Every artist has a bridge piece in them don't they? This is mine. It is not an unusual bridge in terms of design but it is quite striking when seen from the link road in St Helens. And I've tried to capture that in this quilt. The colours look solid from a distance but closer inspection reveals lots of lovely texture created by using breakdown printing in a limited colour palette. It has been made for my upcoming exhibition with Helen Conway at The World of Glass, St Helens.

I am really happy with this piece and may make more 'bridge' pieces but it did make me wonder about genre. I have intentionally tried to work in a more abstract way in recent years but, despite the colours used, this piece doesn't feel abstract. So what is it?

The Tate defines abstract art as 'art that does not attempt to represent an accurate depiction of a visual reality but instead uses shapes, colours, forms and gestural marks to achieve its effect'. Wikipedia defines it as art 'that uses a visual language of shape, form, colour and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world'. Hmm … well the colours may be abstract but, as I wanted it to look like a bridge, the finished piece cannot be called abstract.

The Tate defines figurative art as 'any form of modern art that retains strong references to the real world and particularly to the human figure'. Wiki says that figurative art 'describes artwork - particularly paintings and sculptures - that is clearly derived from real object sources, and is therefore by definition representational'. And the Tate defines representational as a 'blanket term for art that represents some aspect of reality, in a more or less straightforward way'. The quilt is not a painting, or a sculpture nor does it refer to the human figure but figurative seems like a good fit.

So what about the quilt world? If I wanted to enter it into Festival of Quilts which category would I choose? They don't have an 'abstract' category but their definition of an Art Quilt is 'quilts with both a strong visual impact and a high quality of execution designed to be displayed as artwork and communicating an idea, emotion or concept through the medium of textile and stitch'. Sherdley Road has strong visual impact and you will need to make my word for the fact that it is incredibly well made but it doesn't represent an idea, emotion or concept. It represents a bridge. Which means that it fits with their description of a Pictorial Quilt which are 'quilts depicting a scene or subject eg: people, animal, flowers etc as the main body of the quilt. A figurative or representational piece'. Hmm ….. A lot of the pieces entered into this category are very literal - often photo like representations of their subject. Wonder how my piece would be judged? I guess there is only one way to find out!

Last Thursday my gentle, lovely mother-in-law, Joan Higgins passed away. She had been ill for a while so her death was not unexpected but it was sooner than we had hoped for. Knowing that it was going to happen has not made it any easier but it did give us the time to spend her last few days together as a family. And I could not be prouder of the way her grandchildren rallied together to support my father-in-law, my husband and his brothers. 

We are now in that 'limbo' phase before the funeral and I have been able to get into my studio for a few hours. As always I find solace in my art but have realised that I cannot return to my 100 week day challenge. I started the challenge at about the same time as Joan became ill. On day 44 we learnt that her illness was terminal. Since then the challenge has provided an incentive to get into the studio nearly every day if only for a few minutes. 

Day 86 was the last day I worked on the challenge. The challenge was to spend 2 hours each week day evening for 100 days / 20 weeks making small art. I worked in my studio on 80 of the 86 days and for a total of 162.5 hours out of the 172 hours targeted (2 x 68). I have finished 52 small pieces of art.

So despite ending too soon I consider it a success. A bit like Joan's life - a good life but over too soon.

I have now completed 80 days of my 100 week day challenge and have created 52 small pieces of art. (Go Leah!!). They range in size from 8 x 8 inches to 12 x 30 inches and all can be described as quilts. Each has 2 layers held together by stitch (and bondaweb). They can definitely be called 'textile' art.

I am going to spend the last 20 days of the challenge creating small pieces using the breakdown / monoprint process that I have been experimenting with. I'm not sure about the size yet or how I will present the finished pieces. Nor have I decided whether to add stitch yet. I've been sampling different ideas and I am not sure if the individual prints look better with or without stitch.

Not adding stitch is pretty radical for me. And it makes me wonder whether 'just' printing onto textile is enough to call it textile art? Artists who paint onto canvas are not called textile artists even though canvas is a textile. So if I don't add stitch to some of my work what should I call myself?

