sketchbook pages textile artist, stitching by hand, thread, embroidery, stitch journal

Studio time

My new year’s resolution to work smarter seems to be going well, and for the first time in years I find that I do in fact have some time for my own work as well as the business.

I did a little more on the winter sketchbook. It may be early spring, and the snowdrops are looking beautiful, but the weather is decidedly behind the curve so I feel justified in clinging to glorious cold winter for as long as I can.

winter sketchbook page with found poetry lines

winter sketchbook page, mixed media collage

winter sketchbook page, handmade paper collage

I’m also trying to be a bit more organised about what goes where. My Ikea drawers are very slightly short of A4 size in the width, so I made some custom trays out of mount board and they fit nicely, two per drawer.

mark-making tools, rounded up and contained

The sides are covered with 2″ wide washi tape that I found hiding in another drawer. I should probably line the boxes to make them prettier but for now I’m happy enough with functional.

stencils and collagraphs all neat and tidy

And finally, I’ve resurrected a patchwork quilt top that’s had quite a few false starts.

I had a look at it, wasn’t happy with it, and decided to unpick everything and start again. I wanted a fairly big circle on the surface and didn’t have a yarn that was anything like what I had in mind.

I’ve ended up stringing lots of thin threads together to create something like what I wanted. It’s a very fine silk noil yarn that dyed beautifully but is no good for stitching with – breaks too easily, too nobbly – but a few strands together are couching down quite nicely.

I’m wondering if maybe the whole thing will be couched rather than quilted. Always an adventure.

Hope your week is going well.

Winter: studio time

So far my plans for smarter working this year are going well, and I’ve found a little time here and there for some creative play. I’m not entirely comfortable calling it ‘studio time’ because I don’t have a studio and also I’m not ‘an artist’ in the establishment sense of the word. Middle-aged woman tearing up paper in the spare bedroom doesn’t really sound all that engaging though.

I guess we are all artists, in our own way.

I’ve been working on (playing with) collaging the pages of an old 6″ x 8″ notebook, using my own painted papers. You learn how to do this in my Painted Collage Paper and Mark-Making course, by the way. A little self-promotion there from my Marketing Manager (that’s me).

I’m intending a celebration of winter in this sketchbook. If you’ve been with me a while, you’ll know it’s my favourite season, and January is my favourite month. It’s cold, it’s still dark, it’s grey, it’s quiet, and nothing much happens, and all of that suits me perfectly. And we’re half way through it already. It’s ok, I like spring too.

For now all I’ve done is cover the pages with printed/painted papers. I’ll go back in to each page with either more paint, mark-making, more collage, or some text.

I’m really enjoying the muted colour palette.

There is, however, a slightly perplexing problem. I appear to have developed contact dermatitis, but only this week, and only on my right hand. Since I’ve been handling paper with both hands, my prime suspect is the acrylic medium I’ve used to stick the papers down. It seems odd to suddenly develop an allergy to something you’ve been using for years, but I can’t think what else it could be. I’ll try some (biodegradable) gloves and see if that solves the problem.

Wearing gloves is probably sensible in any case when working with paints and inks.

It’s been a good few months since I made time for activities like this, and I realise how important and restorative it is. I’m being very strict about my working hours (no social media at weekends, no working beyond 5pm, and a weekly half-day for creative exploring).

So far so good. Wish me luck with the gloves!

And back again

After a few days in lovely Rosedale, North Yorkshire, I’m about ready to get back to work. We walked many miles in clean air, had lots of good food, and stayed in a quiet B & B with a garden shared with a barn owl, tawny owl and pipistrelle bats.

Of course there was time for a little on-location sketching and painting too.

The colour palette at this time of year is beautiful.

I do like a dry stone wall.

We came across a stone cross on the moors, originally marking a barrow, I think. It had some really interesting marks carved into it:

It had to be done in collage and stitch when we got home:

stitched sample, black cotton thread on eco-printed cotton

I have more images and colours to explore from the photos I took, and I’m looking forward to getting on with that this week.

It’s amazing how refreshing a few days away from it all can be. A bit of time and space to find yourself again.

