Open Source Content Management

My Diary

As well as translating my experiences through my work, if you're a regular visitor to my site you will also know I like to record my thoughts - both professional and personal - in a regular diary. I hope you enjoy reading my updates as much as I enjoy writing them.

We learn by Teaching 23^rd January 2012

“Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand”.

Chinese proverb

Link to Artist Page on facebook                                

This is the time of year when I think about workshops, why I do them and what ideas I will put together for the New Year’s workshop programme. I go back and look at experiences from the previous year, what worked, what I can change for the better. As an artist what I enjoy is the continuous moving forward, not just in my own work but also in the workshops, talks and demonstrations where I get to share what I learn on my own journey.

What is mixed media? I get this question a lot when I am out and about showing work at exhibitions, fairs and art festivals. Therefore I regularly offer taster workshops designed to address the definition of mixed media hands on!

                   Spring Tide (includes mono-printing, machine stitching, collage)

Playing in mixed media can involve three elements of mixing media:

• Mixing the stock we work on, including use of mono-printed materials, recycled paper (or fabric scraps), textured handmade paper, newsprint etc.
• Mixing the colour media we use, for instance crystalline water colour, which can be combined with pencil crayons, or acrylic inks
• Mixing the techniques involved, such as mono-printing, collage, machine stitching, adding texture with fibres, scraps of material, using lettering

Over the years I have developed mixed media work in textiles often on storytelling themes, using stitching and found objects. Some workshops focus purely on fabric, fibres and free stitching.

                                                           Amazing Grace

A recurring popular workshop theme is ‘The Treasure Trove’ where a piece of work is built up in layers, using recycled materials which tell their own story including found objects. The piece above talks about the sea and its dangers and harbours treasures found on Brighton beach after the collapse of the famous pier! The red life buoy can be opened like doors to reveal secrets kept inside.

Sometimes happy creative people come to my workshops and say that they hardly ever use sketch books because it seems so daunting! There seems to be a self-perpetuating myth suggesting that sketchbooks must be filled with 'perfect' drawings from observation; I think I believed this myself too years ago.

To address this mental hurdle I started devicing workshops in how to use sketchbooks, and how to make your own storyboards or scrapbooks to tell a story.

               2D scrapbook on the theme of childhood dwellings

One workshop theme is known as ‘Scrapbook joiners’ where the participants  are encouraged to bring personal mementoes and build their own pages or mosaic pieces, which can be put together like a book, or presented as a 2D piece of work. These workshops have resulted in some amazing and highly personal and priceless pieces of work.

So we learn by teaching they say and I know this to be true. I feel indebted to my workshops and all the interesting and fun people I get to meet through them, as they help me (more than they know) to understand a process or to get new insights and ideas.

In order to find out more about my workshops you could simply come and join one of them and discover for yourself what you and mixed media could create together! Have a look at the current workshop programme:

2012 workshop programme

Here is another quote to finish on - a rather silly one just for fun.

“Never try to teach a pig to sing....it wastes your time and annoys the pig.”

Thanks for reading.

Ingrid

Glimpses of a Year 30th December 2011

It has been an eventful year on all accounts and there was rarely time or space to stop and reflect. There were new arrivals in the family; I experienced some interesting journeys; artistically I took on quite a few challenges. This year had high points in every season as well as some tough stretches; I had many lovely rewards and I also faced some adversity. Maybe this is simply life on life's terms! I will pick some visual memories from the path through 2011 without thinking too hard, otherwise this blog would bcome too daunting.

In the late winter I was able to go back to the North of Sweden and experience the last bit of the skiing season. I loved it, those peaceful hikes through the forest, the sun reflecting off the snow and the beautiful stillness.

                                               Vasterbotten March 2011

Going into April the seasons shift very suddenly in the frozen north, almost overnight, and spring arrives with the big thaw infusing the environment with glittery water all around. The colours alter almost imperceptibly, the smells become more earthy, and the consistency of the snow turns into sugar.

                                                                     Big Thaw I & II

I enjoyed all those dramatic changes day by day as if nature was shedding its heavy winter coat, and took impressions back with me to my studio resulting in two large mixed media pieces Big Thaw I and II. It is my interpretation of winter's dusky purples transforming into light gold, amber and turqouise of spring. I stitched a lot in these pieces in order to create the textural nature of shrubbery close down on ground level.

