A beginning, middle and end

Hello Everyone!

Last month saw a bit more industrious ‘getting on’ from me; I  had the best time teaching this year, ending with a wonderful Yorks and Humber Embroiderers’ Guild summer school in early July, but that was also the final commitment this year. 

The Arts Council England research and development lottery grant has arrived so my project can begin.  Whilst I wait for some one-to-one days in August, I’ve been out in the fields sketching to find marks that I may want to use on vessels in the future.   It’s a complete question mark at the moment which I’m thoroughly enjoying.  I’ve tried sketching before but always felt a bit awkward and I really wanted to get over myself and give it another go.  Try and see if I could be a bit less self-consious.  I have a new backpack and a few other materials to take out which has been motivating.  My prized item is a teeny tiny little collapsable stool that is incredibly lightweight.    The idea is to stay anchored to the intention of finding gestural marks that feel free and untamed.   At first I felt blocked by the belief that they need to be big for some reason until l spent time looking at the marks I had made which were small but still had some of the quality I want to explore.  I’m still not sure what will end up on surfaces in the end but the point is, I’m at the beginning of something where time and connections can be allowed to unfold.   The grant specifically states that the end goal should not result in finished pieces for exhibition but remain an opportunity to explore and develop.  That alone just produces a lovely feeling of playful experimenting in me that I’m loving.  

I had thought I’d be looking at field lines but the summer grasses have captivated my heart once again.  They have for a few years – I adore the pale long stems that fill or fringe the fields.   

Actually sitting out in the landscape and simply feeling it, being part of it, made me slowly realise the benefits.  Relaxing allowed some marks and connections that definitely wouldn’t have arrived from looking at photos back at home.  Even the awkwardness of balancing papers and materials etc added something to the experience.   

I will definitely will do more.

I’ve also been looking back at colour and markmaking relationships in past sketches.   

And collecting grasses themselves to investigate what using them directly could offer, if anything, compared to other sorts of brushes. 

There’s a lot to let percolate.  How much direct materiality might I want?  How will abstraction and design support allusion?  Will I translate the marks into stitch?  And eventually, what is possible on various surfaces and how will they change the marks?  

The blog will serve as a bit of a diary for the research project over the next 12 months, so I hope you will enjoy seeing all the experiments as time goes on. 🙂

In contrast to the open-endedness above, I’m in the midst of finishing other work.   I haven’t made any of my little boats for a number of years but I think I finally have enough for an installation I’m building.    Each one sports a different language text and one has some very old pages with Latin printed on from around 1620.   I have French, Chinese, Mongolian, Latin, English, Braille, Tamil…  

Loving the text covered studio with all its papery goodness!  

Each boat takes about 4-5 hours to complete with the paper mache layers, painting and stitching.  This doesn’t include making the felted pebbles which I still have to do.   There are balls and boats everywhere.  

One was brifely placed in confinement next to the coleslaw in the fridge, as you do. When drying, the air in the balloon can expand and contract and sometimes if the air cools like at night, the surface wrinkles up so I tried to make this happen deliberately as a variation on the theme.   Bit of a risk.  It worked though, instantly.  But then I had to stop it expanding again as it wouldn’t dry well in a fridge so I pierced the balloon former and after a while under huge jeopardy, took it out whilst the ball was still damp and replaced it with one I could blow up that offered just the right degree of wrinkliness.  Utter madness.

Honestly though, if you need any help with wrinkly balls, I’m your girl. 😉

Last but not least, I’m thrilled to let you know that the finishing of things is due to being offered a solo exhibition in May/June next year.  I’ll tell you more as the time gets closer, but the gallery is fittingly in an old textile mill, and I immediately felt that my work would be at home there.   It will be both a culmination and celebration of about 12 years of stitching and making.

Toooo excited!!