dear diary, part 18

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18/08/20
Halfway through the eighth month already, even this unusual year with it’s unprecedented lockdowns and social distancing is galloping past at an alarming rate. It seems like only a few weeks ago since I took part in a a Valentine’s Heart Swap , you can read about it here
Well it’s time for another swap, this time called “Happy Houses” , I had to make 2 textile houses and send them to a partner, and I also received 2 from someone else. Here’s what I received..

Here’s what I sent..

20/08/20
A friend gave me 2 jackets to customise for her, that brings her total to 3 jackets as I did this one for in 2016, a birthday present from her clever boyfriend,

Here are the 2 more recent ones.
On the first one I used some 1950’s style barkcloth curtain fabric, an embroidered willow pattern plate, a tea towel by Bee Struthers and some Marcia Derse fabric.

The black one has embroidered applique panels on the sleeves, and the pockets are made from an embroidered piece I bought in India sometime last century. The embroidered strip along the bottom of the back came from a friend who lived in Thailand and bought them at a yearly market that came to her village. The knobbly buttons came from The Knoppen Winkel (Button Shop) in Amsterdam about 20 years ago.

29/08/20
August’s doodlebombed portrait I made for a swap..

Here’s what I received…

The artist says…
“I like to make art using recycled items. Most of my postcards are made using some sort of recycled base, like chipboard or food packaging. And, in this series I have painted on recycled paper bags, that I then cut to size and affix to the base with glue. Sometimes, frankenglued……as in pieces of the paper glued together. Then I just use paint to finish. Very simple……..paint on a recycled paper bag, glued to a recycled or chipboard base. ”

Here are my first 8 months of doodlebombed portraits. They have led me into a bit of a Posca Pen obsession, I’ve been having flashbacks to the spirograph/felt pen habit I had in my well spent youth.