Dogs,Dentists and Diaghilev

Another exhausting week plus has flown past. It started badly with me finding my 12 and half year old cavalier collapsed in his bed, shaking and with eyes continually flicking from side to side. He seemed aware but I couldn't get him to stand without him collapsing over to one side. originally I thought he was fitting but with the side weakness I thought it must be a stroke. We rushed him to the vet who examined him and said she thought it was something called Vestibular disease (basically something to do with the inner ear that makes you feel really seasick) it can be idiopathic, age related or a symptom of something nasty going on. he spent the next 24 hours in their hospital under going tests and I was convinced he wouldn't be coming home again. Fortunately next day the vet rang to say we could collect him and I very happy to say its like he's never been ill. He's still being observed but they can't find anything like a tumour so fingers crossed he continues to stay well- he really was very poorly dog for a couple of days and it reminded me just how old he is . Teddy hated him being away and howled all night so if/when the dreaded moment does eventually arrive I'll have to think of a way of keeping teddy company over night.
The dental treatment drags on and on and on- Can't remember when I last had a really solid meal, you can get really fed up of soup and pasta and mush. I think I have only had one month this year without at least 2 trips to the dentist- I really hope that it will all be finished in time for Christmas.
On a happier note I did manage to meet up with a few of the 'girls' to see the Ballets Russes exhibition at the V&A last Friday. An incredible exhibition well worth a visit although there really is too much to take in in one viewing- the fire bird backcloth just takes your breath away for scale and the way you suddenly come across it around a darkened corner.
Tomorrow, all being well, I'm off to see the Gauguin exhibition at the Tate. I am meeting up with a fellow student who is going to help me with my degree show (we are all allowed one assistant for staging). We've lots to discuss as the allocation of spaces has suddenly been brought forward 3 months! it will be nice to know what space we have but it has meant suddenly having to finalise dimensions out of nowhere. The work goes on a pace and I have been taking work back to the woods as I produce samples. It is all a bit intense at the moment but for the first time in the whole degree I feel I am producing work that I am really passionate about.

A white rabbit moment

I feel like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland at the moment- you know that bit in the film where he says/sings
"I'm late, I'm late for a very important date,
no time to say hello, goodbye
I'm late,I'm late, I'm late"
The last couple of weeks have been beyond hectic and I felt like I've been rushing around in ever decreasing circles slowly disappearing (like the Cheshire Cat but without the grin). Anyhow enough to say that I am now totally going to be focusing on the degree module as I have to start getting work ready for a meeting with the external examiner, Anthea Godfrey, on the 14th December. Sounds like a long time but not when you consider that I have to complete 3-4 extremely refined samples to demonstrate what the final pieces might look like by then and I have only one completed.
I have decided on 4 panels each approx.2ftx6ft to depict the woods during various seasons plus 15ft of pathway to depict the journey. All the fabric has to be made from scratch using the embellisher and then embroidered subtly just to highlight each of the magical snapshots.
I haven't even started to experiment with how to produce the desired effect with the woodland panels yet- that's next week- but I have devised a way to create the pathway and embroider the text from my journal of thoughts that I have made on my various walks in the wood. The tricky bit was getting the balance right so you can just glimpse the text if you look closely but, like thoughts, it also drifts away and disappears into the path, becoming part of it.
The photos I am posting are of the early samples placed back in the woodland but I have moved on from these. The paper mock ups are to give an idea and from a pattern for the completed panels but these of course will be much darker in colour.
Besides that I had to organise (and produce work for ) a craft market yesterday. We (Material Girls) only undertook this as a way to support the Visual Arts Centre where we exhibit as they have been running a craft promotion month alongside the Crafts Council and ETSY. Although we spent most of the time promoting the EG,ERTF ,JCS and Textiles in general we also made a few pennies.
Oh well I hear a hungry family calling -back down the rabbit hole!

sticks and stitches

I can't believe where the time is going but it has been a busy couple of weeks. I've been progressing the work forward and think I pretty much know how I want to portray my concept. I've been doing a lot of stitching and trying to decide exactly how to portray the broken thoughts that will form part of 'the path'. Now I am in the process of creating a full size paper mock up to see if it will actually work so the house is full of 6ft lengths of paper covered in paint and the cats are endanger of having their fur dyed green as they keep trying to sit on them. I think once I've completed these and actually put them up somewhere I will have a much better idea if the piece will work.
Other than that I have the Material Girls completing their work for the Jersey Showcase and we have 'kick started' our joint exhibition with Canada's Articulation group. This should be an exciting project with our joint work being shown both in the UK and then in Canada. The gallery we use is particularly excited about this idea and hopefully when the exhibitions run in 2012 and 2013 it will put a whole new slant on international textile co-operation (more on that as things progress). I have even been teaching again- not children but their teachers- it was a bit daunting as I have been out of the loop for quite a while now but its a bit like riding a bike it soon comes back to you.
Sunday was time for retail therapy as I visited Ally Pally . I did a short stint stewarding on the ERTF stand which probably saved me a few pounds but I still spent far too much- you now you're in trouble when the traders know who you are you even open your mouth!