Its winter now

Winter made its presence known this morning. Gruffly whipped Autumn's mantel from the trees like it was being too decadent and had partied to long. All of a sudden its dull, grey, stormy and cold. 

But I beat winter I am capturing Autumn in the studio, remembering the riot it caused and how it made my heart sing as I drove the back lanes as I whittled by the streets, gardens and villages into cities. Yesterday in my parents garden I gathered some Liquid Amber leaves, grown for its wonderful colour this year it sang and radiated. I'm working on the layers of colour in felt and textiles, I like the idea of using pinned layers, so individual cobweb felt pinned for framing or perhaps some light stitching felting... experimenting the colours make my soul sing even with winter howling at the door.

Leaf motifs have long been a favourite and while I may not make leaves (yet) the semblance is there. If you are on Pinterest you may like my Leaf Motif board with great inspiration and making from illustrations, textiles and paper.

This work ties into a project I did five years ago for a school around a 'Poet-tree'. At the time I wanted to make leaves with each of the children but it was too much work for no funding, the project may be revived. 

In my personal arts practice the leaf motif that presents itself in paintings like 'Being doing' or 'Conversations' represents change and I have blogged about it before. 

Not that the work I make in the studio needs to be linked but it tends to be and often the links are part of my creative process, so to the studio... looking forward to the lightness of the fleece and experimenting.

Heart felt

Heart Felt Art
Roisin Markham © 2012

I've been busy never even got to post that I opened a shop on Facebook which sits on my CreativeDynamix page. But if you read or have been following my main blog http://creativedynamic.blogspot.com/  you will have seen the blog post about opening the shop and about what is a hug token.
In January I needed to sit and just make practical work something small to sell. Artist make work for different reasons and this year I just needed to sell my art and have that sense that yes people liked it enough to put their hand in their pockets and part with their cash. There is something very satisfying about selling an item you have made, created - constructed with intent.
The added bonus for me was also to discover and remember what making images with a camera was like. I found myself writing poems to accompany the images I was making and the images I wanted to construct or express with the little felted hearts. They became props for a further expression.
"The heart knows
that love can
not be contained
Love demands to 
be amplified and
shared, so it is
between us.
King of care
queen of kindness
you are that to me."

Heart Felt Art
Roisin Markham © 2012

Writing this blog post I'm realising that I still get surprised by my writing - it has always been a part of my painting and in the last year or so has become more obvious with my textiles and surface stitch. My exhibition last year at the Wexford Fringe really saw the words sit on top of created background surfaces 'Of word and stitch' you can look at some of the work just before it went to framing here.

Perhaps its progress? 

The words presents themselves along side my work not layered with the visuals but taking a more even role equally beside the handmade carefully crafted visual art. Neither the words or the crafted pieces are enough by themselves. As I was putting the framed pieces together the balance in the frame was important - words, visual elements, photographing it...
mixed media creations
I see the multiple images I have made they feel illustrative. Words/images - which came firsts? I celebrate that it is no longer important all I know is that I really enjoyed this creative process although small and central to my being it made me happy to express myself freely. It made me happy that people liked the hug tokens enough to buy them.
The illustrative images with the hug tokens will and I have a feeling that they may all fall into a book to be offered and celebrated for "when my heart sings".
If you did n't catch those image head over to the Facebook page and have a look through my wall photographs, leave me a comment or ask me about when the book is due out?

handmade in Ballygarrett Art Studio

I started clearing my studio again today... as I came across things I tried to stay focused. Rubbish, recycling, books, shelves - fabric, wool ...Oh my favourite skein! + a tiny crochet hook.... ah I have to make something... one thing. So I sat and I crocheted this little sweet heart. You will find a different photo of it on Facebook.

Heart felt research. Roisin Markham 2012 ©

I love the fibre with its thin wool with loops on it and I love working with it it felts divinely too. as you can see from this image of a cowl I created in 2010.

Handmade with intent.
Roisin Markham 2010 © 

I make little hug tokens mostly out of felt but I'm exploring other materials...