The shop is open for fabrics, threads, daily stitching templates and collage papers, and you can find my online courses here for daily stitching, hand stitching, and mixed media sketchbook classes.

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.

Monochrome

Recently I wondered what a monochromatic mixed media sketchbook might look like, containing explorations of line and shape but exclusively using tone instead of colour. I figured there was only one way to find out.

I’ve made a sketchbook, about 10″ square, including black and white papers of various thicknesses and textures. It had to have a cover, of course:

I’ve painted some collage papers using only black and white paints and inks.

Early days, but so far it’s interesting. The absence of colour is making me consider tonal value much more carefully and consciously than I usually would.

The paper you can see in the photo above is very unusual and really beautiful. It has some sort of fibre or yarn embedded in mulberry paper to form those circles.

I included some of my favourite Two Rivers watercolour paper and only used Mars Black watercolour with details in fine drawing pen.

Most of the other pages are still in progress, and I’ll probably move backwards and forwards between them.

I guess some things really are black and white or shades of grey.

Make your own Sketchbook

My new mini-course on Teachable is now available here

Three very simple sketchbooks to make, plus lots of ideas and techniques on preparing and filling the pages with paint, collage, and simple mark-making.

My preference is always for making my own sketchbook rather than simply buying one. I often think bought sketchbooks have more pages than I can comfortably fill, and they also tend to get too full once you start sticking extra papers or stitched samples in them. If you make your own book, you can limit the number of pages from the beginning so that it’s not completely bursting at the seams when you’ve filled it.

The first book, the basic concertina/accordion fold book, is very simple – some might think simplistic, or a bit too simple – but I think it’s one of the most versatile fun little things you can create.

The zine-fold book – also very simple – is equally versatile, and offers lots of possibilities for some quick explorations.

The third book in this little mini-course is a single signature stitched book with a wrap-around cover with integral pockets.

single signature sketchbook with painted pages (step-by-step tutorials for this)

You get to see lots of pages from my own sketchbooks, and you get some collage paper to print and download, plus some tag templates and some poetry lines to cut up and re-assemble.

Special Early Bird price of £25.00, which will rise to £30.00 from 1st April. You don’t need to enter a code; just buy before the end of March for the lower price. It’s all pre-recorded, so you can start any time, download the lessons, watch as many times as you want for as long as you want. No time limits, no deadlines, just learn at your own pace.

It’s primarily aimed at beginners, but I’d like to think there’s something for most mixed media enthusiasts here.

This is the first in a series of short mixed media courses. Up next (and still working on it – for which read, ‘haven’t really started it yet’) will be paint your own collage papers plus mark-making tools and techniques for mixed media sketchbooks. That title might need some work, but I’m having lots of fun here this week. I hope you are too.

YouTube

It’s a whole new adventure, and I’m not quite sure how or why it happened, but I appear to have set up my own YouTube channel.

I’m in the process of uploading my Instagram short videos, and yesterday I made a video on starting a new sketchbook, which you can see here.

This one is a little square (ish) concertina folded sketchbook, with seven pages each side, which I’ve filled with collaged illustrations and found poetry cut from an old anthology.

I’ve made it in preparation for a forthcoming course in my Teachable school on making your own sketchbooks (yes?), and very enjoyable it’s been too.

I really like the way these simple folded sketchbooks become circular, where the end is also the beginning, so I’ve created this one on the theme of day and night revolving around each other.

If you saw the beginning of this little book, here’s how it turned out (ignore all the paint on my fingers, it’ll come off eventually):

mixed media sketchbook with found poetry

The text comes from various early twentieth-century poems and I’ve just cut out and rearranged the lines and phrases to create new poems.

Returning to the subject of YouTube, I’ll be keeping teaching and online courses on Teachable but I don’t mind sharing occasional processes and techniques on my YouTube channel.

So my next question is, what would you like to see?

Mixed media sketchbook

I’ve been working on this sketchbook for a few weeks now, finding homes for all the tiny samples and scraps of painted paper and fabrics. At the same time I’m in the process of preparing to write a new course on mixed media/collage in sketchbooks, and I find it helps to actually make the thing you intend to teach.

