What have I achieved?

As I have worked with my main selection I am liking it more and more and have added alot of variations to the finished piece, I feel that I could just go on and on with it and never know when to stop!

The fabric I have chosen to work on is nice, clean, cream cotton which I can use like a blank canvas without it making a statement for itself, more like you can make several statements on it. The other fabrics I have used is a coloured cotton and a pink gauze. When I bought the pink gauze I never thought I would work with it (don't know why) but I feel that it works really well with this project and I am pleased with it.

I feel that the scale of marks and shapes work well on the fabric because of the blank canvas effect. I would not of liked to work on any other fabric as it would detract from the design.

I have extended from the ideas I did from the smaller samples but have stuck to the original design but changed the colours abit and added stitching and fabric overlay to make a bigger impact.

I did not really like painting onto fabric - I find it too constrained and it doesn't seem to do what I wanted it to do - I have found the whole assignment rather frustrating and didn't really enjoy myself until I started making marks with stitches! So if this last assignment has taught me anything, it is that stitch is my preferred medium so far but I am quite happy to mix painting and stitch together in the future but not printing!

I feel that I haven't put my heart and soul into this latest work and I feel quite despondent about it so I am going to submit it and then forget about it and start again with the next piece of work that I start.

I am going to use this blog now for ideas that I find and work it alongside my book which is my log book.

Here is some inspiration from embroiderersguild.com which I am liking very much

What have you achieved?

I am usually a very colourful person but I have got to say that I have struggled abit with this work so far. I have felt very constrained in the colours that I have had to work with and I haven't enjoyed it. Maybe that is the reason why I haven't finished the assignment on time because I have found other things to do instead because I didn't like what I was doing.

I did enjoy using colour to express emotions and I hope to develop some of the ideas further. I have stitched one of my drawings already.

I have embraced using contrasting primary colours which I have never done before and will be developing that into knitting and crocheting at a later date.

I find water colours rather wishy washy where as gouache is very strong and I prefer to work in strong colours.

I enjoyed creating the colour exercises in Stage 5. Again, I have not worked with red and blue together and I liked the colour combinations I created. They were far more interesting to create that working with paint as you kind of know what the outcome will be before it is finished.

I am again pleased with what I have achieved and it has made me realise that I prefer to work with strong primary colours rather than pastel colours. Before, I didn't think about it, I just chose the colours that I felt was right but I now realise that I was being slightly 'safe' - but not any more!!!

Coloured Stitches

I have noticed that usually when I have put colours together for knitting projects I have mainly stuck to the same colours or at least the same hues. I have just noticed this when I have had to put colours together in a different way - a way to make me learn more ABOUT colour - hope that makes sense! I have put two primary colours together, a thing I would never usually do. I chose blue and red and again had to put them onto a black background.

I have got to say that overall I am very pleased with the outcome and am happy to have been given the oportunity to play with colours abit more.

I would say that red is very predominate on this piece of work, both when it is next to the dark blue and black but when next to the more turquoise blue the turquoise stands out more to me.

I am still not convinced though that I would use this colour combination for my personal choice as I still like working with similar colours together more that colours that can be described as 'wrong'. I will continue to experiment with this method however, and maybe I will change my way of thinking - or maybe not! only time will tell!!!!

GARDENERS - TIME TO ARM YOURSELVES WITH SEEDS...
With bulbs starting to peak through, the flag is being waved for seed sowing preparation! Here's a sprinkling to get you going - Borage, Catnep (Catmint), Purple Basil, Sweet Marjoram, Lady's Bedstraw, Lovage, Betony, Pot Marigold, Lettuce (Mixed) Organic, Spinach (Matador) Organic...

Must remember to look at this website before I order any herbs.

Andrew has gone to Barcelona today – Theo is now into his second hour of afternoon sleep….Phoebe is at school and Im listening to James Morrison – what more could a girl want on a rainy afternoon in Badsworth

Went to the Country Living Spring Fair last week and came home with lots of goodies!!!

One being a candle of all candles – I have never, NEVER, had a candle that gave off so much odour for such a prolonged period of time! So I will now tell what it is….

Bay and Rosemary – a fresh and invigorating combination of herbal scents
From www.elitegardenlandscape.com
The contact is Becky Brickell wellinghamsoap@yahoo.co.uk 01435 883187

Must get in contact and re order candle and find out what else she does….

Theo was still awake at 9.15pm….what is going on!!!
Single, Married, Other….slightly disappointing ending.

NOTES FROM MY TUTOR REPORT

write the word beside the mark

need a bigger selection of pencils

combine collage with paint

bleach and paint, paint over wax crayon, old lipstick, any old household or fence paint can be used

"One of the best attempts I've seen at this exercise"

line stitches are technically things like running stitch and chain stitch

long sweeping lines that cross one another and big, free swirling shapes

don't think so much of neat lines

really breaking out and being expressive with the marks

put a copy of your drawing next to samples

"This is a lovely little sample piece that you should be proud of, a great beginning"

vitality

good natural eye for what makes a balanced design

like the long ends of thread left hanging

tear up strips of magazine or newspaper, twist it firmly and use as a thick thread

try garden twines and even dead creeper lengths from the garden (clematis is good)

elastic bands tied together in a length

strips of old tights and discarded clothing

think in terms of anything which you can get through a needle

Hessian and very loose fabrics make ideal backgrounds

the more you can express your own thoughts and feelings about what you see, or otherwise experience around you, the better you're work will become

a great start Rachel, one of the best first assignments I've seen for a while

BANKFIELD MUSEUM, HALIFAX

BANKFIELD MUSEUM, HALIFAX

The second piece of art that I really enjoyed was an embroidery collage by Claire Hey entitled AKROYDON REMEMBERED 1995. It was commissioned by The Friends of Akroydon and is hanging in one of the corridors upstairs in the museum. It measures about 1.2m square. It is a huge piece of fabric made up of photographs printed on fabric, beads, dried flowers and sequins and to me it was very expressive of the history of Akroydon and I have to say that I LOVED it!!!!

The third image was in the costume department under the India section. It is a childs coat and is about 14" long. India has produced a culture that produces elaborate decoration. Each group has its own distinct style of decoration, embroidery, colour and material. Merchants work in silk and peasants/farmers work in cotton or wool. The images are of figures and animals which tell Indian Folk traditions.

What have I Achieved??

I have dabbled when at Art college drawing like this but not getting it like I am now! I found it hard at first to be inventive with the range of marks I made but once I got into it, it seemed to flow along and before I knew it I had created alot of marks I have not achieved before. I was reluctant to explore different media at first but like I said before, once I was into it then more exploration was necessary and I enjoyed making marks with different things.

Overall I am very pleased with the work I have done so far. I feel that I am still hesitant to make a start on drawing but once I am doing it I am fine. The key to remember is that I am not trying to reproduce an object but to interpret the object into something that can be textile.

I enjoy making marks in response to an image. I can make marks in relation to words if I am in a certain mood and I find that music helps as the emotions encouraged when listening to different types of music is very good to let your imagination run. I find it still quite hard to make marks in relation to real objects unless they are really tactile but I am sure that the more I work on this the easier it will become.

At the moment I enjoy working with watercolour pencils. I like the fact that you can sketch away in coloured pencil while out and about and then add colour at home and transform the work into something completely different. I have not done much work in watercolour before so I would like to study into this further at some point.

I am absolutely convinced that I have not exlored all the possibilites of mark-making as I feel I am just at the tip of the iceburg but I will read and observe more so that I can continue trying different tecniques.

I have already got lots of ideas for making my marks into textile work and am now really looking forward to doing more towards this goal.