Making the switch from Northern Sweden to middle England last April constituted in itself a most dramatic change of scene. Easter was unseasonably warm here so I arrived from still snow covered ground to a blaze of colour in my hill garden!

Inadvertently I found myself an inspiring challenge asked to carry out a commission based on my favourite dark red tulips which lit up the herb garden weeks on end announcing the arrival of the summer.

In early May I had a fabulous week up in Ardnamurchan, Western Scotland, where I discovered magical sources of creative inspiration. I walked in the footsteps of an old chieftain, Allan The Red, who when called out to battle, ordered the burning of his beatuiful ancestral home Castle Tioram to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.

                                                          Tioram Triptych I, II, III 

This huge scale triptych was not completed, however, until October when it was shown at the prestigious Buy Art Fair at Spinningfields, Manchester. It took me on quite a journey back through history, looking at celtic, pictish and old norse culture and designs.

The spring and summer was a busy time for workshops also, to mention just one example I went stitching with the marvellous Glossop Embroiderers in the middle of May.

These talented ladies spent a high energy day creating beautiful personal work, ranging from a project around wartime love letters to a stitched book filled with beach combed treasures and poetry. I came away recharged and enthused myself, so how lucky am I?

The summer continued to be filled with art events throughout, but one day in the middle of it all I realized we had newcomers in the village - and I had nearly missed it!

                                          Donkey baby around five weeks old

A couple of the summer workshops focused on using recycled materials, which prompted me to finish a piece called The Rose Garden, utilising match sticks, fruit netbags, and sheet music to name a few ingredients.

                                            I never promised you a Rose Garden!

In September I went back to my beloved Orkney for a well deserved break, described in the October Diary "Artist on Holiday". On return I faced dense stretch of high velocity art shows as well as gallery exhibtions to deal with. To relax a little I enjoyed creating a series of talking crows sharing their wisdom about art seen from different perspectives.

                                                         Crows on Art November 2011

I shall let these crows conclude this review of the year with their wisdom! This became an unusually lenghty blog, but having revisited all the memories I realise what a rich and inspiring year it was after all! Maybe I was just too busy to notice properly all the gems of the past 12 months.

I leave you all by wishing you an amazing New year.

Thanks as always for reading this far.

Ingrid

An Artisan’s Christmas 9^th December 2011

Suddenly it is December, and where did this year go? As an artist I have had a very busy year, deadlines following each other like pearls on a string. This week the snow came up here in the hills and I feel such a strong urge to wind down. Creativity doesn’t just pour out of a tap on demand, it is time to step back and regroup.

 Link here to connect with my artist page on facebook for more news about anything and everything.

Link here -

Advent brings with it a time for reflection, going into a still place and lighting candles, rounding off and reviewing. My advent star goes in the window facing the road, so when you enter the village through Jericho you see our star from far. A recent advent in the north of Sweden I saw many beautiful advent lights like that, but on one walk along the river at dusk I encountered a really unusual one.

                                                Frozen Green House 

It was snowing with the crystals glittering in the remaining day light; the days are very short at this time of year. I came round a bend on the river path and encountered this image and it took me a while to understand what I saw: it was the big green house rising out of the thick layers of snow like some big creature with glowing eyes emerging out of the ground! An amazing sight to behold.

A Christmas Tree does not have to be only the traditional tree decorated lovingly in the living room. A favourite image of mine was a snow laden birch tree at sun down, showing a golden sky through the branches. This inspired me to create a mixed media interpretation which for me represents a magic Christmas tree.

                                                       Silver Birch

I grew up on a farm where we would cut a fir tree from our own forest for Christmas; those are nice memories when you ski out into the deep snow of the forest looking for the right tree. It could take hours or no time at all. Sometimes my Dad would spot one from the windows with his binoculars!

                                            The Fire Balloon

At New Year not long ago I was out at midnight letting off those paper balloons with my sister. Our fingers got frozen so it was a challenge to fill the balloon with enough hot air from the candle, but one of them rose beautifully. I loved looking up following its course  set against an indigo sky lit with snow crystals and fireworks from further away.

