Cypress Tree An embroidery of texture

Van Gogh again - sorry but I do love his work

Starting point of cypress tree and using examples of making marks with oil paints from my own work.

Wanted the mood to be dramatic and passionate so chose reds and greens as colour palette.

Dyed a piece of cotton with green resist dyeing technique and some silk threads - acid dyed rainbow technique.

Referred back to making marks exercise and used spirals and curls to help. Decided on use of chain stitch as primary way of translating feel of movement.

I loved creating this piece !

Summary for assignment 1:

I have found myself out of my depth - scared and excited. When I saw the first part of this course was embroidery my heart sank - but I am far from discouraged now.

I did feel happy with the cypress tree - I liked the depth and texture. The snowy woods was an interesting memory trip and I liked the colour choice but not the thinness of the stitchery involved. I do like involving text and image and colour.

The relationship between stitch and drawing is beginning to emerge and I need time to do more of both, but choosing a type of stitch and its colour to convey texture and mood is great fun. Choosing source material was hard for me and I think I should have worked more with it before committing stitches to cloth, but happy to try again. In both cases I feel the stitching stands in its own right I had not wanted to re create a picture as such.
Creating texture with yarns and colour is challenging and I am not sure I want to separate that out from choosing stitches for texture. I need more time to make samples and much prefer to take a basic drawing and then experiment with colour and stitch and materials. So much else I would now like to try. The scale of work doesn't feel very comfortable and I am feeling restrained by the time involved and cost of materials. I would like to go back and try to create pieces on a larger scale.

Mysterious Wood An embroidery sample

Starting points:

Painting by Van Gogh of "Undergrowth with two figures"

A painting which appeals not only visually but makes you want to reach out and touch the undergrowth.

Own drawing

Translated into simple lines and knots for undergrowth. With an image in my memory of birch woods around my croft over this winter. Snow with texture and shape of undergrowth seen in white and pastel blue and pink. Moonlight added from my imagination !

Colours from sample bag - white silver maroon grey

mood wanted -mysterious, ethereal

Poem remembered from who knows when - just one line came to me "But I have miles to go before I sleep "

Looked it up and it comes from Robert Frost "Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening "

Seems to fit the theme but also the sense that never having embroidered before I feel I too have miles and miles to go ...

Decided to incorporate 2 lines from the poem - one line so that it looks like tree bark and the other to speak of the journey.

Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening - Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake,

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

In case the making of marks was losing focus here are a few more samples I have done.

bibliography

In between managing the croft shop over a busy Easter period and shearing / processing fleece from the Angora goats, reading has taken place for assignment 1 and 2 of the course. So here, before I lose my thoughts and facts some , is the bibliography.

The new textiles, trends and traditions :Chloe Colochester: Thames and Hudson 1991 :isbn 0 - 500 -27737 - 0

Inspirational photos especially of sculpted and installation pieces. The image of "melting off" - polyester yarns coated in metal devore pattern by Junichi Arai made a wonderful link with the start of assignment 1 - making marks.
The understanding of the social , political and gender issues connected with textiles was illuminating. The thousands of "les petits mains" working within the couture industry need more than governmental awards for their work. Why do we not exhibit their names within our textile collections? Are most of these workers women?
Issues surrounding the definition of fine art and craft continues to frustrate and challenge me . If Claude Levi - Strauss a French anthropologist could say the following about fibre art,
"it provided the perfect antidote for the functional, utilitarian architecture in which we are sentenced to dwell, (which) it enlivens with the dense patient work of human hands." pg 139
then why does the division and hierarchical classification within literature and museum exhibition space, between art forms, still exist ?
I was particularly drawn to the ethos and work of British printer Susan Bosence and would like time to explore this in future.

A complete guide to creative embroidery -designs, textures and stitches: Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn: Batsford 1997: isbn 9780713482621
I only came to this book towards the end of assignment 1. Making marks has lost its fear factor for me know I can see how it is the birthing place of design and not a test of whether I can draw or not. Lots of ideas for me to now revisit especially I think the use of ink and bleach designs. The translation of shape colour and form into embroidery was wonderful.

5000 years of textiles: edt Jennifer Harris: British Museum Press1993: isbn - 13 - 9780714125701
This was the first book I acquired for the course and time spent situating myself within such a vast and ancient tradition or traditions was wonderful. The connection between the human need for clothing and to decorate our dwelling spaces both secular and sacred was made very real to me. In glimpsing such an array of techniques and skills and for understanding the situation of textiles within culture I loved this book.

The encyclopedia of machine embroidery: Val Holmes:Batsford 2003: isbn 97819063888188
For someone with little knowledge of machine embroidery this is a constant source of help and ideas. Not a book to read cover to cover but one to keep going to.

