Another Sample.



Still on the theme of fields, but going a little more abstract this time.  It's a two layer piece.  Organza loosely embroidered with a single blackwork thread is laid over a charcoal sketch on textured paper.  It's difficult to see from the photo but the threads which lie above the organza make interesting shadows on the paper layer.  I'm pleased with the sample, but I'm not sure how easy it would be to scale it up to a larger piece.

In other news, my end of module assignment for the open university is now completed and ready to send.
There were times when I felt I'd never get this far, but A215 is now done and I've registered for my next module, starting in October.  This time I've chosen EA300, Children's Literature.

Wordless Wednesday

Mouse Plant

I've grown Arisarum proboscideum on the edge of my woodland beds for some years now.  The tiny brown and white flowers that appear among the leaves at this time of year look just like a family of mice peeping out.  Last year one of the leaves developed a variegation and now a few more have the same colouring.  The real treat this year is that the plant has produced a striped flower.  I have a tiny striped 'mouse' peeping out from a group of patterned leaves.



More Samples

Sticking with the fields theme, but focusing in on a specific ploughed area I came up with this sample and the smaller one below.  Firstly I dyed some scrim and some rafia with strong black coffee, then couched strips of each onto a scrim base.  Some of the couching is done with a gold thread to give a bit of glitter and maybe a hint of frost on the field.
I like the way the stitching distorts the fabric and I think it does achieve the look of furrows across a field.

This is a tiny interpretation of the same ploughed field, worked on quite a stiff canvas.  I just cut some lengths of a thick, soft string, frayed the ends and laid the lengths on a scrap piece of canvas.  Next I painted the canvas and the string, but not the frayed ends.  Then I couched the string down with a gold thread and added beads.  If the couched string represents the furrows the beads would be the bits of chalk and flint thrown up by the plough.

Summer Stitching

With all the sunshine we've had over the past few days I've been tempted to take a frame out into the garden for some counted thread work.  I've completed the design but it'll probably have to wait until the autumn to be made into something.  A cushion perhaps.



Magnolia



Lysichiton



I enjoy making embroideries in three dimensions and a stroll round my garden has given me inspiration for two new vessels.  I have a lot of work ahead!

A Sample Piece

Part of my work in progress for the previously mentioned exhibition.  To me there are two outstanding aspects of our part of the new National Park.  One is the rolling fields, the other is the distinctive range of plants that flower on the chalky soils.  At this point in the year the fields are beginning to be green as crops start to show, but they have only recently lost their winter clothing when the earth is bare and the shapes of individual fields stand out.
This sample is made using ordinary brown wrapping paper, scrunched and flattened out, re-scrunched and re-flattened, over and over until it becomes almost like a soft fabric.  I've machine stitched a fairly haphazard grid over the paper to represent the fields, then gently wetted the paper and carefully torn away small areas between lines of stitching.
I'm pleased with this sample.  It has the abstract touch that I was hoping for.  The next sample I plan to work on is, again, an interpretation of winter fields, but this time using scrim.