A collection of visual information, and a list of words describing the subjects. (Thank heavens for National Geographic magazine!) These are all pasted to A3 cards and attached to the pinboard in my studio.
'Drawing' marks that relate to my list of words (also on A3 card).
My Albert Irvin bookwrap! Based on an Angie Highes workshop of woven fabrics covered with a layer of organza. I'm disappointed as I think I totally ruined the effect with the black stitching, but I needed to anchor the organza to the fabric strips somehow.
This was OK, it simplified the thought process because it was just black and white, it enabled me to think about the layout and not about colour. However, this became difficult when I wanted to try out the designs in multi-layers, so I did the rest in colour.
Composite Sheet
EVALUATION OF COMPLETED WORK
I am very happy with my finished design.
I think the foiled crosses merge nicely with the gold printing, as if gold leaf has flaked off the surface of the crosses and blown across the design, unifying the foreground, which gives the impression of an ecclesiastic grid-worked partition with a warm, bright, gold iconic light shining from behind.
Although I planned the design very carefully from the outset, it evolved slightly as I progressed, so, for this reason, there are not really any changes I would wish to make.
I feel it is fit for the purpose. It is a simple design showing growth and disintegration. I have used many of the methods of embroidery and decoration explored in the exercises leading up to this chapter - ripple effect and chenille applique, bondaweb and gold foil, and trapunto. I have also included hand printed fabric using my rubber stamp design and completed the project with machine and hand embroidery.
HOWEVER, viewing the design objectively, I feel perhaps that this is too much of a pattern, and should have been more of a composition. Is it too regimented and geometric? I should probably have tried to achieve something more fluid and spontaneous. Some of my samples in earlier exercises were more random, but I still struggle to feel confident about whether an irregular, unconstrained design is aesthetically pleasing. Maybe I wouldn't feel this way if I had pursued the 'crossroads' and the gnarly crossed twigs designs from my original source images in chapter 1, as I think Sian was trying to encourage.
I am slowly working through 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain' and admiring work of other students, such as Catherine Slater, Maren Fischer, Leanne Boughner and Jenny Marty, and also becomming aware of the work of artists such as Kandinsky with his 'shapes and swirls that fly across the canvas'. Hopefully, as I work throughout this course, my work will develop more natural fluidity.
It was fun tearing, crumpling, and slashing bits of paper. It was an interesting exercise that demonstrated quite usefully the many different ways you can give the impression of disitegration.
A torn paper cross, showing further disintegration at each stage.
My fingers were getting very sore until I discovered that it was easier to use a needle to fray the fabric!
Making shapes appear thinner and less solid.
Multiplying the shape. The 'negative' ares produced a pattern of star/cross shapes. A prominent pattern was also formed by the centre square of the crosses.
To prove that I have been working, albeit not Distant Stitch work, the following are projects that I have completed over the last couple of months.
We were then treated to a workshop with Kath Danswan.
Lastly, Jenny, the Chairman of our stitching group, set a challenge to produce a piece of work inspired by one of a selection of photographs chosen by her. I was inspired by the contasts between St Martin's church, and the Selfridges building in the Bull Ring in Birmingham.
I started off with a pre-concieved idea of a heavily machine embroidered church tower placed upon Kim Thittichai style melted foil wrappers (giving the impression of Selfridges' bubble texture).
I decided, however, to start off in my sketchbook, and plan the design properly, testing out ideas, colours etc. Slowly, one idea led to another through brainstorming and research and gradually the following design evolved!
Now I must crack on with my Distant Stitch work!
1. Simple insertion stitch
Using a varigated metallic thread, I experimented with a selection different stitches on my machine to see which were suitable for use as insertion stitches. Quite obviously, I found that any stitch that made use of the swing needle zigzag function worked well as it would stitch into both edges and join them.
