drawing textile artist, stitching by hand, thread, embroidery, stitch journal

Still achromatic

Probably a better descriptor than ‘monochromatic’, since the latter could feasibly be any single colour. You can probably see how much I’m still enjoying my achromatic sketchbook – basically all just black and white, exploring compositions through painting, drawing and collage.

murmuration, pen and watercolour on cotton paper

I’m using two shades of black (ivory black and mars black), white, and buff titanium. I’m also allowing myself a little Payne’s grey and Goethite (a subtle warm sandy colour) here and there – probably a little outside the black and white rule but then I make the rules so I can also break them.

I gathered together a wide range of substrates when I made this book, including canvas, cotton rag paper, cartridge paper, watercolour paper and handmade papers. Each one takes paint and ink slightly differently, making this sketchbook perfect for all kinds of exploration.

pebbles, painting (left) and collage (right)

I’ve also used plain black india ink here and there.

And some collage:

There’s some figurative work (or play) too. I like birds. I think the ability to fly would be my superpower if I could choose one.

Raven, coloured pencil on watercolour background

Something a little looser:

I also created some printed/stamped papers that I’ve stuck in here and there.

watercolour (left) and hand-printed paper (right)

Today I’m looking through some fabrics to make some textile/stitched samples.

I’m actually starting to run out of pages, and I can easily see the attraction of a second volume. I would never have expected black and white to be so interesting and engaging. Just proves the value of venturing outside your comfort zone and having a go. I do like a creative adventure.

Bookmaking

Sketchbook-making, obviously. I prefer to make my own because I like to vary the paper content and size of the pages. Readymade sketchbooks are usually variations on A4 and I don’t always like the proportions.

The little book with the wraparound cover below is for experimenting with various forms of ink. I have acrylic ink, ink/stamp pads, inktense blocks, and a few distress crayons, plus the more obvious drawing pens etc.

Just somewhere to try dripping, blotting, stamping, stencilling etc with various kinds of ink. My favourite thing so far is drawing with a little twig dipped in ink.

monochrome ink swipe with twig as drawing tool

The spread below was made by sponging yellow/purple ink onto damp paper and then using the twig to draw in the green marks. A few random splatters is always very satisfying.

I also quite like the distress crayons, which you can smudge with a bit of water. This is the wrong kind of paper really (it’s very soft cotton rag), as it won’t stand up to too much rubbing. I’ll probably try this again on more robust paper.

Tim Holtz distress crayons smudged with water

I made more sketchbooks than I will use, so I’ve added a handful or so to the shop.

A play day with Klee

Firstly, thank you so much to everyone who has purchased fabric and thread – it’s now all on its way to you. I hope it arrives soon and that you can do something lovely with it.

I’m back in the day job from tomorrow so I’m having a little me time today, working (playing) in the second of two sketchbooks I have on the go at the moment. The first sketchbook is about ancient marks, standing stones, and lines on the land. The second is a study of work by Paul Klee, one of my favourite artists. I have often registered the affinity that Klee’s work seems to have with textiles. One of the first textile wall hangings I ever made was an interpretation of Klee’s ‘Fire at Evening’. Many of his paintings are basically patchwork, and many of his drawn lines look very like stitched marks.

This painting looks exactly like a stitch sampler to me, and reminds me of my own stitch journal.

Paul Klee, ‘Rhythms of a Plantation’, 1925

Drawing based on Rhythms of a Plantation, 1925, 10” square

The marks on Klee’s painting ‘Clarification’ also look exactly like running stitch or kantha stitching.

Sketchbook page, watercolour and pencil, exploring lines and marks

What particularly interests me about Klee is his work linking painting with music. He thought of music as having similar principles to painting, particularly in terms of composition – and of course we use the same word to describe an arrangement of musical notes and an arrangement of painted or drawn shapes on a page. I like the layering in his polyphonic works, which are usually a series of regular painted marks over a patchwork-like background. To me this is very like a quilt – the patchwork ground tells one story, and the quilted lines on the surface tell another story, like two voices singing in harmony.

The stitched sample is an exploration of how tiny bits of fabric would look if applied to a textile surface. I’ve used felt in this first foray, simply because it’s easy to cut up into small pieces and it doesn’t fray. I’ve experimented with different ways of attaching the little tiles (for scale, the bits of felt are about a quarter of an inch square).

Tiny pieces of felt applied to vintage linen

Probably my favourite is the invisible method (top right), but I’m not confident that it would be stable enough. I took the needle and thread horizontally through the centre of the felt, like threading a bead, and then down into the base fabric. I suspect over time it might split the layers, in which case the top layer could peel off.

Whether any of it works or not is immaterial today, really. It’s just nice to have some time to think about the possibilities.

Drawing stitches

Still working on paper, thinking things through. I don’t have a lot to say about this today. Not in words, at least. Colour, shape and composition have their own language that is universal and goes far beyond the limits of words.