Lino and doublers

It's all official, my course has made it into the Art Centre's autumn brochure! To book call Newcastle Arts Centre on 0191 2615618 and we'll look forward to seeing you in December.

I'm busy planning and plotting what we'll do and doing plenty of visual research so I'll have loads of images laid out to inspire the class. Here's a couple to get the creative juices flowing.

Buttercups and Daisies linocut by Helen Roddie

Happiness on the underground linocut by Pedro Demetriou

The workshop will be relaxed and fun, so don't worry if you've never done a linocut before there will be plenty of help and time. It can be a simple or as complicated as you like. Once we get printing you can print on almost any surface and I will bring in some interesting papers for you to try.

As well as printing I've also been enjoying making wet felted flowers that I have then made into brooches. I was really pleased that I managed to teach myself how to make double petals too! All brooches are hand stitched and beaded and will be on sale in the Craftshop very soon. 

Some of the brooches are inspired by the ever changing sky in Scotland that we watched every day from our holiday cottage in Ardnamurchan. A couple are my take on hot house flowers in the exotic section at Kew gardens, with their layered petals and interestingly shaped petals. Others, well you'll just have to pop into the shop and read the back of the card to find what inspired them.

Currently reading: Sonic Wonderland by Trevor Cox (all about sounds and science)

What I'm up to at the minute: still working on my art journal when I get time and designing linocuts.

Busy bee and coin purses

Wow I've just realised how time has flown since my last blog! Hope I still have a few loyal followers out there :-)

I've been pretty busy at the art shop and also have a spot or two in the Craft Shop selling my brooches, cards and my new little project below coin purses. The lovely ladies in the shop have been keeping me quite busy with requests for hand made bits and bobs, so on my days at home I've been creating all sorts of lovely stuff. To see some of the things I've been making and to keep up with my studio life check out my Facebook page.

The Craft Shop is a great place for those unusual gifts for birthdays, weddings and Christmas or just because you want to treat yourself or a loved one. They stock handmade pottery, jewellery, cards, bags and have a lovely selection of cards and wrap too.

My gorgeous little coin purses are on sale £13.99 for the small (approx 10cm x 10cm) one and £15 for the larger ones (approx 15cm x 12cm). They are printed on 100% cotton, lined and with a good quality zip.

Layout idea and prep for screens.

Coin purses in progress all hand screen printed and machine stitched.

Little collection all complete and ready to deliver to the Craft Shop.

Thank you for stopping by and hopefully it won't be as long for my next post.

Reading: Girl gone by Gillian Flynn

Next project: felt card toppers and more printing.

Structures - if only they could talk

Lately I have been experimenting with a few ideas and have really loved the results so I thought I'd share them with you.

I have enjoyed printing with my little birds and stitching into them, but thought that perhaps a change of theme would be good. I have always loved architecture and the details you might find if you look carefully, and love both old and some new alike. In the North East as with many historical towns and cities there is a vast array of buildings that if they could talk would tell many a good tale.

So I decided to start a new series and so far it's called Structures, I wanted to keep it open so that I could perhaps add other interesting architecture not particular to the North East too. I'm also experimenting with digital print and loving exploring the effects and layers you can build up. It's not to say I'm leaving the beloved hand printing behind, that may come into it later so keep your eyes peeled!

Here are some of my first pieces in the series.

 Flour Mill - copyright Ballistic Owl 2013

 The old school - copyright Ballistic Owl 2013

 Tryptych - copyright Ballistic Owl 2013

Millennium Bridge - copyright Ballistic Owl

Detail from the Quayside - copyright Ballistic Owl 2012

All the prints are created from images in my own vast archive, collected for college projects and trips around the UK. I've loved adding little embroidered details just to highlight key features, sometimes very tiny features! These are now available through my Etsy shop and I will be adding more as I create them, more waiting to be printed as I write this.

Don't forget to look out for my variations, will post about those once I've had a play around.

Thank you for dropping by and don't forget to tell your friends about Ballistic Owl and where you can find me on the web.

The not so desolate North East and how it inspires me!

One of the most recent topics of conversation in the North East this week has been the comment made by Lord Howell of how fracking would be OK in the North East as it is a desolate place. It has been commented on numerous times in social media and has been taken on board by groups such as @NorthEastHour and https://www.facebook.com/groups/DesolateNorthEast/. Who are all for promoting how great the North East is and wanting to show that the region is a great place to live and work.

