Sunday 28 February 2010

blossoms in repeat

blossom, repeat pattern, blue, mizu designsSucculent blossom repeat in gorgeous blue

blossom, repeat pattern, rust red, mizu designsSucculent blossom repeat in rust red

blossom, repeat pattern, teal grey, mizu designsSucculent blossom repeat in teal-grey

You might already know that I'm a bit obssessed with the weird and wacky shapes of succulent blossoms. Recently I designed a repeat pattern based on one of my favourite blossoms. I've been playing with colours and when I repair my large, but very broken screen I hope to screen print these onto fabric. Which of these three colours do you prefer?

Friday 19 February 2010

the lacuna

About a week ago I finished reading Barbara Kingsolver's new novel, The Lacuna, and I was left feeling quite bereft. It was such a good read that I didn't want it to end. A friend who was reading it at the same time said she felt the same way. But it did eventually end (like all good things, hey?) but I can live in hope that Ms Kingsolver will keep pumping out great novels like she has so far (think The Poisonwood Bible). If you love Frida Khalo and Diego Rivera's work then you'll be entranced by this story. It's a good long 507 pages if you buy the hard back version like I did. I suggest the paper back version if you like carrying your books around with you. My copy was like carrying a large brick. But a very fascinating, wonderful large brick at that.

Sunday 7 February 2010

hozuki cushion

All finished as of this morning: hozuki screen print cushion cover. Printed on a natural cotton/linen blend fabric. I know the hozuki pattern is quite bold and might not be to everyone's liking but it sure does give that old green arm chair of ours a lift. We've been meaning to get that chair (and its pair) recovered for several years now. See this previous post for an explanation of hozuki.

Friday 5 February 2010

hozuki love

I think I'm starting to get my printing mojo back. It's been missing a bit these last few months and I think it's because I've had so much writing to do for my other work that all my creative energy was going in that direction. So no mojo left for printmaking. But lately I've been getting out my tools and playing again. This makes me so happy.

Tonight I tested this screen print design. I hand cut the design on drafting film and did this wee test run on a scrap of natural cotton/linen blend. The design draws from a previous woodblock print of mine called 'hozuki', or Chinese Lantern plant in English. I think these plants are an exquisite, magical gift from nature. This lovely pic of one below is from jam343 on flickr.