Sunset at the Fleet - Ingrid Ellis Textile Art - Textile pictures, quilts, evening bags etc

3 July 2012

I’m planning a new, hopefully more pictorial piece.  The inspiration comes from a photograph taken at the Fleet in Weymouth at the end of the day.  

The site is where Weymouth joins the Isle of Portland and lies to the right of Chesil Beach when leaving Weymouth - it's very beautiful at any time really.

I found a nice white box frame and it’s a good aperture size – not too large this time.  I don’t know why, but I’m really taken by these white frames at the moment – they seem to make the work stand out and there are no distractions and it looks clean.  

Instead of my purples and turquoises, the colour range is now from black (beach) through orange/yellow to blue/lilac – an interesting mix which will push my colour boundaries a bit.

I start collecting together small bits of fabric from my "Small Bits" drawer and find that the samples from my old chintz fabric sample book come in really handy, as there are all the colour shades that I could wish for.  I have to be careful not to get carried away as the area to be worked is really quite small.  Here is a picture which shows the state of my workshop when I'm really into the subject - nothing like the pristine studios shown in the publications!!

I need to give credit to Alison Holt, a textile artist whose workshop I attended recently and who specialises in seascapes (much more beautiful than mine).   Do check out her website via the link.  She will be doing a workshop  on FROST next year in Stratton, Dorset,  run by Dennie Rose,  and I recommend this very highly, although it is not mentioned in Dennie's website.

My accompanying music today is "Adele 21", which is perhaps a bit too rhythmical for this quiet scene, but it’s a new CD and I just have to check it out.

This photo shows the beginning of the layout.

As usual, the fabric puckers and I keep going until it is densely and evenly covered in machine stitches.  I try some zig-zags, but this is not helpful.

After that it’s just a question of keep going on with it until it looks right.  I hope you think so too, given a bit of artistic licence!  The collage looks better in real life and the photo doesn’t really do it justice, but you’ll just have to come to my current exhibition