What's been happening to petunias?

Once a vulgar (bright pink!) and ubiquitous window-box plant, petunias have suddenly got interesting. These two varieties were spotted in the same hour, almost within shouting distance of each other in central London -

Stunning! And ... hardly pink at all!

To Dulwich (south of the river)

Very civilised, is Dulwich. Where else in London do you find street trees like this? -

It takes a while to get there from north of the river, but finally we got to Dulwich Picture Gallery, to see "Art and Life", work by Winifred and Ben Nicholson, and their friends Christopher Wood, Alfred Wallis, and William Staite Murray, in the 1920s and early 30s.

First, though, refreshment in the nice caf -

The sustaining powers of the gooey almond croissant were much appreciated ... I spent a long time looking at the exhibition. The colours of Winifred's work, especially the flower paintings - so gorgeous. (They will surely feed into my "stripey painting".) Here are a couple from the gallery's website -

Cyclamen and Primrose

Winifred felt that "the tissue paper wrapper held the secret of the universe". She also wrote about gathering a bouquet of yellow flowers, adding more and more shades of yellow - but it didn't "tell yellow" until she added a magenta flower, at which point they glowed "orange and gold and lemon and primrose, each singing its note".

Anemones

 Take the short curator's tour here. A review with pictures and links is here.

We happened to be passing the mausoleum just as the sun was streaming in at a particularly attractive angle -

 (Read about the gallery's history and architecture here.)

Elsewhere, among the "old pictures", are four amazing flower paintings by Jan van Huysum ... a booklet gives their history (he wouldn't let anyone into his studio so they wouldn't be able to learn his secret methods) and the tracing-paper overlays identify the flowers ... but it's the insects that really bring the paintings to life. What did he use to paint the tiny ants, a squirrel's eyelash?

In the shop, these topical ceramics include a rum pot - which in the navy of old (before 1970) would have held the daily tot of rum - diluted, it became "grog" -

Looking (unsuccessfully) for the name of the maker of the jolly pots, I found these paper "wish boats" in the gallery's online shop -

Speaking of boats, how do you like this one by Alfred Wallis? -

Schooner and Icebergs, 1928

Wallis's use of old bits of cardboard gave Ben Nicholson the idea of using different shapes for the support of his paintings, and of leaving their edges visible. "One finds the influences one is looking for," said Nicholson.

Malevich at Tate Modern

Encountering Malevich's work for the first time, in a show at the Van Gogh Museum more than 20 years ago, got a few wheels turning in my art-subconscious. It was one of those "why would anyone make work like this" encounters, and over the years, as my knowledge of art history grew, I came to see why. There was so much ferment, so much change, in those early years of the 20th century, and Malevich was in probably the most fermenting place of all, revolutionary Russia.

Then along came Stalin and Malevich's abstractions drifted back to figuration, for reasons of survival;  he died impoverished and all but forgotten.

1915 Suprematist exhibition (via)

However he did leave The Black Square - a revolutionary concept - purging painting of everything but the paint (and a few necessary shapes to hold that paint).

Tate's caf had a tongue-in-cheek homage - these edible squares -

After living with "Morning in the Village after Snowstorm" on a calendar, it was wonderful to see the real thing (it usually hangs in the Guggenheim) -

The exhibition runs till 26 October at Tate Modern.

Pop-up cornershop

Lucy Sparrow's latest art project is The Cornershop. Taking over an empty property in Bethnal Green, Lucy transformed it into a newsagent’s, with all of the goods on sale made from felt. She spent more than eight months sewing all the items and the result is a space filled with fluffy pieces of art. Now, they form a new exhibition (from which they’re available to buy). On The Londonist's podcast, she talks about the ideas behind her creations, why she chose Bethnal Green as the location, and her intention to create both a playful and confusing environment.

The Cornershop is at 19 Wellington Row, E2 7BB, every day  from 10am-7pm until 31st August. See more pix on the Guardian's website.

In June, as part of Fish Fest in Hastings, a knitted fish and chip shop appeared...

"Contemporary craft" course - day 5

The final day of the course dealt with ceramics.

Inspiration for ceramics

Given a range of possibilities, we got started, making textures on clay slabs and going on from there.

Rolled out on textured cloth, my slab got dabbed with underglaze colours (did the colours of the cloth have anything to do with this idea?), which will stay like that after firing - but the clay itself will be white -

This became a couple of actual pots - cylinders stuck on a flat base, with the scraps cobbled onto the top -

Both the colour and the shapes are a new departure for me ... thanks for the nudge, Robert, and for suggesting putting copper lustre along the edge. I look forward to seeing these with a shiny glaze and the shinier rim. 

Another possibility was to carry forward the marks we'd made on the first day of the course - using overglaze colours to make them onto tiles or plates. I'd had a plan for the plate but not for the tiles ... and it shows ...

bottom left, "mad cow disease" - scrap transfers (from a big transfer of a cow;
the yellow will burn away)

Looking round the room at what others were doing, I found a few things to be envious of -

effective repetition (of transfers)

slip casting (and pouring)

dipping string into slip - simple, eh?

oh so sculptural!

