After a long break it is time to update this blog. Second year of the Diploma of Textile Arts is having its challenges and while there is less pressure to produce work we are learning many techniques.

My piece for the first term assessment explores the idea that flowers in bud hide their potential until their petals open to reveal their inner beauty. Just as I finished this piece the subject for our exhibition was decided!
Just to make sure that we don't forget what real pressure is we are taking our "Plan a Small Exhibition" subject out of the virtual realm and developing an exhibition on the theme of Swaddle. We hope that it will be held at the C3 space at the Abbottsford Convent, Abbottsford, Victoria.

On first pass Swaddle is an old fashioned term lodged firmly in the realm of mothers and babies. I was not sure how I could work with it until I started thinking that we swaddle babies to keep them safe and as they grow we loosen the bonds. This is the start of the lifelong cycle of exploring our boundaries and while exploring the new there is often a part (or many parts) of us which cling to that which we are leaving. This forms the basis for my interpretation of this word.

The images are my progression from early sketches to a pen and ink drawing and the last a lino cut print.