It will come as no surprise when I say that 95%+ of the textiles I use in my work are created using breakdown printing.  Sometimes I include dyed pieces, sometimes I add a layer of print using thermofax but breakdown is my love.

For the last few years I have printed knowing that the majority of cloth is going to be cut into rectangles and used to build backgrounds for series like Ruins. Which means that I don't think about composition when making the screens. I may choose square type shapes to embed or keep things aligned in one direction. When I print the screens I tend to place the prints side by side until I have filled the piece of fabric. Again I'm not thinking about composition. I occasionally cut out a particularly lovely section of cloth to use to cover book board but mostly the cloth gets cut down and pieced.

I love this process and expect to be using it for years but I'm also keen to find new ways to use breakdown - I love experimenting. I've played with printing with both thickened dye and discharge paste before batching my cloth. I've played with multiple layers of colour on a screen. Both gave interesting results but didn't fit with what I was trying to achieve at the time.

And then I saw some images on Instagram by the lovely Leslie Morgan of Committed to Cloth / the Creative Studio and had a lightbulb moment. Leslie and her students were painting thickened dye on screens to give very defined shapes (often buildings) then experimenting with colour exchange when they printed off the dried screen. Wonderful stuff that got me thinking about positive and negative space and how I could use breakdown screens to create series of monoprints.

So I have been playing. And having so much fun. Watch this space ..

Those of you that follow my blog regularly will know that I made a very definite decision several years ago to always work in series. Doing so has helped me to develop as an artist - I spend a lot of time up front working on colour and on creating a palette of cloth but once I have that palette I am free to develop my ideas as I move from one piece to the next. And for my large pieces I do tend to get one to the finishing stages before starting work on the next. Many of my pieces are three metres wide or more. I am blessed with big print benches and a big design wall but it is not really practical to try to compose two large pieces at the same time.

Some of you will also know that I have struggled to make small art .... my ideas always want to be BIG. But with two exhibitions scheduled for 2018 I knew that I needed to stop struggling and start making. Hence my 100 (week) day challenge in which I committed to spending 2 hours each week day evening working exclusively on small art. And after 70 days I can declare the challenge a success! I am now comfortable taking the ideas, colours and palettes of cloth used in my large scale pieces and working with them on a (much) smaller scale. But, just as importantly, I have really enjoyed making 'batches' of work. I am half way through stitching 18 pieces that will each be 12 x 12 inches when finished. I worked on the composition of all 18 at the same time. Each piece has to work on its own but what really excites me is seeing them layed out in a grid. The common colours and repeated use of shape is very powerful and has got me thinking about the power of repeat and how I could use it in a large scale piece. Which is a good if un unexpected bonus!

Sometimes you just get into something and you don't want to quit! On Wednesday I spent 5 hours cutting things out - which is very calming but hard on the hands. Yesterday I spent 7 hours working on a large Ruins piece (4 hours machine stitching and 3 hours sewing in ends, which is also very calming but hard on the shoulders). And today, day 65 of my 100 (week) day challenge I have spent 3.5 hours collaging and sticking things down. Which wasn't hard on anything - it was just great fun!

It is 4 weeks since I restarted my 100 (week) day challenge and time for an update. After completing 40 days I decided to take a two week break – family stuff plus Festival of Quilts made it pretty impossible to hit my target of spending two hours every week day evening working on small art.  I was, and still am, absolutely determined to keep going however it has not been an easy 4 weeks.

Life has thrown the Higgins family a couple of curve balls. On Day 41 I left my day job. There was always a risk that it wouldn’t work out but it was still disappointing and frustrating. Having been made redundant the previous year I had made sure that I could afford to be out of work again. But the thought of looking for another job was depressing and left me feeling very sorry for myself. Then on Day 44 we learnt that my mother-in-law was seriously ill. Which put the lack of day job into perspective. Now being ‘between jobs’ is a good thing – we are able to visit nearly every day and support my father-in-law as he cares for Joan at home. People who know me will know that I don’t do ‘nursing’ but I can bake cakes, make brews, hold hands and taxi people around. And help my husband spend as much time as possible with his mum.