                                           Ljus i vart hus 

Christmas is also a time for fun and celebration. This large piece will go up in my living room this month. It is made from recycled materials, old hessian from the farm, dark green cord from my seventies flares, Swedish flags and decorated with colourful ginger biscuit cut outs. It will shine in competition with the real tree across the room. We will have light in our house....

Thanks for reading.

Ingrid

Artist on Holiday 21st October 2011

I am five weeks late with my artist diary; my aim roughly was to write every two weeks. Well there is a reason of course, hence the title of this blog! I did finally get a summer holiday at the end of September, better late than never, and went back to Orkney, in search of that magic which transfixed me a year ago on my first visit.

Link here to connect with my artist page on facebook for more news about anything and everything.                                                

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I like Stromness with its air of serenity, the seals and the sea air. As soon as I could I went back to the Pier Arts Centre, a remarkable gallery with strong connections to the Orkadian artist Sylvia Wishart. My treat this visit was an excellent exhibition: “The lamp in the Seaward Window” the art of Sylvia Wishart and the first complete survey of her work (1936-2008).

                                                Arriving at Stromness

Busman’s holiday I know, but I found it very relaxing to see her lifelong ambition to paint the beloved landscape of her native Orkney. She constantly recorded what she saw, yet a lot of her later work was quite semi-abstract and went more mixed media.

To pick inspirational images from Orkney is a challenge in the space I have here, there are so many. I did a lot of island hopping this time and got to enjoy the ferry crossings and that sense of being at the ‘edge’ of the world you have in the outer islands.

                                    Western coast of Westray

Westray probably offers the most spectacular cliff walk anywhere. At the northern point I sat sheltered in the sun by the lighthouse, before continuing south along the western coast of the island. There are untouched beaches on Westray, with fossils and white sand and green rocks (you have to go and find them yourself one day).

                                     Rackwick Bay, Hoy

Rackwick Bay on Hoy is for me the most beautiful and magnificent beach I have ever been on. It feels like you are removed from the rest of the world and I did try and ‘bottle’ some of the timeless peace I felt here to bring back. These images remind me.

                                        Au Revoir Orkney

      Ingrid

Mixed Media Flora 31st August 2011

I surprise myself wanting to write about flowers! Maybe this is because I went to the Northumbrian National Park last week for a lovely break where I saw lots of exquisite wild flowers still blooming around Kielder Water in the gentle late August sun. Secondly, I am going to the Botanical Gardens at Sheffield this weekend to show work, where I will be in tough competition with the natural beauty of plants! 

Below you can link with my artist page on Facebook for more news about Art in The Gardens and other happenings.

When I look back I know that I have always invited floral themes as subject matter, but maybe not in a particularly conventional way. They stimulate and encourage a mixed media approach and invites a closer look (see the work of Georgia O’Keeffe).

                                       Margaret’s Garden 2008

I created this piece three years ago as a celebration of a dear friend in my village and her fantastic garden, a true artist’s garden created over some 18 years. The format is a story book with lines from Rudyard Kipling’s “The Glory of The Garden” interwoven with rich texture, colour and stitching. In the collaging I enjoyed using saved wrapping paper, as well as sweet wrappers and handmade paper.

                                                Spring Blooms 2010

Early last year I played again with flowers, longing for spring after a tough winter up in the hills. I experimented with mono-printing, seeing through layers and stitching again on my ever loyal 45 year old Husqvarna! One of these pieces was purchased to be a wedding present. I appreciate the ability flowers have to fit so many occasions and express different emotions.

 Easter Chorals: The Desert & The Meadow 2010

Inspired by an old Swedish Psalm I created this pair, again utilising a variety of recycled materials, stitching and mono-printing. The story talks of flowers blooming in the hardest places; maybe their sheer feistiness is why I will regularly return to them for encouragement. Just now I am working on a tulip theme commissioned by a feisty and fun lady in Sweden.

Ingrid

Place Mapping 16th August 2011

I hope to blog every two weeks; it is nearly three weeks since my last entry due to a need to recuperate somewhat from an action packed July. I have spent august so far regrouping, focussing on marketing and studio work, so never a dull moment!

Link here -  

Artistic jargon is a law to itself. A word I come across nowadays is place mapping. What does it mean to me? I just wrote about Stitching Stories; another aspect of narrative art talks about places and journeys.