As a textile designer and maker I love living in the Newcastle and find it a great source of inspiration. My latest prints inspired by the puffins on the Farne Islands is just one example of how where you live feeds into your work. The pictures below taken by Marek were then used by me to produce the delightful characters in my prints below. If you are a regular visitor to my blog you will have seen my previous post on these cheeky little chaps.

Staple Island Puffins- Picture credits Marek Bidwell

 Fish Supper- Tracy Bidwell for Ballistic Owl copyright 2013

The Offering- Tracy Bidwell for Ballistic Owl copyright 2013

It's not just the wildlife that inspires my work but also the built environment and the beautiful countryside. The Baltic and Central station have fantastic architectural details and the prints shown below are from those great landmarks from architectural history.Newcastle's Cathedral is also a beautiful building with many great details to inspire the creative mind.

 Baltic Flour Mill- Tracy Bidwell for Ballistic Owl copyright 2013

Central Station- Tracy Bidwell for Ballistic Owl copyright 2013

 Newcastle Cathedral - Picture credit Tracy Bidwell

Gothic Cushion inspired by the Cathedral door- Tracy Bidwell for Ballistic Owl copyright 2013

The architects of the past, such as John Dobson left us with a great wealth of inspiring buildings, whether they be industrial or residential. Even having lived here for many years I'm still discovering fantastic buildings within the region.

As for the countryside we couldn't really ask for anything better, open fields, woodlands, coastline and meadows. As well as a wealth of beautiful stately properties and gardens. Images I take as I walk around these places all form a vast library for me to work from either in print or stitch.

 Secret Garden (detail)- Tracy Bidwell for Ballistic Owl copyright 2013

Grasses from around Cragside's extensive grounds- Image credit Tracy Bidwell

So as you can see I love nothing more than going round where I live and taking pictures that then inform my designs. So lets hear it for the fabulous North East and all it's beauty and variety!

To see more of my work please go to www.ballisticowl.co.uk or visit my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/BallisticOwl

Buy my work at www.etsy.com/shop/BallisticOwl

Blooming Marvellous.......

This is my new collection! 

The Plant Hunter Collection: Inspired by visits to some of the most beautiful botanical gardens around England, this refreshing collection presents the exotic and the more ordinary, from the eye catching pin-cushion protea to the majestic beech.

From top left & clockwise: Jade Vine, Stellata, Beech Nut and Passiflora

Over the last few weeks I've been busy drawing and creating these gorgeous patterns and I've loved every minute. For a while I've been thinking I should create a new collection to work with, visiting Kew Gardens at the end of April and coming home feeling so inspired gave me a great theme to work with and lots of visual research too!

From top left & clockwise: Pin-cushion, Carduus, Dandelion-Taraxacum, and Iridaceae

The collection consists of 8 designs and I'm hoping to add others to it as I've still got lots of inspirational images to explore and work with. I've sent off for some sample prints and once I've checked the colours I will get some lengths printed and make gorgeous things. They will also be available to buy through my Spoonflower shop, which I've yet to stock so watch this space........

I hope you like them and thank you for stopping by :-)

You can see some images of work in progress for this collection and other Ballistic Owl projects on: facebook page  or on Twitter and also on Instagram

Having fun with textiles

I have really enjoyed being able to print and embroider over the last few weeks and have loved planning my little pictures for the market stalls and Folksy shop. It's great to have lots of ideas buzzing around my head and then experimenting with them. 

Yesterday with the buzz of having sold two of my bird prints as well as a few other things on the stall on Sunday, I got to thinking of other techniques I could bring into my textile pictures. Below is an idea I tried out using reverse applique and my ballistic owl lino print. I think he looks rather smart and will soon be in a frame ready for my next market! 

Ballistic Owl in a suit! Copyright Ballistic Owl 2013

Along side making new and exciting things with textiles, I'm also busy drawing so I can expand my pattern portfolio and also have some designs to print and later add to things like my lampshades and pictures. This drawing forms part of a sheet inspired by the fantastic flowers I saw at Kew Gardens in April. Once it's finished I will experiment with pattern repeats!

Sketch book drawing. Copyright Ballistic Owl 2013

I'm loving Instagram at the moment and find it's a great way to show work in progress and quickly put them up on my Facebook page or on Twitter. I also use it when I'm out and about, and take a snap when I spot something that could inspire a design. I have also taken quite a few of my cats, so you will have to excuse me on that, but they are very cute!

