitch then I reverted to the days when I was studying to be a Teacher-Librarian and we learned to make books and made the cover and end papers to keep it together. I used silk paper for the cover and a fine paper I had for the end papers; both papers I bought in Vietnam.  It pays not to throw things out as they will come in handy one day.

The red leather strap is attached to the inside front cover.

 I used some of my original white thread to add contrast.

It worked quite well for someone who has not done this for ages and I enjoyed it.