my creative space

crowded is the only word - see more creative spaces here

sloth and a pouty muse

the scrumpster very kindly posted the camera cable so i can show a few more holiday photos

standley chasm looking up
and darwin

otherwise there has not been much activity chez seascrump - as soon as we landed at melbourne airport we all got sore throats and different levels of sneeziness and ear achiness. this was, i think, rather off putting for the muse who had had a lovely time in alice springs running around like a dog off the leash. but for the last couple of weeks she has been more and more pouty and disinclined to play.

one burnt quilt was the output until late yesterday (and i'm not sure whether or not to cut this one up - any thoughts?)
so yesterday i was stern and, instead of the desultory attempts at creativity of the past week and a half, we did some playing. i think the prospect of making 3 large (for me) quilts was a bit intimidating - i usually make small pieces that fit easily on the kitchen table and the idea of filling all that space was rather scary. so i got some pieces of op shop cotton from the stash and tore them into pieces of just over a metre square to see just how much space i had to deal with.

add some rough gathers and tucks (inspired by colette wolff's wonderful book 'fabric manipulation') and some fabric paint and it all started to flow. here is the piece wound up and wet with fabric paint
and here it is unfurled and dry - a bit too pink and needing more colour i think - some rustier, siennaish colours
and a smaller piece at the putting things together stage

the creative primeval soup

i am happily swimming away in the lovely primeval soup of creating that goes on before i make something. dyeing fabric, experimenting with different techniques, chasing down references, catching ideas

i have just over 6 months to make 6 pieces for an exhibition - the theme is 'southern land' and my quilts will be about the country around alice springs.

colours - ochres, burnt siennas, umber, deep red, pinks shading into purple and the vibrant cobalt/turquoise of the sky
textures - gibber of the desert, swirls and rough escarpments of rock, spinifex circles, the wave ripples of an ancient sea
and so far the techniques i have been trying out - eco dying with gum leaves on silk and wool (using india flint's amazing book eco colour), fabric manipulation such as ruching, pleating and gathering, painting fabric and khadi paper with red ochre gesso

i would love to able to dye some fabric using this i saw some wonderful eco dyeing at centre craft in alice springs - i can't remember the name of the artist but she had an exhibition of wool quilts that had all been eco dyed including puffball. a fungus that literally pops up all around alice springs. i saw them at emily gap in the east macdonnell ranges and then one morning on my walk along the todd river.

i thought the family would baulk at bring puffballs home in their luggage and i wasn't sure which stage they could be harvested for dyeing purposes. maybe next time.....

ellery creek bighole

ellery creek bighole is one of my favourite places - roughly 100kms west of alice springs in the west macdonnell ranges - it was my first close up encounter with the colours and textures of central australia back in 2007 - the rocks look like they have just reared up out of the earth, energy pours out of the cliffs and the colours glow.

actually glow is too quiet a verb for the effect of these colours - the oranges and blacks just about knock you down, they are so strong. they centainly have a powerful effect on me - i want to run into the desert and lie down in the red dust and just be in the land.

the paintings from this area have a similar effect on me - painters such as evelyn pultara, marymorton and janelle stockman napaltjarri whose work we saw in alice springs.

if you would like to see more rock photos (and who wouldn't?) go over to flickr where i'm gradually loading up some of the mumblety hundred photos i took.

as i was going through the photos it did strike me that i took many more photos of rocks than of the family. further evidence of my bad motherhood - underlined yesterday by young w's joy as he rummaged through the washing basket "yay - i've got matching socks!"

photos

at last i can upload some photos - the internet connection oop north was very uppity and would only allow facebook updates :(uluru at sunset
me and uluru a little earlier in the piece


the rock wall in walpa gorge at kata tjuta

more photos and words later

postcard from darwin

and the connection still mulishy refuses to upload photos...

but we arrived in darwin yesterday and it is lushly, languidly, luxuriously warm...... we are staying in an amazing breezy house surrounded by palm trees, greenery and the sort of bird sounds i thought only existed on relaxation tapes.

there are real coconuts growing on the trees, curlews stroll down the street in the evenings, dinner is taken on the verandah and there is a stately black cat to make you feel really at home....

i could stay here for much longer than a week.

off to explore

postcard from alice

a few snap shot moments from oop north

• being kissed by a blue tongued lizard being hugged by a snake, stroking a bearded dragon (see the fillum on the scrumpster's blog)

• family being (barely) patient while i squatted in the dust and rubbed red dirt into silk and khadi paper

• being beautifully warm - kids in the pool until blue and shivering

• abandoning microwave gum leaf dyeing after scorching exhibit a and drawing ire from the family

• marvelling at the rocks, the colours and the textures in the west macdonnell ranges - the ochre pits ellery creek big hole and trephina gorge in the east macdonnells

• w sustained some minor injuries during some uluru induced jocundity

• flying over uluru and kata tjuta in my first helicopter ride (which was fantastic - i didn't want to get out)

photos will have to wait i'm afraid - the connection keeps choking on them....