Inspired by music and more...

If you have read the previous two posts you will know that I am working on a project inspire by a poem and a piece of music.  It was so difficult to settle on one piece of music but in the end I chose 'Summertime' by George Gershwin from the opera Porgy & Bess.   I decide to make marks whilst listening to the music.

I used several colours of yellow paint and different sized brushes on a big piece of lining paper.

 

I also put a piece of fabric with the words printed on with a Thermofax screen.

I put two of the gel plate print photos on a page and used the screen again.

And collaged photos of gel prints and the painting.

I moved on to painting papers but forgot to take photos until I had cut it up and collaged it with washi tape lines.

In my previous post I described how I started working in my sketchbook inspired by the poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.

Having realised I couldn't work only in oranges and yellows I experimented with which colours would work with yellow.   I used a Gel Press mini to print each colour.  I cut the leaves out of some painted paper.

I did a second page of hexagons using ideas from a Birgit Koopsen video.



Next I tried some leaf printing with the gel plate, but still experimenting with brighter colours.  I have some absolutely gorgeous prints which I have also scanned into my computer.




Then I went back to using stencils.






As yet I have no idea where this is taking me in terms of a textile piece but I'll keep you informed!

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

I am doing a Master Practitioner course with the School of Stitched Textiles.   The tutor suggested I might challenge myself to work with brighter colours than I usually use.  The first module uses a poem and a piece of music of my choice as the inspiration.

For the poem I have chosen The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.

The poem speaks of a yellow wood and my research led me to the fact that this might be birch trees or alder trees.  I was surprised at this as I have visited one of Frost's homes in New England.  Plus the poem was written for Frost's friend Edward Thomas who is English.

However, a piece on the BBC Countryfile programme solved the riddle.  Robert Frost and his family lived in the Cotswolds in England with Edward Thomas and his family living just across the fields.  They obviously walked in English woods.

I decided to concentrate on birch leaves - a decision helped by the fact that we have a silver birch tree at the bottom of our garden with a large sycamore behind it.


I started with some mark making on a large piece of paper.  I was aiming for the two paths diverging in the woods which the marks do represent but also look like branches and twigs.

I had a go at monoprinting with tree stencils designed by Valerie Sjodin.  Taking up the challenge to work in brighter colours I started with yellow and oranges.



Before I tore these up I scanned them into my computer and printed out smaller versions of the prints.   I collaged them into my sketchbook.

Then I moved on to using leaves.  I'll show you those in my next post.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Thank you to all of you who have followed along with my 21 days of gratitude practice.  I have enjoyed hosting the series.

I hope you have developed a gratitude practice.   Today is Thanksgiving in the US which is why November has developed into the month when we talk nore about being grateful.  However I believe it is a lifestyle we should embrace all year round.


Thank you for joining me during the last 3 weeks.  I shall now return to my usual twice per week blogging. 

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Day 21 Give Thanks

Quote
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. Melody Beattie

You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink. G. K. Chesterton

Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot. The Hausa of Nigeria


Bible Verse
Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. Psalm 95:2


Inspiration
Give Thanks and Praises Bob Marley


Gratitude link
Let's Give Thanks All Year


To think about or journal
Have you kept up with the 21 days of this blog?
Do you have a complete or nearly complete journal?
Will you continue to keep a gratitude journal?
Do you feel you have not just a different attitude now from when we started but are practising gratitude?
Today take some time to reflect on the last month. What have you learned? What are you most thankful for?


Action
Make a gratitude jar. Find a large jar which you can decorate if you wish. Cut up strips of paper and put these and a pen by the side of the jar. Each time you are grateful for something that happens write it down and put the paper in the jar. At the end of the year take them all out and read them. Stick the papers into your gratitude journal.

PDF
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