Instagram picture of work in progress. Copyright Ballistic Owl 2013

As some of my lovely prints have flown the nest, I have added these two gorgeous ones to my Folksy shop and they will also be at my next market stall at Tynemouth which I'm planning on doing on the first Sunday in July. The Ballistic Owl is a lino print with hand embellishment and framed in a smart white box frame and is £24 plus p&p. Humming bird with tropical flowers is also available in the shop and will be on the stall if he doesn't get snapped up from the shop first! 

 The Ballistic Owl. Copyright Ballistic Owl 2013

If you love these, but would like something a little more personalised for yourself or as a gift then please get in touch either via my Folksy shop or my Facebook page, links above or they can be found down the side of the blog.

Humming bird with tropical flowers. Copyright Ballistic Owl 2013

Thank you for popping by and I'll look forward to seeing you again soon :-)

Solihull and the embroiderers guild

Last March at the Fashion, embroidery and stitch show I met lots of lovely people and had great conversations with many of them. One lady who stopped by was Ann from the Solihull Embroiderers Guild, we had a lovely chat which then led to Ann asking if I could visit the guild and talk about my work. Now Ann is a very organised lady and the following years speakers are always booked way in advance, by the beginning of last April I was booked in for February 5th 2013!

Last week that date arrived and I enjoyed a lovely ride down on the train, reading my book, gathering my thoughts and looking at the gorgeous countryside as it whizzed past. Once in Birmingham I had to change trains to get to Solihull and took some snaps on the walk in between.

The side of Selfridges was amazing with its big aluminium discs and as I turned the corner a man was abseiling down it! 

 In contrast the lovely old Birmingham Moor Street station, with its iron girders and old style lamps and signage. I loved the little old train sitting at the platform here.

 The old seats with high backs, it was like stepping back in time at this station. If I'd have had more time between trains I would have explored a bit more.

My work spread out ready for the talks, it was really hard choosing which pieces to take, but I think I got the right mix in the end!

The guild meet in the local Methodist church hall on a Tuesday and have two meetings, one in the afternoon and the other in the evening. It's a well attended group with at this particular meeting 40 ladies in the afternoon and 25 in the evening. I was asked to speak for about an hour at each session after the general announcements were made. 

The talks went very well with lots of lovely comments and feedback afterwards as people came to look at the work in more detail. Particular hits were my drawing sheets and prints from the minute detail, big impact project, my embroidered dress panels from the 2nd year fashion project where I looked at birds and Art Deco. Also my cyanotypes and needle felt clock that I have worked on since I graduated. 

I loved the whole experience and all those crits and presentations Claire and the other tutors made us do really stood me in good stead! 

I was very well looked after and in between each talk I was taken to a lovely ladies house for cups of tea and dinner. We talked about all sorts of things (even though I was slightly croaky after the talk), including some of the courses she has been on and showed me some of her beautiful work. As well as the guild gaining some inspiration from what do, I did too by looking at some of the projects my hosts had completed. 

Ann and the Solihull Embroiderers Guild are a lovely group of people and very hospitable and I'd like to thank them for inviting me to talk to them and for looking after me so well. They produce some gorgeous embroidery projects and if you go the Fashion, Embroidery and stitch show this year look out for some of their work on the guild's stand.

A bit of stitching.

You may remember that a while ago I had a fantastic afternoon making cyanotypes. Well since then they have been sat in the studio waiting for something to happen to them. There are a  few that I think I'll leave as they are, as they're so pretty anything more on them will distract from that. There was one however that I thought needed something more, attempt number one was to machine stitch an image over the top, but that looked hideous especially as my machine skills aren't too hot!

However attempt two has been much more successful and much more me. I've over printed the cyanotype with my lovely Ballistic owl and now I'm merrily hand embroidering details and adding embellishments. It's a work in progress, but here are a few snaps of what I've enjoyed doing so far on sunny afternoons and cold draftee evenings.

I've added white blossom using a very light cotton so you can still see the cyanotype print through it. I also used one of my favourite stitches to outline the petals.

Lazy daisies are fun to stitch and I decided to add beads to the centres for a bit of sparkle.

As I'm stitching the pattern is growing organically. I've a rough idea of how I want it to look, but I want it to have a natural flow so nothing has been planned and I'm not working to a design.

I'm always on the look out for new stitches to learn and I enjoyed this woven stitch that can be used for leaves. I think the variegated cotton adds lovely dimension to the stitch.

It's not finished yet so I'll have to grab a few more embroidery hours, but I'll post an image when he's done. I'm still trying to decide what I should make it into, perhaps a cushion?