July 2008

Have your breakfast before reading this. But in case it saves someone from a potentially unpleasant health problem, here is a picture of rash I had on my leg last month.

This developed after my stay in Spain (see May) and the acquisition of three ticks trying to empty my legs of precious red goo. The rash developed on the site of one bite about a week after removing the tick. It has the typical "bull's eye" characteristic of Lyme Disease: rings around a clear centre. It was hot, itchy, but didn't hurt. It grew day by day. I felt headachey, lethargic, and generally unwell. Here is a link to more information on Lyme Disease. Left untreated it can have serious health implications.

I was, finally, treated with an antibiotic (Doxycyclin) targeted at suspected Lyme Disease. The rash responded very quickly and I felt better. I had had no joint swelling but had started to develop alarming shooting pains in my limbs. It was not an amusing experience.

Thus, June passed by without a single blog entry for me. As well as dealing with Lyme, I exhibited at the Contemporary Craft Fair in Bovey Tracey, then showed work during local Open Studios. This was followed by a residential course at Denman College.

Photos of the course at Denman are shown in the opposite column. I will be teaching there again in January. For details, see here.

Berrimilla

Thanks very much to Alaskasteve. He gave me permission to use this photo of Berrimilla, from his unique blog which he writes from Dutch Harbor, Unalaska Island, Alaska.

Photo courtesy of Steve

If you've watched The Deadliest Catch you will already know where he lives. Steve takes great photos and I like the way he writes about the extraordinary place he lives. He calls his website A Sense of Place.

My brother Alex and crew Corrie McQueen and Kimbra Lindus are shown here, photographed by Steve leaving Dutch Harbor, Unalaska, in Berrimilla. Small boat all the way from Sydney; long way to go.

They are now at Nome, Alaska waiting for the ice to clear around Point Barrow and they hope then to attempt the North West Passage West - East. For more of their trip, click here.

New work

Scarf using wax resist and multiple layers of wax and dye. Crêpe de Chine

Detail of scarf using wax resist and multiple layers of wax and dye. Crêpe de Chine

Denman College, June 2008

Painting a sampler to try out techniques and materials

Starting a scarf using a freepainted background

Discussing the next step over the waxpot

A "layered" scarf; a background in three colours is worked in wax V shapes before dyeing with a second layer of dye

Using a Japanese brush to make a drawing of grasses in wax, on a painted background. This is based on an observed sketch from the Denman grounds, see below

The sketch was masked using a paper cutout and the composition selected and outlined

More images of finished work to follow