The beginning of the end!

The end is nigh as they say! Final Major Project is in progress and I have been busy drawing and have now moved onto my pattern repeats.

My theme is based on seeds and microscopic pollen grains and I hope to produce some lovely prints over the coming weeks. I've been experimenting with scale and rotations too which has been really good fun.

Dissertation is almost ready, just a few tweaks and I'll be there, phew will be lovely to have that off my hands.

Please remember all imagery copyright to Tracy Bidwell 2011.

It's in the detail

Happy New Year everyone, I hope it's a happy and healthy one for you all.

It has been great to have a few weeks off and resurface. It's been great seeing family, friends and going out for cold walks in the snow.

On a recent visit to Bromsgrove we went a walk down memory lane to Hanbury Hall a very special place. The temperature was -12'c, brrr! The walk was fab though the snow and inch thick frost gave everything a magical twinkle. It also showed details on plants and structures in and interesting way. I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt refreshed and ready to tackle anything.

A new term starts tomorrow and with it my Final Major project! I hope to include lots of detail in my work and the walk at Hanbury pointed out that detail can be really inspiring and special. I only hope I can pull this off for this major piece of work, fingers crossed, keep smiling and remember it will be worth it in the end.

Keeping busy

With college being closed and snow everywhere I have had to find things to do at home in the warm. I decided to have a go at making cushions and found that I thoroughly enjoyed it!

All the cushions are hand printed using a lino cut of an owl or robin and then embellished or left plain. I then used the envelope method to make up the cover. Fab I love them and they will become Christmas presents for the family.

I wonder if I could make some up for my final major once I've got designs printed, something to think about.

All prints are copyright.

Back to the drawing board!

All handed in! Friday 19th Nov was a big day for me, time to hand in minor project and make sure everything was all present and correct. Presentation went smoothly, I didn't used to like doing them and used to get quite nervous. Now I'm not so bad and it's a time see the other students work too.

So it's back to the drawing board and producing more imagery for more designs for my Final Major Project. I can hardly believe that that time has come around, so quick! I'm carrying on with the same theme, but with a few tweaks here and there. So look out for more mathematical patterns and microscopic detail.

Print, print and print!

It's all go at college with everyone printing their socks off. Here are a couple of my designs. I enjoyed rotating and flipping images to create a pattern and this time I've gone bold and bright, with a few subtle colours thrown in to give the eyes a rest.

Hand in next Friday eekk! Lots of embroidery and finishing off to do over the next week and a bit.

Minor Project in full swing!

I am now printing and painting out my final designs. I love this part when you get to see your patterns come to life. It doesn't seem that long ago I was drawing images and wondering what on earth I was going to do with them!

My colours are bolder than usual, as I felt inspired by the digitally enhanced images of cells taken by an electron microscope.

Images are all copyright to Tracy Bidwell.

This week I have been busy printing and dying fabrics. I am pleased with some of my prints, others have not turned out quite so well. Those that have worked I will add to my final sample collection. The ones that didn't quite make it will end up in my development book and I will look at why they didn't work so well.

I am hoping to do some hand embroidery on top of the prints so that will keep me busy, on these dark nights!

I will post a picture of my stuff on the next post.