Leaving Blogger

I have moved my blog to julieheaton.wordpress.com

I am sorry that I decided to do this after my post cards had been printed, but I do hope you will find me at https://julieheaton.wordpress.com

With many thanks,

Julie

New Worke at Newark Park

Brunel Broderers' exhibition New Worke starts on Wednesday 8th June, tomorrow we set up. Today I am hoping to collect my print from Photogrphique in Bristol and providing we have got the background correct, and by this I mean that my photoshop effort has been improved by the staff, and I will then have a white background around the image ready to go into the frame that is being made by 'Edge to Edge' in Staple Hill. 

I have decided on the title 'Young Years, part 1' for the Stuart Box and 'Young Years, Part 2' for the cinemagraph.

'Young Years I'
Julie Heaton, 2016

The cinemagraph will start playing next week as there is a delay in getting a screen. It has been quite a puzzle working out how to play a 'gif'. We tried mp4 and DVD but neither would work. On further research we realised that the image would have to run on a computer so a DP to HDMI cable was ordered to connect my old macbook to the screen. It was quite a timely issue but I did learn a lot about digital display.

'Young Years II'
Julie Heaton, 2016

Our exhibition runs until until 11th July.

Please visit http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/newark-park/features/exhibitions-at-newark

Park Street, Bristol

Here are some pictures of my card designs being made for 'Art in Action' 2016. 

My tendency for the unusual in embroidery themes is happening again: damaged parts of shops and cafes that are alive and bustling on Park Street in Bristol. I think my son was slightly unsure when I started kneeling on the ground to take photographs of damaged wood and brickwork and then suggested that the images would be stitched and used for cards designs.

Card series - 'Park Street' 2016, Julie Heaton

Valor Drinking Chocolate

I have finally finished this drawing - it has taken quite a long time due to illness. The drawing is made with the same technique, obsessive stitching with marathon embroidery threads on vilene solufleece (a dissolvable fabric) which is removed in the final stage. 

Valor Drinking Chocolate, Julie Heaton 2016

I have mixed views about this piece; whilst it was fun to make and it perfectly reflects lovely memories of the boys sitting at home with large mugs of luscious hot chocolate, topped with marshmallows and cream, I can't help but crave my usual grittier subjects.

This week I discovered  Michelle Hamer in 'Embroidery Magazine'. Hamer's documentary photographs are recreated with wool on plastic grids in a painterly way. The images have an architectural sense and are not typical for the medium. Hamer states that she enjoys capturing messages from 'the in-between spaces'.

Michelle Hamer, 'What Makes You Happy' 2009

Michelle Hamer, 'Changed Priorities Ahead (detail) , 2015

Yesterday I was on walking down Park Street in Bristol. My aim was to collect images from one street location and use them for inspiration for some small embroidered drawings for cards to sell at 'Art in Action'. I prefer urban decay and damage, not evident to passer-byes; the interesting patterns and the unexpected material that can be used for embroidery.

Artist statement for Newark Park

Our exhibition at Newark Park is now quickly approaching and it is time to think about how my work will be presented and what my artist statement will say about it.

The free machine embroidered 'Stuart Casket' is now complete and ready to be mounted on to a perspex box the same size as the original piece on display in the Tudor Room.

Drawn Stuart Casket, 2016

I have calculated that the front piece of this project has taken approximately 315 hours to complete. Throughout this process I have questioned the skill and determination of young people - those of the past who have left us these wonderful antiquities, my youth, where I too enjoyed the excitement of a new craft kit and todays youth, where many hours are spent online. 

I plan to display kits from my past, representations of projects that I have spent many hours working on, a time where I developed my passion for making.

French Knitting Doll

Matchstick Kit

String Drawing

And for todays generation, a cinemagraph will be shown in the gallery of Newark Park examining their play - and once again, with many hours are occupied.

Cinemagraph, 'Young hands'', 2016

Work for Art in Action

This is always a busy time of year, but this time it is for new reasons. For five years I had deadlines for uni, but this spring I am working towards exhibitions as a freelance artist and this includes Art in Action where I have taught in the practical classes for seven consecutive years.

This year here will not be a 'Best of the Best' and have thereforI decided to concentrate on making some new drawings for the teachers exhibition tent. As always, I like to use a subject that is personal, an emotion that has to be shown and discussed rather than being hidden and allowed to become a problem. Next year, my eldest son will leave home and go to university; already I am anxious about this - since Carl's death 6 years ago we have become a very tight unit and now, having that broken will be another challenge. So my project to help ease this transition will explore our memories of fun times spent at home and as a family of foodies, the kitchen has been a key part of this.

I have decided to make drawings of some special food items that have become kitchen staples;  foods that help to evoke  happy memories of the family life that we have worked hard on building since being widowed. 

Embroidered drawing in progress

'Valor' is a Spanish chocolate that is melted with milk to make a very thick drinking chocolate that can then be dunked with churos. My boys have enjoyed this in Spain many times with their Grandad and, at home. 

Close up of letters being stitched

Work in progress, 'Valor' (Julie Heaton, 2016)

I am really enjoying this work and hope to get this piece finished, some prints made and then a drawing of a can of Spanish Olive Oil; my favourite kitchen food item and one that I am always trying to get the boys to taste.

