Gallery of past work

Sunday 24 August 2014

Stitch experiment

Just to show that despite all the diversions and preoccupations of the last couple of months, I've managed a modicum of stitching, I'm including an update on the piece of experimental stitching I posted previously.


I'm longing to crop and rotate small sections of this image but Adobe Photoshop is still playing sick. It will have to wait till I have time to investigate the problem and, maybe, reload.

As many times before, I've turned my camera onto the reverse of the piece and the back and the journey seem almost as interesting than the front, here ... 


... and here ...

I like the delicate nature of the stitching and the suggestion of tangled and free-growing vegetation. Is there a message here for me about working directly and spontaneously onto fabric and leaving my starting thread tails and my finishing off visible, even about making a feature of them?



13 comments:

  1. Lovely piece back and front love the movement in it. Re your previous entry we visited Painswick a few years ago when their festival is on, can't remember what it was called but well worth visiting, lots of amazing fashion and design.

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    1. Many thanks for both your comments. I will keep my eyes open for next year's festival in Painswick. The Rococo Gardens are on the edge of the village so we didn't realise what was going on last week. Looking at this year's programme, it looks like we missed a great opportunity.

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  2. Magnificent stitching, Margaret! Rather reminds me of bargello needlepoint. Love the black and white, too.

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    1. Thanks, Connie, and I can see where your talk of bargello comes from - something to do with the lines and diagonals, maybe?

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  3. These look like gorgeous charcoal drawings ...... delicious.

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    1. Thank you - working in black and white seems to be a compulsion with me right now - drawing or stitching.

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  4. I love the way you show us the reverse here - almost like a ghost image or a strange aura - the same but at the same time less solid, more delicate. Someone I was talking to recently, suggested that I sandwich one of my pieces between two pieces of perspex so both sides could be seen if desired - I haven't - so far, but I'm wondering if there isn't something in the idea (although the reverse of my stuff looks more like a poodle in need of a good trim). Glad to see your gradual post-summer re-entry to Blogland.

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    1. Sandwiching pieces like this between perspex had occurred to me too ... but for the next exhibition, all work has to be wall-hung so that won't be possible, unfortunately. I love to see the back of your colourful, heavily stitched and textured pieces ...

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  5. This piece has such a fantastic graphic quality. I love it.
    I always end up studying the back of an embroidery, there is something very compelling and intimate about it.

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    1. Years ago, I studied graphic art as part of teacher training and it's never quite left me. In fact, I find myself turning to graphic representations more and more in my stitching so it's not a surprise that you see that here.
      I too like to look at the reverse ... the record of the gradual formation of the image. I often prefer it to the supposedly 'right' side, especially on very traditional work.

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  6. These are wonderful. I love the way black and white can be stark and delicate at the same time. So great to see both front and back and yes, the perspex idea would be so very intriguing. A whole series of images could be formed by lining several up together....and they could be interchanged....hmmmm...

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    1. mmmm ... indeed! ... I REALLY like the idea of doing a small series, mounting them in perspex and lining them up together and maybe interchanging the backs and fronts ... wonder how the contrast would work? ...If nothing else, I'll have to source a local supplier of perspex! Thank you very much for such interesting thoughts. Much to ponder on while I'm on my next trip.
      I've packed my sketch book and a few pencils but won't have time for anything else.

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