Module Two - Chapter One

My husband thought I was quite mad when I jumped up and down and squeeled like an excited 6 year old.  All because I had received Module 2 from Distant Stitch.  The module is amazing and I am so excited about what I am going to learn! 

Collecting Resources, Looking at Shape and Form – Page 3-7

Very enjoyable and ongoing activity.  A lot of shapes and forms share their characteristics e.g. you can have a rounded yet spiked form.  My main sources are magazines and books.  Need to get out and take more photos though.  David Hockney was on the TV a few weeks ago talking about colour in the landscape and now I can’t go out for a walk without asking the question “What colour is that hedge/ flower/patch of grass?”  Going to see his exhibition early February so should be fabulous.

 Here is a small sample of what I have collected.

To Draw or not to Draw – Page 8

I made four attempts at drawing a simple flower shape.  The fourth attempt was definitely my best one.  Tried to remember that the exercise was not about how good at drawing I was but about finding shape and form.  It was helpful to remember that.  I still enjoyed the drawing however, and bought a book about how I could improve my drawing – just to have a go.



First attempt at drawing a flower as per Chapter One, page 8




Third go at drawing

Fourth go at drawing flower

Adding to your Drawing – Page 9

After a few attempts at trying to capture the shape and form of the poppy I was quite pleased with the drawing.  I was very pleased with the free embroidery I think I captured the shape of the poppy quite well.

Print, drawing and stitching of poppy as per Chapter One, page 9
"Adding to Your Drawing"



Inspiration from the Artists – Page 10-14

Cefyn Burgess

I have never heard of this artist before.  At first I wasn’t sure about his work but when I looked at several more pieces of his work on the Internet they were very moving.  I’m not sure how he uses stitch to get the effect he does, but it looks like a pencil drawing.  Heavier and lighter use of the thread indicates shape, form and movement of the plants.  His work is very beautiful because it is so naturalistic.  It’s like standing in a field of wild flowers.

Drawing with your Needle-Page10-11

Cefyn Burgess Style

I amazed myself at my three drawings of hedgerow flowers.  I have an old book of illustrated wild flowers which inspired me to draw.  It took a few attempts but finally so pleased with the results.  I just took my time and concentrated quite hard.   I also feel very pleased with the stitching, again just concentrated very hard and took my time.  I see that Cefyn Burgess has stitched words into his work and looking back now wished I had written something, even just the names of the plants.  But it could be an idea for later maybe.



Picture of stitching by Cefyn Burgess





Drawing in style of Cefyn Burgess for stitching as below




First piece of stitching in style of Cefyn Burgess




Second piece of stitching in style of Cefyn Burgess



Third piece of stitching in the style of Cefyn Burgess

 

Grinling Gibbons

Another artist I haven’t heard of.  Although his work is amazing I can’t quite empathise with it.  The carvings are amazing and very life like but don’t appear very natural.  Capturing the downloaded image in a drawing was much more difficult than my drawings of wild flowers.  It took a few attempts again, but I think I have managed it.

I couldn’t find any artificial flowers or seed heads.  However, I found a picture of Arum lilies in a gardening book, so used these with their leaves and a picture of poppy seed head to compose my drawing.  My stitching isn’t too bad, but again I found this more difficult than the smaller wild flowers done previously.  It was difficult finding the right place to start and making the first stitch is always the hardest.  Overall though I am pleased with what I have done.

An example of the carving of Grinling Gibbons



First attempt at drawing from Grinling Gibbons piece above



Drawing from carving of Grinling Gibbons

Drawing of what I will stitch as per Chapter One, page 13

Final stitched piece - Chapter One page 14

Creating Voids
Page 15

I loved doing this because it involved different techniques.  It was difficult finding enough jugs/vases to create a composition.  Unfortunately I didn’t have any tall vessels only short stubby ones, so the composition isn’t great.  I think I draw flowers better than jugs, but “practice makes perfect.”