I made the very simple sketchbook, using cartridge paper and some handmade cotton rag paper – it’s just sheets of paper stacked, folded in half, and stitched along the spine. The wrap around cover is cotton rag paper and it ties with some hand-dyed cotton tape that wraps around the button. Mixed media sketchbooks often become quite bulky because of all the inserts and layers, so it helps to bundle it up like this.

Sketchbooks are sometimes regarded as preparation for something larger, but I tend to see them as valuable and inspirational objects in themselves. I see them as a place to collect abstract thoughts in the form of shape and colour, and also as a place to try different colour combinations and design elements. Some of the designs in this book may or may not become larger works, and if they don’t then it’s enough to have them as they are in the sketchbook.

Here’s a quick flip-through. The pages are about 9″ x 6″ ish:

mixed media sketchbook pages

And a closer look (details are in the captions beneath the image):

simple mark-making with thread on layered fabric scraps (4″ square)

I don’t often write in sketchbooks like this one, but I do sometimes like to add a few words of text. I have an old poetry anthology that I cut up to make found poems. I know some people have strong feelings about cutting up books, but I only ever use very old books that have missing or damaged pages. The text serves to remind me of what I was thinking when I made the image, and sometimes it might also suggest the title of a larger work.

stitched sample (about 5″ square) with simple mark-making

I like the way samples in different media can support and inform each other. The top sample on the page below was made by collecting and layering fabric scraps, and then the lower image is a collage inspired by the stitched sample.

inside back cover, handmade foam stamps and simple drawn grid

As I’m currently taking a temporary break from Instagram, I have a bit more time to focus on structuring the new course. It generally takes a month or more to put one together and I’m still at the thinking-it-through stage, so there’s a fair way to go. But watch this space.

Zero waste collage

Rounding up all the scraps of painted paper in a quest to Do Something Useful with them. I’ve been cutting and pasting into an 11″ square sketchbook, and very therapeutic it is too.

From this…

to this…

to this…

mini paintings cut from painted collage papers, approximately 2″ square

mini paintings cut from collage papers, approximately 2″ square

mini paintings from painted collage papers, approximately 2.5″ square

Quietly having a good time. Comments are off for now, to preserve the quiet.

Blue Monday

The third Monday in January (2025) is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year. It’s nonsense, of course (though I guess some of you in the US may not be in agreement right now…) The concept apparently was invented by a travel company in 2005, to sell more holidays, and only applies to the northern hemisphere because of the cold weather and the short daylight hours here. As you know, I love the winter and the chilly, grey, short days. I also like January, blue, and Mondays, so I’m just here today to disprove the theory. I hope you haven’t fallen for the marketing/sales hype that’s trying to persuade you to feel miserable today. You might want to look away at this point if you don’t like blue, though.

Today’s daily stitching had to be blue, if only to justify the title of this post.

And a closer look:

lifetime (cross stitches) piling up – 🎶 earworm by Talking Heads, ‘Lifetime Piling Up’

Recently I’ve been gathering together some little zero waste samples that I put together last year. These are just tiny scraps of fabric laid on a foundation, covered in a sheer fabric, and randomly (or purposefully) stitched. I thought it might be nice to compile them into a mixed media sketchbook. More on this later.

I’m doing zero waste with collage papers too, using all the tiny scraps and strips of painted papers, letting the stitched samples and collage elements begin a little conversation.

stitch on the left, painting and collage on the right

It’s all very intuitive and kinaesthetic. The hands start doing something with fabric or thread or paper, and the brain eventually gets interested enough to join in. You have to start doing the work in order to do the work.

There are a few more basted samples that need stitching.

zero waste samples using selvedges and hand-dyed scraps

about 8″ square, layered scraps and sheer fabrics, ready for stitching

And a box of glorious blue threads vying for attention.

🎶 blue, blue, electric blue 🎶 earworm by David Bowie, ‘Sound and Vision’

So when I say ‘wishing you a Blue Monday’, I mean it in the happiest way possible.

Tag: sketchbook pages

Studio time

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Winter: studio time

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And back again

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Still achromatic

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Monochrome

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Make your own Sketchbook

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YouTube

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Mixed media sketchbook

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Zero waste collage

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Blue Monday

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