Being ‘between jobs’ (so much nicer than being ‘unemployed’) means more time in the studio, at least in theory. In practice, it has been really hard some days to drag myself the 30 feet from our back door to the studio but my 100 (week) day challenge is a good motivator. I will admit that some sessions have been in the morning rather than the evening but getting into the studio is good for me. It is my space, it calms me. And I am incredibly lucky to have it. So here is my update:

• Day 41: 2 hours - started to stretch the Canal Street pieces over canvas.
• Day 42: 2 hours
• Day 43: 2 hours
• Day 44: 3 hours ... all spent finishing and photographing the 20 Canal Street pieces.
• Day 45: 2 hours - stitching Kilns 5.
• Day 46: 3 hours - finished Kilns 5 and fused the background for Kilns 6
• Day 47: 2 hours - stitched Kilns 6.
• Day 48: 2 hours - trimmed and added facing strips to the 6 Kilns pieces.
• Day 49: nope, just too sad.
• Day 50: 2.5 hours - stretched the 6 Kilns pieces over canvas and photographed.
• Day 51: 3 hours - added accent stitching to the Bold Colliery pieces.
• Day 52: 1.75 hours - finished and photographed the 8 Bold Colliery pieces. These will be put in conventional frames at a later date.
• Day 53: 2 hours - getting fabrics ready to make a series of 12 x 12 inch pieces based on the Gas Works in Salford.
• Day 54: 2 hours - adding bondaweb to fabrics and cutting into lots and lots of 1 x 3 inch 'brickettes'.
• Day 55: 1 hour - preparing the backings ready to build my background 'walls'.
• Day 56: 1.25 hours - started fusing my walls.
• Day 57: 1.5 hours
• Day 58: 1.5 hours ... both spent fusing walls.
• Day 59: nope, emergency taxi service instead.
• Day 60: 3.5 hours - finished building walls, I have enough for 18 pieces of small art.

It has been a quiet year for submitting work as everything I do is focussed on my two exhibitions in 2018 so it was very nice to be able to submit an older piece to Quilt-Art-Quilt. And even nicer to be selected! Ruins 1 will be travelling to Auburn, New York for the exhibition at the Schweinfurth Art Centre. Exhibition dates are 28th October to 7th January.

I wish there were more opportunities to show pieces in more than one exhibition. Like every artist I would like to sell more of my work but the reality is that a lot of pieces just get stored away indefinitely after one public outing. Which seems a shame.

This week I have also resumed my 100 (week) day challenge working on small art for 2 hours each week day evening. It has been a good first week back - I managed 2 hours every evening except on Thursday where I managed 3 hours. I spent most of that time finishing the 20 small Canal Street pieces. Each is 8 x 8 inches and stretched over canvas. I'm now working on the 12 x 30 inch Kilns pieces. Busy, busy, busy!

A couple of months ago I was contacted out of the blue by Karol Kusmaul and asked if I would join a new international fibre group. With two major exhibitions coming up in spring 2018 I was rather wary. I’ve worked pretty hard at cutting distractions out of my studio practice so the thought of producing a small piece of art every two months for the group challenge did not immediately appeal. However, the thought of working alongside some of the members did appeal – I have long admired the work, and work ethic, of Maria Shell, Terry Grant and Lisa Walton. So, having got assurances that the challenge would involve a series of prompts that could be worked into my existing series I said yes.

We added new members, Karol set up a website and we started discussing the challenge. The idea is that the group decides a general theme for the prompts and we take it in turns to decide the individual prompts – so the theme could be colour and a prompt could be scarlet. With 11 members this is a 22 month commitment. We discussed sizes and decided on two (which has since grown to three) that could be used in either portrait or landscape. So far so exciting.

But as different themes were discussed alarm bells started to ring – I find that I am not willing to dilute the ideas behind my current series. If we decided that the theme was man-made structures I would be happy but anything else? Probably not.

I will be honest – I did think about backing out but realised that I would be disappointed in myself if I did. Instead I am determined to make this a positive. How? By using the challenge to create small works that use colours, techniques, materials and ideas that differ radically from my recent and current work. Now there are limits – I don’t do cute, I don’t do sequins and I definitely won’t be doing animals / flowers / nature type stuff. But I may flirt with acrylics, with curves, with paper. I may even make a piece featuring hand stitching and loose ends. Who knows!