stitch samples

I’ve been working on the next stage of OCA Textiles 1, which is using stitch to make marks, lines and textures. I’ve been trying both machine and hand stitching – I’m always in such a hurry I tend to think ‘machine’ first, and I’d forgotten what a pleasure it is to sit and stitch by hand. Especially with La Traviata on the CD player and the sun shining 🙂

machinemarks.jpg
revisiting some of my pencil marks and lines in stitch

chair.jpg
a machine stitched sample based on something linear from my sketchbook

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playing with hand stitches to create texture

I got some Koh-I-Noor watercolours from Art Van Go on Tuesday, plus a new tiny sketchbook for my handbag, and a Aquash paint brush with a water compartment. I christened them all with a sketch of my little dog, Tansy the Tibbie, asleep on her favourite chair. The brush is quite hard to hold as the handle’s so fat with the water reservoir.

tansy.jpg

brusho and bleach…

… are what I’ve been playing with today. Along with wax crayons, water colours and the odd feather. Inspired by reading A Sketch in Time by Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn, which I suddenly remembered I had, I’ve been adding more marks and textures to my sketchbook.

bleach and brusho inks
bleach and brusho inks

I’m nearly ready to start stitching! The second half of this first project in OCA Textiles 1 explores the use of stitch in markmaking and creating texture, based on the mixed media studies created in the first half. I have till the end of the month – no pressure there, then – plus a few work deadlines to meet, so I may not be sleeping much in the coming week.

I heard about a new book today (thank you Sue) by Claire Benn and and Leslie Morgan of Committed to Cloth and Jane Dunnewold – Finding Your Own Visual Language: A Practical Guide to Design & Composition; the blurb says:

“this book aims to help those who are seeking a surer artistic voice by providing practical exercises and guidance on different ways forward”

I’m really tempted – even though I have quite a few design books already – as I’m very interested in what the authors are doing with art cloth and surface design.

package arrived!

The OCA Textiles 1 course materials arrived this morning. So exciting! I opened the box and the contents were wrapped in red tissue and sealed with a label – it felt a bit like getting lingerie from La Senza – I almost expected to find the scented beads in there… Unwrapping the package revealed the course folder and then another layer with a posting bag, notebook and a sketchpad. I had a quick look at the folder to find out who my tutor is, but I will save looking at it properly till I’ve done a bit more on my current quilting assignment.

beginnings…

I guess beginning a blog is something like the first mark on the blank paper, such a small thing but the rest will flow from it. I want to write about the textile courses I’m taking and any other bits of art related stuff that seem important to me. A lot of my life is spent supporting other people’s art through the web, so this is a bit of pure indulgence for me. I also want to tie my work to some external accountability – even if no one reads this, putting it out here regularly seems like a good commitment that will hold me to actually getting into the work regularly too.

In the next few months I am finishing one course and starting another. I’m on the 8th module of Linda Kemshall’s online patchwork and quilting City and Guilds course – it’s supposed to be a short course (one year) but it’s taken me several years to get this far already. I just sent off my initial ideas for the first of two final assessment pieces – a wall quilt. I plan to finish this in the next month and the next one the month after.

At the same time, I’ve enrolled for the OCA Textiles 1 course. It’s a more general course that looks at fabric construction techniques as well as surface design and stitch – the materials haven’t arrived yet but I’m really looking forward to it. The OCA course is time limited – two years maximum – I think that may help to keep me focused.