watercolour inches and apologies

sorry folks - again no sewing to share this week -
the trouble with making Christmas presents is the time  it all takes - oh, I'll just add this or that little detail, 'just' adds an hour or two each time. Or three. And I can't share the trials, tribulations and triumphs here because I want the pressies to be as much of a surprise as possible!  Definitely not winning this week.

I am stacking up a couple of sewing tasks to do  over the holiday while the rest of the family is snoozing or on mobiles or watching Dr Who, so should have some work done to show soon. Item one  already cut out and ready to sew is a petticoat to go with the 18th Century pet en l'air and caraco. They look MOST odd with the skirts flaring out over the bum rolls on Gwen or even odder when sadly drooping without them (see the caraco post). The  skirt I photographed the pet with was a confection of pins and recreational violence (apologies to Gwen )  so it is time to make one properly. It won't be fancy - not quilted or flounced,  just knife pleats at the waist and fastened with the tapes used to finish the top edge.



I've even taken a bit of a break from the portraits. Shock, horror! Been totally immersed in doing inches - literally. These are tiny paintings measuring about an inch square. It began with wanting to practice different fabric surfaces and sewing details but is threatening to expand drastically, The fabric details are so good to do, lots of texture, delicate tone and colours, and the different shines and patterns are a great challenge. The watercolours are difficult at this scale - I want to let them run and enjoy themselves but it becomes a soggy blob too quickly, so restraint and precision (within reason) is required. Oddly the worst trap is trying to be too precise -  the most controlled ones I don't like at all - they are too hard edged and photographic. The painting techniques are shifting all the time as well, some inches are built up with layer on layer of transparent colour while others are more like gouache, opaque mixed colours, and others are just bullied until they give in and begin to look something like.  Having worked through one scrap fabric bag do I start on the next? should I do inches to chart the journey up the stairs to fetch it? I'm already starting on a journey across the work table- tape measure, binding offcuts, pencil sharpenings, paint box, papers, lunch......  the trouble with this is that nothing stays still long enough.......