Tuesday 10 January 2012

Back to the dyepots!

Yep, I finally managed to get a little dyeing done tonight, for the first time this year!  I was experimenting with a slightly different technique so we'll see how they turn out.  I'm still struggling with this chest infection (now on antibiotics) so I only did a couple of skeins but it was fun!  Mmm, the smell of wet wool...

Saturday 7 January 2012

Darkness and light: taking time to look

I took the younger two to the Whitworth Art Gallery on Wednesday afternoon whilst Hannah had an appointment at the hospital.  I love the Whitworth and especially for going with little ones, they are so family friendly.  The current exhibition is all about light and shadow and when we first went in I was a bit disappointed because it looked like there wasn't as much to see as usual (and I couldn't find the Art Cart), but then we got to looking.  Really looking.  It just shows how much we don't see in a first glance, and how rewarding taking the time to look can be.

The two exhibits that we really liked were one where there was a projection of white 'snow' on a dark background and when you stood in front of the camera you appeared in the snow - it kind of coalesced into an image of you.  The other was brass half-butterflies stuck into the wall and lit from above, so you got a whole butterfly reflected in light above and in dark below, depending where you were standing.  From a distance it looked like someone had left loads of fixings in the wall, but when you got your eye in it was beautiful.  [If you follow the link above, pictures 1 and 3 in the slideshow are of these.]

The children enjoyed running through the areas of light and dark, and watching themselves in the 'snow', and then we found the Art Cart so we were set for the afternoon.  And then Rebekah was sick, and that was the end of that.