Quinn Knits a Twisted Yarn

Urban Art, Montpelier, Bristol

Our neighbourhood is vibrant with graffiti art and all kinds of other creative finds. Yes it is inner city and dirty and smelly at times, there are strange people shouting on street corners and much evidence of poverty. But there is also colour and community, expression and diversity. I have grown to love this area much more than the affluent Georgian terraced streets that we moved from.

I hope to explore more thoroughly soon but for now I have a handful of shots from our regular walks to school, park etc. Above is a beautifuly knitted lamp post on the corner of stokes Croft and Ninetree Hill. A quiet observer of the recent riots. I love the bright colours popping off the grey background. This lampost has also been captured by my good friend Charlotte on her lovely blog. Below is a second lamp post that Charlotte pointed out this morning after walking our dogs, a dangling heart and sequins, I wonder if it's the same artist.

The next image is something we see every morning on the way to school, a storm trooper is hiding in the bushes!

Above is our local playground, not always the nicest place to hang out but empty on a sunny day it has some appeal. Ooops, got to collect the children now.

A New Camera, a phone and some water colours

So Today I took the plunge and upgraded my gadgets. I was due an upgrade with my mobile and although I'll admit to be a little lacking on the technical side of things I really struggled with my old phone, it was awkward to use and never notified me about messages, so now I have an all singing all dancing phone that if I can wrestle it off my son seems very easy and responsive to use.

But the big decision made today was to invest in a new camera. I have worried over this for a few weeks with finances so tight it seems an odd time to spend big bucks. My main incentive was that my photos are just not good enough, my little canon is fine (but I feel a lot of the images are washed out,  just not crisp enough)so when it comes to documenting work and especially selling on line I think your photo's have to be the best they can.

Whilst worrying about the spend involved I did extensive research and came up with a good short list and finally opted for the Olympus E PL1, there was a good offer on this camera at my local camera shop as it is a 2010 model and it's had lots of good reviews. Well I think I really love this camera already, it looks great, feels lovely to hold and makes a proper clunky click when you take a picture, I know, my camera review is so up there with useful information!! but I only had about half an hour to play around with the camera, I took it with me to collect the girls from school, the following images were taken on this short journey, it was a grey grey day today and I just used the basic automatic setting with a couple of fun shots using the art options.

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the above images were fast snapshots on automatic and I'm really pleased with the colour and detail on such an overcast day. Below is a shot of the rose using the art button, I think this function is called 'pop' and it heightens colour.

Then two shots using sepia.

Rosie above was climbing, and Sadie below was singing.

More camera shots taken with my little canon

 

 

 

And for fun here's my new phone showing mostly cloudy in bristol. And lastly, because I have been working as well, a couple of small water colours.

Some time ago I did a series of sketches from early black & white photos. This drawing was inspired by those images and below is a nurse character who has appeared a couple of times before, I like that she's a little odd even menacing.

I'll sign off now, it's way past my bed time, good night. Well am unable to publish, this has happened a few times now!! will have to try again in the morning. Oops there we go it's done, good night again.

A Day for Drawing & Painting

I would love to work with oil paints again but I have a lot of other work that needs my attention and I must not get distracted by adding other mediums at the moment. It did however seem like the time to get my water colours out, so this morning whilst the children were occupied with various friends from Friday overnights I started drawing and painting, messing about with a few ideas and thinking about how I might like to progress with my drawings. I have for a long time kept things intentionally simple, using pencils and paper readily available at home, my drawings are always slotted into spare moments between supper and bedtime for example, always small in scale to accommodate the limitations of my domestic surroundings, in a strange way I have found this quite liberating (completely back to front I know!!)

But I did the huge canvas anything goes thing at Art school (equally liberating at that time) but it's kind of a relief to move away from all that self important posturing (we all took ourselves very seriously at art school) and deliberately engage with the ordinariness of A4 paper & coloured pencils (I was so desperate to escape these restrictive mediums at school) and probably I only have the luxury of returning to these childhood scribblings because of my art school education so maybe a bit of posturing still going on!.

So it's been fun but I do think some of my drawings need something else?. I love colour and pencils just don't give you the endless options that mixing paint does. To days drawings are still small & illustrative, a little tentative maybe as I get used to paints again.

I also finished a Hoot, a bird Lady and made good progress with the king of Birds over the last couple of days.

A big sister for the smaller green Hoot will be in my Etsy shop soon.

The bird lady has a group of friends that include a clown and a skeleton and two pantomime sisters, hope to have these all completed soon.

I knitted the King of Birds a crown, so he just needs this his wings and his heart to be attached, his essential bits really and then I will finish his queen.

All kinds of Making going on

My energy levels are flagging a little this week, maybe because it's cold again. But I've been steadily getting through a lot of work. The above pictures show a selection of characters in various stages of completion. My goal is to have them all completed in the next couple of weeks.

Today I finished a Bird doll, she was part of the clown and skeleton group started a while back, they are all a little creepy, but I really enjoy my dark characters.

I had a lot of fun with her hair. These dolls have linen bodies and embroidered faces, with polymer clay used for noses or arms.

 

It's interesting completing work I've started a while back, it reminds me of what I liked about this series of dolls but also adds something extra to her, I think her completed form is very different to how it would have been a couple of months ago. I also completed a little paper clay and knitted dog who is companion to the Elephant and Bird boy.

I'm pleased with these guys as well, they are quite different in style, materials and working methods. But this is how I work best, if I have a block on how to finish a type of character I can move onto a completely different set of problems and wait for inspiration to strike. I also finished another Hoot, seen below.

