The Textile Cuisine

As some of you know I'm a member of a small group of textile artists "15 x 15" (see us HERE ). Every two months we create a piece of textile artwork on a theme. For this year we had to choose a country we want to explore through the year in our art. The first theme was "Emblem". So what is more emblematic for France, the country of my choice, than baguette... ... and cockerel! Back in Ancient history Romans were laughing at Gauls because of a linguistic coincidence – in Latin, the word gallus means Gaul… but also rooster! Later on the French kings adopted the rooster as a symbol of courage and bravery. And I have a thing with roosters. You may remember my "Rooster on blue" (posted HERE ) so let me introduce to you the brand new "Rooster in black". What's so special in roosters? Well, visually they are very impressive, aren't they? But if you dig dipper in folklore they are also very positive symbolism - sensitive to daylig...

My latest dragon comes not from my mind but from Polish folklore. You see that he isn't that nice and friendly as his former colleagues. Mój najnowszy smok nie pochodzi z mojej głowy ale wprost z naszego folkloru i to z wysokiej półki. Nie jest jednak taki przyjacielski jak jego poprzednicy. In fact he is fighting with St George. Walczy - ze św. Jerzym . And I didn't invent him, I used a template, but what a template it is! Nie wymyśliłam go, użyłam szablonu, ale jakiego! The model dragon is painted on the wall of a little Medieval church in a small mountain village Dębno. The church is on the heritage list because of the well preserved original medieval wall polychromy. I have never been there but... received this wonderful gift:: Ten smok pochodzi ze słynnego średniowiecznego kościółka w Dębnie. Sama tam nie byłam, ale dostałam fantastyczny prezent na jego temat: It is a very well done documentation (with iconography!) of this church written and drawn by our...

It looks that I'm totally into dragons now. This one comes with fire (the inner fire, of course). In Poland we have our famous dragon from Cracow (Wawel Dragon) and mine borrowed the setting from it: Smoki mnie wciągnęły. Ten przyszedł z oniem (wewnętrznym ogniem, oczywiście). Lokalizację pożyczył od Wawelskiego: He lives in the mountain with a castle on top but he doesn't eat sheep and loves flowers:) Mieszka w górze z zamkiem na szczycie, ale nie je owiec i uwielbia kwiaty :) Many flowers, one would say :) Można powiedzieć, że nawet dużo kwiatów :)  If you wonder about the relation between these two dragons, don't worry - they are friends! A jeśli zastanawiacie się, jaki stosunek mają moje smoki do siebie, bez obaw - łączy ich przyjaźń!

Welcome to the New Year and to my new work. I told you in the previous post that I'm bad with resolutions and prefer to go with the flow. Little did I know where this will take me right from the beginning of a year. It started innocently with a picture: Witam w Nowym Roku i z nową pracą. Mówiłam ostatnio, że nie jestem dobra w postanowieniach i raczej będę płynąć z prądem. Ale nie miałam pojęcia dokąd może mnie on zaprowadzići to od razu na wstępie nowego roku. A zaczęło się niewinnie, od zdjęcia: photo by Luke Hemmings   I was exposed to this picture by my friend, poet and writer Louis Hemmings who knows my interests quite well. The picture was taken by his son Luke and, as you may guessed, I loved it from the first sight.  Coincidentally it has happened that I was reminded of a well known Medieval embroidered dragon:  Pokazał mi je przyjaciel, irlandzki pisarz i poeta Louis Hemmings , który dobrze wie, co mnie może zainteresować. Zdjęcie zrobił jego syn, ...

If you remember my "Summer fading away" textile artwork Jeżeli pamiętacie moje lato rozpływające się w powietrzu you can imagine my surprise when I learned about The Goddess Idunn - in Norse folklore she was the keeper of apples, which she fed other Gods and Goddesses to keep them forever young. So I had to give it another try. And here she is: możecie wyobrazić sobie jaką niespodzianką było dla mnie odkrycie bogini Idunn - w skandynawskim folklorze to jabłkowa bogini, karmiąca pozostałe bóstwa swymi życiodajnymi owocami dla zachowania wiecznej młodości. No to musiałam jeszcze raz podejść do tematu i oto jest:  This time I made her more connected to the tree for easier spreading life, wisdom and love coming from its fruit. Tym razem połączyłam ją z drzewem, żeby ułatwić przepływ jabłkowej mądrości, miłości i sił witalnych. While staying on apples and their rich, real and symbolic values, I've spotted apple dolls. They are popular in American and British ...

You guessed it right - the idea for "Kupala Night" was born immediately after I finished my "Three Graces of Spring" :) Zgadliście - pomysł na "Noc Świętojańską" urodził się zaraz po skończeniu "Trzech wiosennych Gracjii" :) Kupala Night is a Slavic celebration of ancient pagan origin marking the end of the summer solstice and  the beginning of the harvest (midsummer). The arrival of summer is celebrated on St. John’s Eve in Poland  and it is an interesting mix of pagan and Christian influences. It is a magical night so all my efforts went to  convey this magic with fabrics and threads (and some beads too). Uwiodła mnie magia Nocy Świętojańskiej i cały wysiłek włożyłam w oddanie tej magii przy pomocy  nici, tkanin i odrobiny koralików. The plants and herbs gathered on Kupala eve were believed that could protect one from the evil forces  of nature and even cure illnesses in humans and animals. Bonfires are thought to be benefic...

Desperately trying to meet some deadlines I'm really happy when I manage to squeeze some little projects just for fun.  So here come the little fairies playing in the night garden. Oh well, I'm teasing you because in fact there are fairies on cards: Bardzo się cieszę, kiedy w napięty grafik terminów udaje mi się wcisnąć coś małego, ot tak  dla czystej przyjemności szycia. I tak się właśnie wcisnęły  małe wróżki bawiące się nocą w ogrodzie. No, troszkę to podkolorowałam, bo wróżki są osobno na kartkach: and  "Night in the garden" with just plants. a "Noc w ogrodzie" to tylko roślinki. But as garden seems rather magical one can see it as a perfect setting for little fairies, right? Ale ogród raczej baśniowy, więc dla wróżek wymarzony, prawda? And as I'm deeply into folklore right now (even wrote an article about traditional Polish folk textiles - go and read it on "Folklore Thursday" ), all the dots are connected :) A ja teraz mocn...