The difficulty I had with this exercise was determining which lines to leave out when doing the tracing.  It wasn’t until I was half way through stitching that I wished I had left other lines out and other lines in.  Another difficulty was concentration on the stitching.  Granite stitch is very intense and repetitive.  There was also a lot of space to fill in with the stitching and so it was easy to become unfocused and letting the needle jump about.  I noticed my shoulders and wrists aching too, so had to discipline myself to stop stitching now and again and relax my shoulders.

Initial sketch to be stitched to create voids

Final tracing with coloured areas for stitching



Piece stitched in granite stitch



Self Assessment

Module Two, Chapter One

In conclusion, I feel that I have

•  Developed a liking for collecting things.  (I am not a hoarder and throw everything out regularly!)
• Developed an interest in and improved my drawing. 
•  Developed an awareness of shape and form by using different styles of stitching such as in the style of Cefyn Burgess and Grinling Gibbons. 
• Creating voids in order to demonstrate other shapes and forms.
• Improved my skills at free machine embroidery.

Module One - Chapter Ten

Stitching Colours, Line and Texture
Stitch and a Blob
Stitch and Squiggle
Stitch and Round Backwards and Forwards
Page 81 - 84

Very enjoyable activity using all my favourite shapes and movements.  I enjoyed using all the colours suggested, particularly the purple and silver. 

Drawn blobs, squiggles and rounds

Stitched blobs, squiggles and rounds

Doodle and Stitch
Page 84
I'm afraid I ran out of ideas for this.  Strange but true.  I'm not much of a doodler so found it difficult to not think about what I was drawing which defeats the idea of doodling I think.  Also having drawn the above exercise with all the loops and circles etc. I found that these are the shapes I would naturally draw anyway.  However, I did have a go but the results are not very exciting.  I wouldn't choose to add any of these to the resolved sample, although I think some of the shapes could be used in other things.  The orange, red and yellow star explosion shape is the most exciting and I quite like the yellow, red and orange blobs on stalks at the left of the piece of felt.  This came from looking at my tea mug which had an Orla Keily design on it.

Doodle and stitch

Shapes and Colours for Resolved Sample
Page 85 - 86
Had a go at drawing some shapes from photographs I'd taken.  I love the Rennie Macintosh shapes on page 85.  I looked at some William Morris designs but they are a bit too fussy.

Idea for a wall hanging or similar from the twisted tree trunk below





This has line and enclosed spaces taken  from the wood panel below

Patrick Caulfield's 'Pottery'

Page 86

(Sorry, about the alingment here (I don't know what's going on))!

I found a copy of the 'Pottery' painting on the Tate Gallery website where they had a lovely downloadable 'educators pack' for the artist.  I'm not sure if the colours are 'true'.  I think there about 10 basic shapes all with curved lines.  The colours that are represented from my printout show, browny orange and oranges, greens, blues, yellows and violet or purple.  The colours are strong and vivid.  The arrangement of colours helps to make each pot stand out - as an individual from the others yet completely linked to the other pots. There is a quote from Caulfield on the Tate Gallery's educators pack which says "One's always been taught in art school that all relationships and colours should blend, affected by one light.  But that can make for a very dull painting.  Does nature blend?"

Here is the my design and stitching for the final resolved piece in Chapter Ten

Materials used are black felt with stabiliser, purple/pink, orange, green, yellow and blue Gutterman and Madeira rayon 40 thread. I have mixed feelings about this piece of work.  I kept leaving it and going back to it, thinking I might just start again but then thinking I don't know what's wrong with it.  I like the design on paper, but when it came to stitching I realised that the spaces I wanted to fill were not wide enough so it wasn't easy to sew.  I decided to stay with the suggested size but would have liked it to have been much bigger.  I had a lot of 'skill' issues with my free machine embroidery, particularly going over the black bobbing thread on the front.  I probably rushed doing this part in order to get on with the stitching.  I know I could have done a better job.  I like the colours I have chosen and I think the best bits are the pink and orange colours with the circular stitches.  I think I have achieved a balance with the design of the shapes, colours and stitches. 

I have now reached the end of Module One which I have enjoyed very much.  I have also learnt a great deal.  Not just about colour and design but my skills which have improved a lot.  I have also learnt a lot about myself and how I approach different tasks which will definitely help when I embark on the next exciting part of the journey in Module Two.