Anyone ?!
Yeah - nah, me neither !

I thought it would be fun to do a little abstract painting . . . well 3 actually - if you count the one I'm also painting over 
& it was fun
​for a little while
& then I lost interest

I ran out of enthusiasm for placing layer upon layer & kept wanting to break rule #1 which is that nothing is 'precious'. I kept liking what I had done so didn't want to cover it up which, therefore, makes it 'precious'.

I'm pretty sure rule #2 is when you lose 'direction' with your 'painting' it's ok just to put it aside til you decide whether or not it's finished
Hahahaha; I find that hilarious & also exactly what I've done with them.

Backstrap loom weaving WOW what an adventure !

I have a very clear vision for what I want to achieve with the loom so I got a terrible fright with my 1st foray into the technique, which was working up to be a beautiful dense strap & absolutely, totally almost the polar opposite of what I see in my head.

​A little further reading & being able to borrow a rigid heddle from Isla has been a godsend as it enabled me to warp up again & thankfully the fabric I'm making is more the style I'm after.

This month I really have been using what I have available to me (or can borrow) which is great as it means I have to be resourceful & think beyond the beautifully made tapestry bobbins that I don't have to the 2 small wooden sporks, from a long ago takeaway dinner, that I do have & they make the most wonderful little bobbins/shuttles.
However, not all sporks are made equal & one of my little companions is a bit rough on it's back surface which means it's a little catchy on the warp & this is not ideal. 
I need to see if perhaps I can sand it a little smoother. 

Originally I was using an old hunting ammo belt as my backstrap which was amazingly comfortable & worked fabulously but unfortunately the smell of the gun oil was overwhelming & it had go !
​I found an old denim tie & that is working well in the interim while I weave myself a new one. 

Hugh has been teasing me mercilessly about being a quilter which I actually don't mind at all.
​The techniques quilters use are absolutely fascinating to me & I've been very happily playing with needle appliqué techniques, sashiko & boro stitching, hand stitch quilting techniques & most recently QAYG (quilt as you go) which basically makes patchwork pieces.
I love them all.
Creation, reparation*, decoration, exploration, expression, connection . . . .
I say yes, yes, yes, to all of the above.

also collaboration . . . but more about that another time ;)

We are having a superb winter this year.
Sharp cold nights followed by gorgeous sunny days followed by sharp cold nights.
Perfect for preparing sites for planting, cleaning harakeke & getting plants ready to divide & replant.
​This also means it's perfect time for making muka.
Currently the studio is filled with the luscious smell of green & I'm happily spending my days listening to music & stripping beautiful soft long silky fibres from my favourite plant.

It's been a funny old month filled with creative explorations which in the first instance don't seem to have any connection at all.
I'm happy to follow these whims of mine as I absolutely trust my instincts & I know that it will weave together in time. 
 
talk again soon
​Sal x

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 ;) 

January was just a blur of heat, noise, dust & sunshine (well mostly sunshine). 

Hugh took part in Te Kupenga's biennial Stone Sculpture Symposium which is held on the foreshore here in New Plymouth. Go here to see a gallery of his work from boulder to sculpture. 
This year sculpting started on January the 1st & ended on the 22nd January. The completed works were on exhibition onsite til the event culminated with a public auction on Jan 30th.
It was a fabulous event with up to 25 artists participating.
There were 6 international artists who came from the UK, Italy, Slovakia, Australia, Belgium & Taiwan.
Go to Te Kupenga's website here to see the awesome day to day onsite photo galleries, here for the international artists galleries & here for the national artists galleries.
​

Now this all brings me back to the December daily diary experiment ! 
Hugh & I were pretty heavily involved in aspects of 'making stuff happen' for the symposium this year.
Hugh very much so as he was involved as both a member of Te Kupenga's executive in addition to being a member of the symposium organising committee.
Me, less so as I had the distance afforded by being unofficially involved, which meant I could pick & choose what I wanted to do. One of the things I chose to do was to make Te Kupenga's website work to the best of it's ability to keep people outside the region connected to the event. 
I had the absolute pleasure of coordinating with 3 superb local photographers who generously volunteered their time, energy, enthusiasm & skill to make available photos via dropbox which I was able to upload with the utmost ease into galleries on Te Kupenga's website.
So that was the experiment !
Q. How do I get a large volume of photos onto a website in some semblance of order WITH the minimum fuss & bother.
A. Create an EASY system using labeled folders in Dropbox, share this folders with the relevant people, who are working with clear, succinct, uncomplicated directions, upload daily to galleries created as hidden pages on a free Weebly website & press publish. 
Everyday I took delight in uploading some really fabulous images & also watched as the website stats climbed.
It works people . . . it really works !
The feedback has been fabulous & people really did enjoy seeing the photos.

I am thrilled to have been involved & so appreciative of working in collaboration with dedicated, passionate photographers, seriously, without whom this totally would not have worked.

Thank you so much Peter Florence, David Fitness & Kerehama Waru your photographs made it possible xxx