A New Exhibition for September at Tivoli

A Preview from my New Exhibition at Tivoli

Opening at Tivoli on the 12th of September is my new exhibition Touches of Silence.

This exhibition is made up from a series of my work which is concerned with needlecraft and textiles.

This is often considered to be the work of women and is regarded as a feminine persuit and interest, but this was not always the case.  Workshops which embroidered many of the clothes worn at court during the reign of Elizabeth the First in the 16th Century were run and serviced by men who used real gold and precious stones to embellish their work.

Silk and Velvet Garden

A painting made from an ancient embroidery from either Iran or India 16th - 17th Century.

Talking Tree

The origins of talking trees are found in the tales of tree worchip from remote antiquity in India.

Yoke

A small photograph of the yoke of a New Zealand made evening gown, date unknown.

Frances Jill Studd website

Midnight Collective Blogspot

All images copyright Frances Jill Studd 2015

The Bumble Bee from a New Zealand Garden

The Bumble Bee

 

Even in mid Winter we have bumble bees in the garden.  Today I saw some small ones busy on a flowering jade tree.  I did this drawing in a spare moment thinking about their industrious nature and how I love to see them around.  They particularly favour the lavender and sunflowers but it is unusual to spot them at this time of year.

 

 

Frances Jill Studd website

Midnight Collective

 

All images copyright Frances Jill Studd 2015

The Three Mountains, central North Island New Zealand

Mount Tongariro

 

Last Tuesday we were returning to Kapiti from Taupo, the Desert Road was closed by ice and snow and so we took a detour around the back of the Mountains and I took a few photos.

It was a beautiful clear day, but obviously a huge dump of snow had fallen on the mountains and the surrounding area on the previous day and night.  This photo shows the Mari crater on  Mt Tongariro, showing continuous wide bursts of white smoke and steam

 

 

 

 

 

This photo shows Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe with its' distinctive cone.

When we turned and looked in the other direction we could see Mt Taranaki far away on the West Coast.

 

 

All images copyright Frances Jill Studd 2015

 

Frances Jill Studd website

Midnight Collective

 

 



Fishing for Art around New Zealand

The Last Moki

Ko te hopu whakamutunga o te ika

 

 

Moki is a trumpeter fish which is found around the Kermadec Islands, the Three Kings Islands to Snares Islands, the Chatham Islands and Auckland Islands but rarely further North.  I have used the Moki as a token species to represent the sorry state of our fishing industry world wide.

We watch the plunder of our oceans by factory ships where waste is just part of the process and threatened species are taken alongside the commerical catch. 

Pollution is one of many other issues which I cannot hope to address with one small art work but I have made a start on it.

 

 

These fish are knitted with embroidery silk and measure up to 12cms long, I am making a large number of them.

 

Frances Jill Studd website

Midnight Collective blogspot

 

All images copyright Frances Jill Studd 2015

 

 

 

 

 



A Mantua from New Zealand

A Mantua from New Zealand

 

I recently made some more photographs for my Mantle series, this one I think of as being a New Zealand mantua as it shows a tropical  palm leaf on the dress.

 

 

 

 

This one shows specifically the  Pacific Ocean.

 

 

 

Frances Jill Studd website

Midnight Collective blogspot

 

All images copyright Frances Jill Studd 2015

 

 

 

 

 



Rare White Heron in Thames New Zealand

The Kotuku or White Heron

 

 

We saw this rare and beautiful bird last Tuesday as we were passing through Thames on the Coromandel Coast in the North Island.  It is a large bird and it floated in to land on an old fishing vessel on the intertidal mud flats. .

 

 

The mud flats provide a habitat for mangroves which are prolific around the Hauraki Gulf.

There were not many other birds around, some pied shags and a few ducks so it was a great surprise

to see a kotuku.  They only breed on the West coast of the South Island so it had travelled some

distance.

 

 

 

Frances Jill Studd website

Midnight Collective blog

 

 

All images copy right Frances Jill Studd 2015

 

 

 

 



A Garden Painting from New Zealand

A Friend's Garden

 

 

This painting was made from the view in a friend's garden which backs onto an area of New

Zealand bush.  On the left there are Black Mamaku tree ferns which can grow to

twenty metres, they have a distinctive curled frond before they unfold into their large umbrella branches.  It is the tallest of our native tree ferns.

In the foreground is a large red flax and in front of that a patch of blue iris which seem to become

a dark purple when viewed against the flax.

 

 

Frances Jill Studd website

Midnight Collective Blogspot

 

 

All images copyright Frances Jill Studd 2015