Oct31
My current exhibition runs for one more month!
Sep26
Searching for the Broughton Pea
Come and see this quilt in the flesh!
I am having an exhibition at the Kyabram Town Hall Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia for the months of October and November (2023) -so you have plenty of time!
Faced with pandemic restrictions a few years ago, my husband and I found time to walk the tracks near our farm.
One of our first wildflower ‘finds’ was this Broughton Pea- its pinky purple flowers peeking out from the grass.
A flush of discoveries ensued, but for hubby, subsequent sightings of the elusive Pea still evoke in him a surge of joy.
Another whole-cloth quilt where I have painted and printed the background with dye. The figures and flowers were made separately, then appliqued. I used fine black tulle to represent the shadows. The free-motion quilting followed the organic lines of the dye, suggesting flowers and grasses.
Intragram: lindenlancasterartist
Aug16
ART QUILT AUSTRALIA 2023
On exhibition 11 August to 12 November at the National Wool Museum in Geelong. Thankyou to ozquilt network, and specially Dianne Firth for organizing this wonderful event.
WATER RIBBONS
I live next to a large redgum forest which stretches along a section of the Murray River on the border of Victoria and NSW.
This piece is inspired by a place where our road enters the bush called Eddy’s Gate and which I often visit.
Last year during the floods these water ribbons were in their element, their strap like leaves twisting and floating above and below the water. Combined with the architectural upright flower spikes they made an irresistible subject. The tubers of this water plant can remain dormant during dry seasons and then shoot out again in a wet season. They are tough little guys.
I like to take lots of photos of my subjects, playing with them digitally, and using them as source material for drawings and studies. Sometimes I will do au plein-air sketches.
On planning the quilt, I tried to partially abstract the subject by flattening the background perspective. I like to have a plan to start with and audition as I go. For example, here I planned to make an irregular border, which I ended cutting off – it seems I’m not ready to be that different yet!
I prepared my fabrics in two ways. First ice dyeing for the water. Then using Procion dyes in various thicknesses and painting loosely and directly to the cloth for the grassy verges.
I pieced the background, then quilted the whole thing (free-motioned on a domestic machine) before appliqueing the featured elements. The use of shimmery thread helped to indicate the surface of the water. I attempted to soften the edges by adding the leaves of Wavy marsh-wort, a companion plant, in silk organza. Lastly, I added the black tulle at the bottom to give the piece a bit more mystery.
May27
‘Wattle Time’
This piece is currently being exhibited at the Quilt National Exhibition at the Dairy Barn Art Centre in Ohio, US. As I was not able to attend in person, I am looking forward to purchasing the book with all the other works in it when it is published. This quilt is for sale.
The piece has come about through a lot of thinking and experimentation with abstract landscapes. I have been wanting to get more ‘loose’ in my work and embarked an online course with a wonderful UK abstract landscape painter/ceramist Lewis Noble. Lewis takes his inspiration directly from being in the landscape and reacting in that space, making painterly sketches and gestural marks. He then uses this material back in his studio to make more resolved works.
Although my work is a lot more representative than of Lewis’s, I found the process really helped me to get the feeling of being out in the landscape.Hand painted and printed cottons, tulle, appliqued and free-motioned stitched.
Please see the October 2022 blog for more process details.
May21
Bottle Washers 1
This quilt was exhibited last year as part of the ‘One Step Further’ exhibition (Victorian Quilters) at the Kyabram town hall gallery. I am fortunate to have these gorgeous grasses (Enneapogon nigricans) growing around my property. The background of this piece was predominantly made up of fabric that was geli printed. I also used thermofax screens to add pattern and detail, such as the seed heads that look like ‘shuttle cocks’ in the top right hand corner. The large bottle washers were appliqued with tiny confetti pieces of cotton fabric.
Note: I will be having a solo exhibition at the Kyabram town hall gallery in October this year (2023).
Oct5
QUILT NATIONAL 2023 ‘Wattle Time’
I have been blessed to have a piece chosen into Quilt National 2023. This is a prestigious and sought after exhibition, which many people enter year after year without any success. This year there were 674 entries from 20 countries. Many thanks to jurors Chiako Dosho, Dr, Carolyn L. Mazloomi, and Irene L. Roderick; and the Quilt National Director Keri Wolfe.
The Diary Barn Cultural Arts Centre has been hosting this exhibition since 1979. It is a refurbished 200 ft barn built in 1914 set in the rolling Appalachian foothills, Ohio.
This piece has come about through a lot of thinking and experimentation with abstract landscapes. I have been wanting to get more ‘loose’ in my work and embarked an online course with a wonderful UK abstract landscape painter/ceramist Lewis Noble. Lewis takes his inspiration directly from being in the landscape and reacting in that space, making painterly sketches and gestural marks. He then uses this material back in his studio to make more resolved works. He has a very informative YouTube channel if you would like to check it out.
Although my work is a lot more representative than of Lewis’s, I found the process really helped me to get the feeling of being out in the landscape.
