Stitch details

Stitch details from an (A3) size piece which is currently work in progress and which develops thoughts on reflections seen in high rise buildings ...

The image was printed onto a fine cotton groud using my Epson P600 printer with its archival inks. It was generated from a photograph in Photoshop Elements, folowing, as usual, much manipulating - repeated layering, cutting, resizing, discarding and repositioning - and many changes in colour and tone. 

The threads being used in the stitching are single-colour DMC stranded floss in a restricted colour palette to echo rather than control the colours in the image and to blurr the whole as in a reflection. Stright, precise, vertical running stitch is being used throughout to mimic the precision of the building's structure. 

 

Book making

 A work-in-progress accordion style book on the high rise buildings theme ... ...

Front to which I will add words (a few)

Back to be presented as is (probably). 

All images were generated in Photoshop Elements as is my usual practice, with much cutting and repositioning of layers, resizing and recolouring. 

There is still much to be worked on - words to be added, size and final format to be decided ... and I'm really not sure about those little punched holes, especially and distractingly visible against good light in these photos. 

Blogging and then looking with the critical eye of the viewer not the creator certainly has its purpose!

High rise surprises

I've been working further from an image posted last year at the very beginning of explorations for Inhabit, Brunel Broderers' exhibition in Stroud later this year. During a visit to Sydney, Australia, a few years ago, I saw and photographed this striking high rise building a few years ago just behind Darling Harbour as I passed by on the top deck of a bus. 

Despite a relatively fleeting impression, this image has remained with me and is providing endless hours of visual challenge as I experiment with the structure, reflections and colour within. It seems to be offering me particularly fruitful opportunities to produce abstract images in Adobe Photoshop Elements for our new theme of Inhabit. 

Some recent manipulations are shown here. Other variaions in colour and effects can be found on my Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/charlton_stitcher/ 

In this process, 'What if?' has never been easier. I find it liberating. A large range of different solutions can be generated rapidly on screen at the click of a mouse - and no expensive paper, paint or fabric has been consumed in the process! 

Then there is always the possibility of the unexpected - and also of a happy accident - which intrigues me. 

Above is a happy accident, obtained when I selected and then cut and deleted elements using the layer by cut function in Photoshop Elements. Those fine black lines and the enclosed white areas are the 'ghostlike' remains which are left behind by the editing process when I remove parts of an image. It is a trick I came upon completely by accident when I was working on this version of an image. I've since employed it deliberately in other images - and it's definitely one I've since added to my armoury.

When I work in the way I've described, working repeatedlly into an image, changing colour, selecting, cutting and pasting, and then overlaying small sections of the original to make a new whole, it always surprises me just how far removed from the original image I become (and how quickly) as I try to represent a story. 

This and the lack of ability to predict the final outcome at the start are what fascinate me in the process and keep it fresh for me.  

Miniatures in Bloom

A final selection here, this time of small works by Carolyn Sibbald (the first two) and Carla Mines (the third), before Brunel Broderers' exhibition at The Arts Centre at The Meeting House in Ilminster, Somerset, closes on Saturday.

The Arts Centre offers a very pleasant small gallery, well-lit and with plenty of display space for small installation work as well as good wall space. 

Footfall has been good and comments encouraging! The very good coffee shop makes it a really pleasant day out. We will be sorry to leave on Saturday. 

If you live locally and have not yet been, general opening times for the gallery are given on the Art Centre website via link above or by clicking on the poster in the side bar of this blog. 

Please note: Closing time for the Gallery this coming Saturday (31 October) will be at 12 noon because our exhibition is ending and our work has to be taken down ready for the next exhibition. 

The Brunel Broderers' exhibition in The Arts Centre at the Meeting House in Ilminster in Somerset, is now open to view.

As keen-eyed observers will notice, much of the work I am showing with the group this time has again been developed following a visit to the Chateau at Chenonceau in the Loire region of France in July 2019. 

There are several new pieces. I have developed further the layering and the opacity of the images to give depth. I have layered several repeating images each with different levels of opacity and have explored the shapes (both positive and negative) generated by the overlapping of these images. 

I have also extended my thoughts to give a fresh look at the use of colour to suggest further the complex history of Catherine de Medici's life - of political machinations and dark deeds and perhaps blood spilt. 

In all this work, it is a strange fact that this historic theme of evil deeds contrasts strongly in my memory with the formal beauty and apparent peace of the gardens when I saw them. I have hoped to suggest this conflict in my work. 

Throughout, I have developed my response through Adobe Photoshop Elements from the photographs I took during my visit. The imagery which resulted was discussed at length (here and here). 

A snapshot of each of the members of the group is to be found on the Brunel Broderers' blog. Each artist is featured in a separate post with brief details of their work. 

Covid restrictions notwithstanding, the exhibition runs in the gallery until Saturday 31 October 2020. If you are able to come, you will find a warm welcome in the gallery and in the café which is open during the centre's opening hours. 

In view of current restrictions, it would be wise to consult the Art Centre's website before visiting to check the opening times of the gallery.

Exhibition in Ilminster

Covid restrictions notwithstanding, I will be exhiting work in October with the Brunel Broderers in Bloom, at the Arts Centre at the Meeting House in Ilminster, Somerset. This is a new venue for the group and we are very much looking forward to seeing our work in a different setting. 

The exhibition runs from Tuesday 13th to Saturday 31st October and will show a mixture of new work and pieces from the exhbition of the same name held in Cheltenham last September. As well, we hope, as attracting new visitors, this will provide another opportunity to see pieces we showed last year together with further work developed on the same theme. 

The work explores growth and flowering and gardens and each member has approached the subject from their own perspective. The exhibition will show the wide variety of approaches and outcomes developed by the members of the group.

                                         Carla Mines                                                               Liz Harding                                                                      Carolyn Sibbald

Carla Mines has considered further issues of polution and the environment using machine embroidery on disolvable fabric. She has focused particularly on the effects of our casual use of plastic and on the problem of the dense masses of algae or algal blooms which can occur in both marine and fresh water. Liz Harding's work explores colour and growth through machine embroidery enhanced with hand stitched marks on painted organdie. Carolyn Sibbald's folded and cut books and structures, often incorporating delicate stitch, provide a fascinating miniaturised perspective.     

                      Corinne Renow-Clarke                                            Margaret Robbie                                                             Linda Babb

Corinne Renow-Clarke will be showing a series of richly coloured turned-edge appliqués in work that looks afresh at plants we bring close to home. I have continued to explore shape and pattern in landscape, this time through more representational work particularly exploring imagery in the gardens at Chenonceau in France. Linda Babb has based her work on the traditional flower motifs found in the buildings of Marrekesh, seen there on frequent visits.

**A word of warning: because of the inevitable impact of Covid 19, this gallery is operating curtailed opening hours - 10 am till 2 pm and will only be open from Tuesday to Saturday. The café will be serving teas / coffees and a limited selection of sandwiches and cakes during Gallery opening hours.