Sorry for delay in posts

Sorry for the delay in new posts - everyone in my family has been under the weather for a little while, but hopefully all will be over before Easter.

I have got some embroidered drawings in progress for this year's Art in Action and will hope to post these over the weekend but meanwhile I thought I would  add a few photographs that I took yesterday on the last week of  our photography course at Bath College (Mikey and myself).

Bath, England (Julie Heaton, 2016)

Putney Bridge, Bath, (Julie Heaton, 2016)

The tutor - Chris Arun - was very good at getting across the basics of how our digital SLR's worked and within no time had us all shooting in manual. Chris showed us many creative ways to use our lenses and even showed us how to make the most boring and mundane , i.e. Avon Street Car Park in Bath, into eye catching and intriguing photography. We were very lucky to see some of his multi faceted work and hear some hilarious stories about the life of a photographer. And whilst I love to use my sewing machine to make art. I have always loved photography since heading off to the Isle of White as a child with my mums very basic cubed camera where I discovered how easy it was to take one image on top of the other. And this time, it was even better because i shared the experience with my son.

Problems with copyright

Whilst having a small break from work so that I can catch up on some much needed jobs around the home like house insurance renewal, I have continued to think about stage two of my Newark Park project.

The idea for the second stage was to embroider a drawing from a screenshot of one of my boys' games. I chose 'Star Wars Battlefront' because I really liked the graphic content and also, was able to find an image that did not include guns! But then, I was reminded by Liz Hewitt to think about copyright. After a day of trying to work out who to contact, my son came home from school and straight away informed me of the company who made the game. With some research I found a contact number, was then directed towards an online permission request form and accordingly sent an email that evening. To my surprise they emailed back the following day but, it was a no go - due to licensing rules they couldn't give permission. So what to do next?

On the verge of giving up, past experience reminded me that  a rejection, such as BMW and the image of a mini being declined, led to the drawing of the Bristol Engine, a major success. Whilst I am not so sure about the success of this project (due to my confidence in new projects), talking over the issue with Liz and a class on HDR photography has made me think about the possibility of finding my own image and superimposing the back of my son into the image (much like Darth Vader in the Star Wars image).

Below is an image that I made at photography last Tuesday. The technique involved taking the same image at 6 different f stops and then layering them one on top the other in photoshop. The colours were changed slightly and the image made to look more painterly, more like the graphics from a game console 

.

The Launderette, HDR photography

Can I find a building site, derelict warehouse or similar waste ground to photograph? And most importantly, can I manage it this week because the clock is ticking on this project. 

The issue over copyright made me take some time to try and work out how to copyright my own images. I think I have now managed this through lightroom and will ensure that I do it to all my blog images.

Washing out the dissolvable fabric.

I have completed the stitching for the front of the Stuart casket and now have to remove the the dissolvable backing fabric. The work feels quite dense so I think it will hold quite well. 

The first stage in the process is to remove the excess fabric by cutting close to the drawing leaving border that is approximately 1cm all around.  Next, the drawings are carefully pinned onto some pieces of thick foam and then held under running water.  

Drawing pinned onto foam board.

Drawing held under running water.

A second wash

Left to dry...

Sometimes a second wash is required - it is important to make sure that enough of the fabric has been removed otherwise the work will be dark because the colours can be darkened by the glue. But, it is also helpful for some glue to be left in the work to help stiffen it for mounting purposes.

Stuart Casket - my workroom desk...

Below are some images of how I work. I have a busy desk with all my threads at easy reach and the bobbins carefully placed in the bobbin case otherwise the mass of threads makes working tricky. 

The image has been loosely traced with a blue water-soluble pen and then the fine detail and colour are reproduced through careful copying of the drawing which is shown on the iMac.

Work in progress

Here is a close up of me sewing - the work is slow and meticulous and I think harder than the Bristol 2 Litre Engine that I made in 2014.

The right side in progress, the blue pen marks can be seen on the dissolvable fabric.

Throughout the process I am constantly think about the next stage of the project: perhaps i might just draw the front of the Stuart Casket and then I can make sure that I have time to complete the image of today's teenage play. Should I keep to a similar colour palette so that the pieces might work better together or simply be to true to the time and keep the colours real?

Drawn Stuart Stumpwork Box; the work so far...

I have now finished the second piece of the Stuart Casket as can be seen in the first image.

      

Newly completed left front

Right front completed in November

The fascination with the project is strong; the idea that the work of young women, possibly teenagers, is worthy of obsessive and meticulous free machine drawing, even though the original is so faded and damaged. And my boys, hours spent playing on line with nothing to show for the hours of gaming - but they are completely absorbed and have lots of fun communicating with their friends over the challenges they face.

But, the work is very hard to do and therefor it is growing slowly and I am worried about completing the work before the exhibition at Newark Park in June. However I might try to hurry the process I am unable to miss any of the detail - something that may or will become lost when the backing fabric is finally dissolved with water. For now, I will make the final part of the front and then try to decide on the best way to take the project forward. 

The original Stuart Casket