Puppy Update & More Medieval Madness!

Here's our little baby Vince! He's been with us just over 2 weeks now and turned our lives upside down! I had no idea that having a puppy was such hard work! I have gone back to work today after spending 2 weeks with him. He has settled in really well (it took longer for me to adjust!) and is happily roaming around his new territory. Had his 2nd injection today and will be able to go for walks / puppy classes next week, though he needs to overcome his fear of 'the lead' first. He hates having it put on and when you hold it he has a hissy fit!!

Here's Vince relaxing on his first night with us - it's a hard life being a pupsie!

Onto textile stuff now....

I have read Traci Bautista's fantastic 'Collage Unleashed' book and watched her DVD Retro Rags. I can THOROUGHLY recommend them and they have really inspired and kick started my sketchbook. I took one of her techniques and applied it to fabric rather than paper. Basically you put a layer of gesso down and then scratch / print into it (I used my medieval cathedral lino blocks). I then painted over this with metallic acrylics / fabric paints (a mixture of lumiere and Setacolour). I have started to highlight the motifs with stitching and may add some sheer fabrics / paper to the surface. i also plan to rub markal and gold leaf / foil over it. This would make a good technique for a hanging or book cover - quite sturdy.

BTW the fabric is cotton drill or something from Dunelm - really cheap! I found that when I stamped on the gesso it went through to the paper underneath so I plan to paint that with gesso / inks and get 2 for the price of 1!!!!