                                                   Home 2007

I was not familiar with the term place mapping when I created “Home”, an upfront collaged mixed media piece created for the Derbyshire Open Exhibition. It is a statement about sprouting roots in a small Derbyshire village. I felt boosted by receiving a commendation for this work as I enjoy seeing mixed media rewarded! I used torn pieces of map here, as well as recycled bits of wrapping paper and scrim. This is place mapping for me, talking about belonging, location and mapping out the place: you can see Upper Dovedale where two rivers begin, the Dove and the Manifold.

                     Advent Stars V: The forget-me-nots of the Angels 2008

A year later I created a series of five pieces called ‘Advent Stars’ quite consciously place mapping, picking out five significant stations in my life. The final one, again talks about coming home in a different culture and settling here in the Peak District. Each piece has a torn map only vaguely concealed and makes use of stitching, symbolic for the fabric of a place.

                                     Norse Riddles I, II, III 2010

My first visit to Orkney without much warning took me by storm and demanded some place mapping! I dived into history and language to include past layers of the place where history is so vividly present in the experience of today. I will continue to tell stories about places from now on, on second thought maybe I always did.

Ingrid

Stitching Stories 27th July 2011

I will post alerts on Facebook and Twitter to my web diary every time there is a new blog published, and here is a link to my Artist page on FB:

Link here -  

I was at the Great Dome Art Fair with Peak District Artisans all last weekend and got involved in many different conversations about my work, such as how and why I do things. I also did a talk on Narrative Art as a part of the weekend. The whole experience reminded me of how much I have enjoyed doing the stitched work which keeps recurring in my studio output. For me the step from painting to stitching in mixed media is not that big; I work in a similar way in both genres.

                                         Chrome Hill (2010)

However there are some important differences and I happily rediscover those every time I go back to the stitching medium. Touching fabrics, threads and buttons (or other found objects) is tactile and satisfying. Sitting quietly stitching bits down by hand requires patience and will not be rushed. I find old bits of recycled fabrics, frayed and interesting, and they already have their history, which becomes a part of the story I am trying to tell.

Here is one I thoroughly enjoyed creating:

Till the cows come home (2003)

It talks about my childhood growing up on a Northern Swedish dairy farm, where I knew each cow by first name and by personalities. We grew barley there, so I ‘borrowed’ lines from Sting’s beautiful ‘Fields of Gold’.

I will juxtapose that image with my most recent stitched work from June 2011; it brings it home to me that I need to continue stitching and follow that instinct whenever it calls next.

                                  Viewpoint II: Blackbird (2011)

This weekend I will go and exhibit at Kedleston Hall Contemporary Craft, Sculpture and Art Fair link to living heritage event. I think I will bring some of my stitched work with me to compete with ancient tapestries inside the Hall! Thanks for listening.

Ingrid

Northern Spring 5^th July 2011

This is my first ever blog, which also salutes the new style web site hereby launched! I am excited to have a so called contents managed web site now, which allows me to link up my web presence with the social media as well. This change also involves me in managing all the on line work myself, so I am truly learning, in my case still by baby steps, but ten years into this high tech millennium I am slowly getting there!

 I have set up an Artist Page on Facebook in addition to my profile in the last month. There I aim to post alerts with links to the web diary every time there is a new blog published, and will hopefully do the same on Twitter. 

Link here -  

I have a busy time over the summer, a reality for all working artists, so I try and live one week at a time. This week I have been recovering from The Great Sheffield Art Show, which was held at the University of Sheffield. It was my first time there and I found it a great learning experience at a well visited and thoroughly organised show. We were seven artist members from Peak District Artisans there this year; it is truly a great help to have the support from friendly colleagues when taking on a new challenge. I showed a new triptych “Northern Spring” there for the first time. I went back to my roots in northern Sweden in March/April this year and witnessed what I call the Big Thaw there in early April. A magic time.

Great Sheffield Art Show link: www.gsas.co.uk

I am now getting ready for the 4th Great Dome Art Fair 23th-24th July, the biggest annual show for Peak District Artisans, and also a Buxton Festival Fringe event.

Thanks for reading my first diary entry!

Ingrid