Cropped hedges

Before the extraordinary sudden growth in the hedges since the warm weather finally arrived this week, I went out with my camera to photograph the neatly cropped hedges all around where we live. The farmers seem to have been especially active this winter and have created a very particular, controlled look to their field boundaries.

Yet I am fascinated by the variety of pattern that still manages to exist within these hedgerows - all little more than waist height. Some have negative spaces at their base and dense top-knots of closely interwoven branches that form a small canopy at the top. Others offer a haphazard mat of trunks that cross over one another at random. They all seem to be asking me to stitch them - and this time, to use some colour, albeit muted and rather wintery.

In Photoshop Elements, I turned two of the more interesting photos to black and white and then colourised them to give a mahogany brown that I hope will offer interesting possibilities of colour contrasts in the stitching.

These two resulted for now and will do for experiments while I am away in Scotland next week.

Seeing them on the screen makes me realise that the mahogany brown will need some enhancement, especially on the top version!

Resolution

In March, I posted about the development of work from photos of high rise buildings in Vancouver, Canada. The last post stopped short of showing the final pieces that resulted as they were then yet to be finished. Now that our exhibition is over and I have them home again, here are the images that made the final cut:

They had a small amount of top stitching added as well as the black stitches at the corners holding the photos onto the backing paper. Unfortunately, this doesn't show up in the photos. The choice of stitches that are viable on photographs is limited: too much and the holes become perforations and everything starts to fall apart. This time, it took the form of a few long stab stitches to give textural contrast. 

And these below are some that did not then pass the test - but may yet see some minor modifications, that small amount of top-stitching, a mount and possibly a frame - and then even the light of day at some time in the future:

Stitching for the sake of it

From time to time, perhaps between larger, more thought out pieces, I stitch purely for the sake of it, trying out weight and style of stitch maybe, or pattern, and interval. The simplicity is soothing and refreshing and it keeps my hands busy while I ponder more widely.

This little sample was stitched over a couple of evenings in black and white and with a touch of red to liven things up. 

There was delicious relaxation here - nothing else afoot other than unstructured play, and taking the needle for a walk across the fabric. 

Exhibition in Malmesbury

As I promised to members of Great Western Embroiderers, I'm posting gallery views of all the 53 pieces we have hung in our exhibition. Apologies to some members for the tricky lighting in one or two of the photos that Photshop couldn't improve on and for the reflections off glass. Otherwise, I hope this post does justice to all your hard work and inspiration.

The exhibition is open in the John Bowen Gallery, Malmesbury, until next Thursday 12 April. Opening times are in the side bar of this blog. We have had an excellent number of visitors so far. It has been a great pleasure to meet you all.