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

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.

Hand painted and printed cottons, tulle, appliqued and free-motioned stitched.

Please see the October 2022 blog for more process details.

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).

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.

This quilt forms part of my new series of works depicting observations from walks around my property, consisting mostly of birds and wildflowers.

The humble little bird, the ‘silver eye’ is in many gardens and backyards. They don’t seem to be able to compete for artists attention like the blue fairy wrens…..

The main process in this piece is mono-printing, using a round geli plate. Feathers were done directly, whilst I used a stencil for the bird shapes. Because this process is quite unpredictable (and more difficult on fabric), only one in four or five work out. I probably did over 100 prints to get the ones shown here!

It is worth it, however, for the delicate and interesting marks that can be produced.

It is a further challenge to add stitching that will complement these marks. After a lot of thought I decided to use have a combination of hand and machine stitching (see details).

This piece was recently exhibited in the ‘One Step Further’ 2021 exhibition at Kyabram Art Gallery.

Showcasing a collection of bold, intricate and colourful art quilts by artists from Australia, New Zealand and worldwide.

At the Yarra Ranges Regional Museum – entry is free, no bookings required.

on exhibition until Sunday 27th of February, 2022.

This is my piece with the title of ‘Nathalia’s Wildflowers’. 84 x 164 cm

Since joining our local Wildflower group, I have developed a passion for indigenous flora. Here I have included some favourites including corresponding notations from my field journal.

Kangaroo grass, Pink bindweed, Blue devil, Tufted bluebell, Box mistletoe, Yam daisy, Silver wattle, Grey parrot pea, Australasian buttercup, Chocolate lily, Grey sunray, Drumsticks (commonly known as ‘Billy buttons).

Techniques: Dye, mono-print with acrylic paints, screen print, raw edge /collage applique, thread sketching. The journal entries have been digitally printed on silk organza.

Materials: Cotton, silk organza, silk, cheese cloth, satin, tulle.

Nathalia’s Wildflowers by Linden Lancaster detail

Telling a story through collage and stitch

Three things have brought about these pieces of work:

Firstly, last year during lockdown I did an online course with Karen Stamper (from England). This was done on paper and we were encouraged to do a lot of mark making and experimenting with different media. I liked the idea of working back and forth in the pages and continually making additions, responding to what was already there.

Secondly, over the years I have been studying works by by several other British artists Cas Holmes, Mandy Pattillo and Anne Kelly. All these artists work with ‘found’ and pre-loved fabrics and ephemera. I gradually became able to see the beauty in old and worn out things. Using them in my work has been very satisfying, not to mention cost effective and an environmentally sound practise!

Lastly, I had the privilege of helping to clean out my mother-in-laws old country home. She is 91and worked on the farm until recently. She ‘made do’ in so many ways and threw anything out! Here I had the perfect opportunity to gather a collection of materials and pay homage to my husbands family history. Many years worth of inspiration and work!

Thus was born my version of the fabric concertina book- a lovely balance between fabric collage and stitch. In this proto type I have used the combination of both machine and hand stitch. I have also used a mini-theme (kitchen) and restricted colour palette (red, cream and a little green/blue) and only used materials found from the old house.

These small projects are a perfect way to try out lots of ideas for a larger piece of work. I plan to make a series of larger textile collages about this old country home and its people.