Preliminary work
From my sketchbook, acrylic paint sketches, collaged.
Wattle Time sketch 2, Linden Lancaster 2021
Designing the fabric.
I spent a couple of days splashing dyes in various thicknesses. I decided to use a blue for the sky that was leaning to the complimentary purple to offset all the yellow.
A light fusible was ironed to the back of the fabrics and then roughly cut and pinned on the substrate. I decided the size would be about 48 x 32 inches (122 x 81 cm). The idea in my head was for a high horizon, wattles everywhere in the background and a large feature wattle on top. I put the darks toward the bottom. I added a bit of stripy commercial fabric for a bit of zhuzh.
Fabric placement for ‘Wattle Time’ Linden Lancaster 2022
This background was then quilted. The final part was to add the trunk and branches of the main tree and all the blossoms on top. I like to use paper cut-outs to audition the branches etc (it would have probably been better to use dark paper). Confetti collage was a good way to depict the energy and vibrancy of the wattle, with some black fine tulle to add more shadow. Lots more machine stitching was added. I just use a domestic machine.
I am not able to show you the whole piece yet (sorry), but here are a few details.
Wattle Time detail, Linden Lancaster 2022
This is a small piece in a similar style that I produced at the same time for Australia Wide 8. This exhibition showcases fibre artists from Australia and new Zealand is travelling around for the next few years. To check out the details info@ozquiltnetwork.org.au
Sep12
Old Coach Road Flora
Walking the Old Coach Road alongside our property has become a source of great delight since the lockdown in 2020. My husband and I have discovered hundreds of different plants, including some rare ones. I have used the process of ‘wet cyanotype’ to record a few here.
Cyanotype has been around a long time as a monochromatic photographic device since the 1900s. The algae specimens of Anna Atkins (1852) is worth checking out. These days cyanotype can be done in various colours, but I love the blue.
Here I have experimented with the addition of water spray, turmeric, salt and bleach on various types of fabric, including linen, cotton and silk. The additional fabrics are mostly screen printed with thickened dyes, with a few commercials thrown in for good measure. The piece is predominantly hand stitched with free motion quilting pulling everything together.
You can view this quilt at the ‘DARE TO DIFFER’ exhibition which is on at the moment at the Gallery M, MARION centre in Adelaide, Australia, until September 22, 2022.
Aug10
Something Different- ‘Snails on the Table’
In the past few years I have been sorting and cleaning out my mother in law’s old farm house. She was a ‘saver’ and never threw anything out. She lived in this house for most of her life.
There was a lot of ephemera and old clothes. After studying the works of artists who work with preloved and ‘found’ fabric and papers, like Mandy Patullo, Mrs Bertimus, Ann Kelly and Cas Holmes, I have been making samples using Mum’s old stuff. In a previous blog ‘Vintage Concertina book’, you can see some of the fabrics I have collected.
Responding to the Australian Quilt Show’s prompt ‘Recycled and Restyled’, I have put together a quilt entirely from tables cloths and aprons.
This is a rather quirky design and a departure from my usual style. I adapted some childrens’ drawings I collected many years ago in my music teaching days (from a listening and responding exercise on ‘fast and slow’).
It was very enjoyable working with these soft and worn fabrics and combining them with a contemporary spin.
This piece is travelling around to the Craft and Quilt Fairs associated with Expertise Events.
May26
Blue-green Algae
This piece is a finalist in the 2022 Australasian Quilting Convention challenge.
The theme was ‘Going Green’.
Blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria) are naturally occurring organisms that live in waterways. Under certain conditions they go crazy and reproduce expeditiously forming ‘toxic blooms’ that impact the environment. These conditions include excessive nutrients (often the result of fertilizer run off) and hot, dry seasons. Decomposing algae brings a depletion of oxygen in the water, leading to fish kills, and makes the water hazardous to drink or come in contact with. Throughout Australia, the potential for blooms is increasing…..a ‘going green’ not to be admired.
Cotton fabrics, silk organza, tulle, polyester and metallic threads.
Hand-painted and printed with thickened dyes, raw-edge applique, foiling, painting, free-motion stitching.
Mar30
Middle of Nowhere…Picola
This quilt was recently a part of the at the ‘Australian Quilts in Public Places’ exhibition at the Whitehorse Gallery in Melbourne. The theme was ‘Where in the World?’
This is quite an experimental piece and based on a google map of the tiny town closest to where I live.
‘“Blink and you miss it”, I tell people travelling to my place.
A tiny Australian rural town like many others, but scratch the surface and you’ll find unique people, flora and fauna.
Parts of the map where enlarged and painted directly to a silk screen. I then printed sections using the breakdown method with dye paste. I was looking for organic lines and marks depicting trees, dams, roads paddocks, etc.
Houses were appliqued and other details stitched in by machine and hand. Overlays of printed silk organza with birds and leaves were added toward the end. It was difficult to balance all the elements in this piece, but I’m fairly happy with the result.
The birds shown are the iconic Superb parrots that live in our district.
Linden Lancaster 