In review

Thinking about the course overall, I must say it was very enjoyable - firstly to try out new things and make connections, and also to get to know others in group over the course of the week ... and to see how there was "something for everyone" whether beginner or more experienced. One lunchtime conversation touched on taking the "same" course more than once, and how it couldn't be the same course if you had changed in the meantime - you'd be getting new things out of it all the time, if you went with an open mind and yet were prepared to be thoughtful about your own work as you went along.

The week before, I'd been totally wrapped up in the monoprinting and handstitch course and could happily have spent a further week on developing the little books started there. Now I have that project on standby, and several to finish that were started in this course -  

• use the "holey sheet" from the first day to work back into the Large Sketchbook, 
• make the monoprint calico into a quilt, 
• use some of the monoprint papers to make a dozen or so greetings cards (just for the fun of it), 
• finish the willow basket (this is priority, it has a destination),
• file the copper and perspex shapes and find cords for them,
• glaze the pots (on 13 Sept).

Important things to take forward:

• working quickly is good for getting going!
• the need to do more drawing, to do frequent drawing, regular drawing...
• be aware of "fear of the new" - especially when it involves learning to use new machines ... take courage; gostep by step; and keep practising
• simple can be satisfying ... and it can be complicated too
• try to leave a free week between courses!

Other posts about this course: introduction, textiles, basketry, jewellery.

(This post is linked to Off the Wall Fridays - have a look at what other creative people are up to!)

"Contemporary craft" course - day 4

Jewellery - all new to me, though I'd often had a glimpse of the jewellery room -

First hurdle - the guillotine - boy does it make short work of cutting metal -

Next, in the forge, we had to anneal (and pickle) our bit of copper. The torches were fearsome, and I realised how difficult it could be to face up to learning to use new tools -

Next, cutting with the piercing saw. We drew out a simple (or not so simple, in some cases) shape, and stuck it to the copper with double-sided tape, then drilled holes for starting the sawing. This nifty tool holds the metal securely, keeping fingers away from the drill press -

The "jaws" are lined with leather so the metal isn't scratched, and the wedge makes sure the metal is tightly clamped.

As well as copper, we were given a piece of perspex, which also needed a shape and holes - as well as a different saw blade (spiral, so as not to clog), and the wearing of a dust mask.

Cutting the perspex, using the bench peg

All this before lunch

After lunch we continued with sawing out shapes, and with filing the edges, then it was into another side room to add texture with the rolling press -

and to use the perspex with the forming press  - which I didn't do, as I was busy cutting more copper shapes, and adding "lines" with some bent wire.

A grand old tool

At the end of the day, some nice collections -

Lots of new things - equipment, processes, skills to learn. I could happily do more of this, if only for the novelty factor ... and for appreciation of what's involved in different types of jewellery. Meanwhile I'll be finishing the smoothing of rough edges, and having a look around www.ganoksin.com - "jewellery manufacturing methods and techniques", recommended by the tutor.

Tablecloth disaster morning

This is what happens when something is waiting for a week or more in the washing machine, in muggy summer weather -

Perhaps it will become a project - stain the entire cloth, then use it for art quilts - they're interesting marks, after all.

Moments after hanging it up to dry, sitting down to breakfast I noticed fresh juice stains on the fresh tablecloth - grr!

It's stretched over a bowl, ready for the Boiling Water Treatment, which works a treat on fresh juice stains, and did on the tablecloth.

Perhaps the mold can be treated too - make a paste of lemon juice and salt... the acid in the juice can break down the stain, but why the salt - in dyeing, it's used to increase penetration of the dye - perhaps here it helps the acid get into the fibres?

"Contemporary crafts" course - day 3

Basketry - a whole new world of possibilities!

Having oo'd and ah'd over the samples, we set to work with willow, starting with a demo of how to put the stakes through the cardboard form (holes about 3cm apart) and tie the ends together, and then how to deal with the weavers for the open shapes (which should have an even number of stakes; closed forms need an odd number).

Each of the weavers makes three journey through the stakes. And at the end, it's important to bend the weaver s-l-o-w-l-y. And then there's the business of pulling it through so it doesn't kink....

Here I am, ready to go, inspired by the "shuttle baskets" [which look like boats to me] in a book called Woven into Memory -

And by lunchtime there had been some progress, though my thumbs were feeling rather tender from all that holding down the willow that was bending s-l-o-w-l-y ... and still managing to split! -

Much activity everywhere as baskets grew and grew -

Another demo, this time on how to find the canes together and tuck the ends securely -

I approximated the closed ends, trimmed the sticky-out bits, and will finish off the rest at home with linen thread or paper string -

... but oh my it's very lumpy, with lots of kinks and quite a lot of splitting. Not to mention some (unintentional) assymetry. It would certainly have been easier to do a nice round shape! Now I'd like to start again, using what I've learned about techniques and especially about the way the material behaves, to make an improved version - but that can wait till my hands recover.

We all had a "thing" - in some cases a finished thing - to take home -

A few hours' struggle like this certainly does make you appreciate the skill of basket makers, traditional and contemporary.