the blog of Claire Leggett, painter and crafter, Birmingham, UK
Oh man, that has been the most fun! I’ve got to play this game again 
It’s been so much fun reading all you guesses and here is the first clue…
Yep – it’s the red polka dot one.
I kind of liked the whole Bakewell tart play on images and it looks clean and sharp.
Little Bakewell © Claire Leggett
Thanks for playing along, I’m going to do this again someday. Big smiles to you.
One of my favourite things to do when setting up a still life to paint, is to rifle through my fabric cupboard and try out different patterns and colours for possible backgrounds. Photographing them and seeing it tried out on screen somehow crystalises the choice for the front runner to go ahead and star in the show.
So lets play a little game this week… leave me a comment saying which background you would have chosen and lets see if great minds think alike and I’ll let you know what I went ahead and painted
This is my first finished project of 2012 and it feels like I’ve spent 2012 years knitting it!
In my head I like to think that I’m the type of woman who loves to knit in silence whilst contemplating the intricacies of the universe. In reality I like a simpl(ish) pattern that I can click-clack through while talking, listening or half watching something.
This pattern is quite a simple repeat of six rows but early on I made quite a few mistakes that meant I unpicked as many rows as I knitted because one lost stitch meant un-doing the whole block of pattern. From that moment on I could only work on it in a monastery type silence! Slow progress then…
Just before Christmas I popped into town to endure the obligatory walk around the German Market and happened to walk past this exhibition while it was open and what a piece of cultural relief it was!
Lost In Lace is an exhibition designed to challenge the traditional view of lace, both lace making and it’s uses.
The way that constructions are used to barrier, screen or shape a space is both amazingly done and beautiful.
The Gas Hall is a huge, quiet, polished room that is exceedingly quiet and all that lent it’s self to making the exhibits feel more magistic.
This is the most amazing laser-punched lace made of some kind of silicone which looked just like fabric. I wanted to touch it to find out. In fact I said (too loudly) to my husband just that and the steward came running over to stop me!
But what a beautiful piece of hanging art.
There was such ingenuity to the construction of these textiles. The definition of lace is “A delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open web like pattern.” This is more like origami meets lace.
This was the piece that had the most impact on me because as I stood admiring its colour and pattern I realised there were readable motif’s in it.
On closer inspection you could see army figures, bombs, helicopters, tanks etc all laid out in repeat, snowflake-like patterns.
I was really struck with the association of thought between fine, gentle, fragile lace and the rough, devastation of war and military life. Clever, very clever.
This screen or curtain looked like a night-time city scape.
But for me this piece was the jaw dropper. You can watch a time release video of the artists constructing this over many days, simply by pinning black wool from floor to ceiling making it denser and denser.
The ethereal dresses hung in the middle of this huge web created a ghostly narrative. It was quite chilling to be near; the web did make me feel like I was going to get caught up too. It was an emotionally evocative installation.
It’s on until February 19th and is well worth a visit. Oh and don’t forget to go into the museum itself and enjoy some tea and cake in the Edwardian Tearoom.
Painting this set up has challenged my New Year resolutions about eating less cake! How long can one observe a cupcake before wanting to eat it?
Luckily this is one of a batch that go in and out of the freezer on still-life duty so are too yucky to even contemplate eating (the Fox’s Party Ring biscuits haven’t been so lucky but more of that another day!)
I really adore the colours in this painting. Navy blue may be my colour of 2012. Pantone are slow to catch on to my trend setting!
The birds-eye angle is quite strenuous to paint unless you are a giraffe or lying face down suspended in a hammock (no I’m not!) I’ve also done everything in duplicate so that I have whole items to scan into Photoshop and play around with later.
Cupcake © Claire Leggett
I just popped in today to share this amazing photo with you. There are somethings that an iPhone camera aces – great skies and amazing low-down shots. I was stunned at how this photo came out as all I did was lean down and shove the phone right up to the mushrooms. What came out was a fairytale kingdom, a mushroom palace, a whole world where little people live in secret.
As a girl I used to love Molly Brett illustrations and would dream up and draw little animal kingdoms living in tree roots in woodland. This discovery above, would have fired my imagination no end. In fact I would probably have taken it as confirmation that Molly drew from real life!
Who knew that knives, forks, spoons and other assorted cutlery could be so much fun to draw and paint?
I have tried to adopt an approach developed in the course I was on recently,
trying out the same item drawn but using different media,
looking at whole shapes and sillhouettes,
and flattening 3D items into flat patterns.
Last year I bought a box of vintage cutlery for 10 pence a piece and some really funky spotty cutlery in gorgeous colours.
Today I’ve been playing mix and match…
…putting together lovely spotty handles with brightly patterned plates…
…and beautifully crafted vintage silverware with delicate a Victorian plate…
….looking for an eye catching combination…
…or harmonious mix…
…to begin painting.
Anthropologie place setting with vintage cutlery
Before Christmas we spent a day in London where I saw lots of inspiring things as always.
Display behind the counter at the Conran shop, glued to the wall
What stuck with me though were these table decorations and china ware displays.
Anthropologie table display
I took lots of photo’s particularly because I liked the straight on angle from directly above.
my current inspiration board
I must have been thinking along these lines for some time because when I rifled through my box of inspiring images I found loads of similar shots from magazines that I’d torn out for future use.
Have you ever heard of Covet Garden ?
It’s the most beautiful on-line interiors magazine. I like it because it’s not too wordy, each issue is centered on one house and the story of the people who live there and it is always beautifully photographed and inspiring because it’s a real home not a styled up pretend living space.
This issue is the home of the makers behind Bookhou who are just so cool, calm and creative and make the most gorgeous things.
Check it out – you can subscribe here. I dare you not to look through the whole back catalogue!
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