This has been a fabulous year of explorations fuelled by the #our52weekproject on instagram, for which I chose #52weeksofbotanicals.

I deliberately chose this broad category as the umbrella to work under as most of my work revolves around botanicals simply because most of my world revolves around botanicals & I doubt that I'm going to leave the world of botanicals anytime soon.

My December explorations have looped back around to mono prints, but this time on muka paper. ha ! printing botanicals on botanicals & then stitching them seemed like the perfect experiment & it was.
Not all of the results are spectacular but that doesn't matter a tot as I've worked out a lot even with the limited work I have done.
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I now know I can monoprint successfully using acrylic ink on muka paper.
The muka paper has a rough side & a smooth side & this affects the quality of the print with regards to line sharpness & detail.
I now know I can machine or hand stitch on the muka paper.
I successfully used both polyester thread & cotton thread for machine sewing & cotton embroidery thread for the hand sewing.

For the last week of the year I decided to do a little experiment with free motion embroidery/quilting on a reject kawakawa monoprint that I’ve had pinned to my wall for most of the year.
I have never done free motion embroidery before, nor quilting for that matter, so this was equal parts exciting & terrifying.
It was a lot of fun & now my mind is in hyper drive about the possibilities so I’m looking forward to coming back to this later this year.

It’s been a fantabulous year of botanical exploration & it has been absolutely amazing watching the other participants really hone their skills over the 12 months so if you’re on IG go check the hashtag #our52weekproject for everyone’s posts & specifcally #52weeksofbotanicals for mine.

New year calls for a new project & I'll let you know what that will be soon xx

I was thrilled to be invited to be part of this exhibition which is on til Dec 23rd 2017 at Lysaght Watt Gallery, cnr of Union & High Streets in Hawera.

​We are a diverse group of 8 fibre artists, all of whom are from Taranaki & this exhibition is a celebration of natural fibres & the myriad of ways to make magic.
There's colour & texture aplenty with a range of contemporary art pieces, garments, accessories & homewares.

​In fact, we all pulled out all the stops to make sure there really is something for everyone & every budget, it's Christmas gift buying time after all ;) 

I was delighted to be part of this wonderful colourful exhibition of work from members of my local creative fibre group.
21 members submitted 161 pieces for exhibition which was held at J D Reid Gallery, a beautiful light filled space, here in New Plymouth.
​I think you can probably guess which pieces are mine ;)