I'll try to take some better pictures tomorrow, light was overcast today. I also feel that my camera does not take the best pictures, my old canon was much sharper and the colours were better so maybe I need to do some camera research.

and finally I came across this picture of me, I'm guessing about age 11, my mum knitted the cardigan and my dad made the chair. This picture resonates with me as my son is 12 and my daughter 10, and I remember this time as the last moments of really carefree childhood, before teenage years, secondary school & exams started the complicated stumbling meander towards adult life. I'm starting to meander now, it's too late for me, I'm off to bed, good night.

More ideas coming together

I dropped by my studio this morning to collect some stuffing/ wadding, I'm never quite sure what it's called. I'm still working at home just because there is too much stuff to transport to the studio today (no car) but hope to be back in this week.

I was also looking for some fabric and uncovered my large collection of unfinished work!! not great but my excuse is all the upheaval of the last 18 months. Also, and this is completely sincerely true, some characters just stop at a certain point, I just get a complete block on how to proceed, so a period away from them can be really good as hey presto inspiration strikes. The time has allowed me to develop new processes & ideas that I can apply to this work.

And although the day had a slow start I feel excited with the progress made, there is still a lot to do but my creative fairy godmother is definatly with me this week. Although I must admit the domestic Goddess has gone on holiday for an undisclosed period of time.

The stumbling point with these three was arms & legs, for me each part of the doll adds/ imbues character so arms, legs, colours, textures, clothes are as important as say the face. I'm happy that they are moving in the rite direction now.

Finishing off

Yesterday I completed a lot of finishing bits and pieces, mostly hand sewing seams, also some older dolls that were never completed before all the house moving.

The red doll above is an older doll with a painted face and body. Below the squares are in progress, Birdy in the blue pants is finished along side Charley who is waiting for a couple more bears to join him.

Below are some more shots of Birdy Duvall who is always dressed to impress.

I am pleased with Birdy, it sometimes takes me a while to decide which medium a character is best suited to, textile, clay, drawing? then does a character need a painted, drawn, embroidered, machine sewn or felt face? I don't have a formula doll because this would not suit my creative process, also people are so different in size, shape, colour, character, my characters are all about diversity and contrast.

Below is a new Hoot in the early stages, I have run out of wadding until I can access my studio on monday, so she is waiting to proceed and join her sister and friends below..

Finally my daughters made may day crowns at our local city farm last weekend, they look a little bedraggled now but remind me of the lovely day we had.

A Quiet Weekend

When the children are with me I feel exhausted and constantly pulled in all directions, there are rare moments of calm, but of course I treasure it all however hard it seems at times. Then there are the quiet weekends when they are at their dads, I long for these peaceful times and then what do you know, I miss them and don't know what to do with myself.

I find it hard to sit still and not do anything but knowing how tired I have been this week I decided to rent all three Stieg Larsson films (the swedish versions) yesterday the girl with the dragon tattoo, this afternoon the girl who played with fire and after this post the girl who kicked the hornets nest. It feels very decadent, I've been sewing whilst I watch (a little tricky whilst reading subtitles!) but as I said it's difficult to just sit and do nothing. I've done a lot of hand finishing that's been stacking up, the boring bits, so perfect to do in front of a good film.

I finished work on Friday, so whilst I'm looking forward to getting back into my studio next week, there's always a bit of anxiety not knowing when I may be earning again. So full steam ahead on my own work. I'll add pictures tomorrow as camera is charging tonight. Just one image below of a drawing I did an hour ago whilst watching Dr Who (yes I managed to fit it in between my movie marathon & supper) Some very stylised 60's girls.

And I must get some pictures of my girls, we had a proper girlie day on Thursday as school was closed for voting. We went shopping, clothes, makeup, peel off face packs (my kids love these, I guess it's equivalent to peeling glue off your fingers ... really good fun) then home for haircuts, I managed to do both girls in a couple of hours, they both have bouncy little bobs and no head lice!!! I'd call that a result! and I do know my girls are too young for makeup, but it's great fun for dress up, every little girl has played with mummys makeup at some point and my two a lot, so I'm hoping that by supplying them with their own I may save my last two lipsticks from being rammed into their lids. Oh its movie time again, back with more pics tomorrow.

A pig an elephant and a rabbit

These three characters are about 2.5' tall and sculpted from paper clay. They will be added to my Etsy shop soon. Again these three were inspired by toys/ cartoons/ graphics of the 50's & 60's. When I have time I scroll through Ebay, a rich source of weird and wonderful toys for inspiration.

I'm pleased with these little characters and want to make more. But I have to send off to the USA for  paper clay, so will concentrate on textile characters next week. I'm squeezing my own work in around my day job and yet another day off school for the kids tomorrow, their school is a polling station for the day. The dog is adjusting well to my working hours, he has only eaten one cushion, a packet of antihistamine tablets and the corner of a carpet. So generally things are going well, I'm a little tired but sick children are on the mend the sun is still shining, my Etsy shop is alive and kicking and I survived my caffeine detox (only just, the headaches and muscle cramps lasted 7 days!!)....oh yes I drank a lot of coffee.

Beautiful sunny bank holiday weekend

We were forcast thunder storms and pouring rain!

The girls had a lovely day in the garden whilst I went back and forth between garden and computer, still uploading my Etsy shop.

Tom's been really ill for about three weeks, all through Easter Hols but is on the mend now, enough to venture out with a water pistol and attack his sisters!

Today is another lovely day so we're off to the park for a while. I had a bit of time off from shop work last night and had fun with a couple of quick drawings inspired by Lucieen Day's fabric, Calders sculptures/ mobiles and Miro.

Oh and I'm also very excited to have my first two orders from the re launch of my etsy shop.

ready to ship. And one final drawing (this was Friday evening) a red headed girl with some of my characters.