Silk paper for textile artists: Sarah Lawrence:A &C Black London 2008 :isbn987-1408-102-688

The idea of combining paper and fabric into pieces led me to this book and eventually to the creation of the seasons of life bowl where I combined making silk paper with gingko leaves over a bowl shaped mould. The outside of the bowl was then covered in machine embroidered piece created onto dissolving muslin.
The book itself was good in offering ideas across a spectrum but perhaps not as useful in the finer points of technique.

Stitch dissolve distort with machine embroiudery: Valerie Campbell - Harding and Masggie Grey:Batsford 2006: isbn 10 0 7134 89960
Wonderful in the area of making marks / tone and texture and I would like to return to the idea of distortion in fabrics maybe when I look at 3 d / pleating fabrics etc

Textile treasures of the Glasgow school of art: Liz Arthur: Herbert Press 2005: isbn 0 7136 7188 2
An oversight of some of the embroidered pieces held by the school. Used the pair of panels designed and worked by Margaret Mackintosh 1904 - 8 as the jumping off point in designing my French knot embroidery nudity in colour.

Ways of seeing: John Berger: Penguin 1972 : isbn 0 14 0135154
The portrayal and interpretation of the nude within art and society was facinating and led me to design an embroidery where the female form was not clothed except in colour as a way of claiming nudity for oneself and as an exprersion of vulnerability and strength as against exposure and exploitation.

Raising the surface with machine embroidery: Maggie Grey: Batsford 2003 : isbn 13 - 9780713490282
I had dreaded doing embroidery as I had no idea how depth and form would be introduced. Falling in love with French knots and then finding this book has set the pulses racing about form and structure within textile art. A book to return to later in the course - braiding etc

Complex cloth a comprehensive guide to surface design: Jane Dunnewold: Martingale and co 1996: isbn 978- 56477 - 149 - 0
Immensly practical and clear book. Good references for suppliers and range of techniques and helpful about use of colour.

The machine embroiderer's workbook: Val Holmes: Batsford 1991: isbn 0 7134 7983 3
Helpful about machine tension - little understood previously - and about use of vanishing fabrics.

Essential Picasso: Laura Payne: isbn 0 752535897
Used as a way of looking at drawing / light and shade / making marks

Life and works of Picasso: Nathaniel Harris : isbn 185813- 606-7

Life and works of Paul Klee: Linda Doesner: isbn 1-573335-119-9

Colour meditations: SGJ Ouseley:LN Fowler and Co 1949: isbn 8524 3062 0
The actual meditations and visualization techniques were helpful but not a book I felt I could agree with many of the assumptions it made and premises held about the way the universe functions. Still it terms of celebrating colour - great resource.

An introduction to mixed media: Michael Wright: Dorling Kindersley 1995: isbn 0 7513 0748 3
I don't think I had even heard the term mixed media until I read this - now I can see it everywhere and it appeals to my love of the juxtaposition and interaction of the many elements in life.

Wabi Sabi the Japanese art of impermanence: Andrew Juniper: Tuttle publishing 2003 :isbn 978 - 0 -8048 - 3482 - 7
Attracted to the notion of fragility in textiles I came across the notion of wabi sabi and found much that resonated with my present life style choices. A book on philosophy and design implications. A useful counterfoil to the exploration of modern Japanese commercial production techniques found in Colchester's book.

Finding your own visual language a guide to design and composition: Jane Dunnewold, Claire Benn and`Leslie Morgan::Committed to cloth studio 2007:isbn 978 0 9551649 2 7
I found this a useful reinforcement in ideas for making marks.

the fibrearts book of wearable art: Katharine Duncan Aimone: Lark Books 2003: isbn 1 - 57990 - 515 - 3
Picked up because I have been so little concerned with fashion in my life but was curious to see wearable art in action ! Colours magnificent.

From image to stitch: Maggie Grey: Batsford 2008: isbn 978 19063 88027

Loving the exploration of paper in this journey and the possibility of using images from photos etc Both of these topics well explored in this book

Jack Lenor Larsen Creator and collector:McFadden, Friedman, Stack and Larsen : Merrell: isbn 1 85894 083 4
I had come across Larsen in terms of garden design and was delighted to receive this book as a gift. Texture, translucency and form so inspiring. A book to return again and again to.

Cezanne landscapes: Methuen 1958

The life and works of Vincent Van Gogh: Janice Anderson:Parragon books 1994: isbn 1 8813 590 7

Gaugin the quest for paradise: New Horizons : isbn 0 500 30007 0

Toulouse Lautrec: Jean Bouret: Thames and Hudson 1964