No photos for the next few days, the Internet as had a hernia with all my photos and stuff.
How do you see things?
I’ve always looked at things in detail, even as a child. I always played with color and watched the way the light fell on an object. I’ve come to realize that I’m obsessive about placing things in order or making sense of a pattern.
For instance I was having my nails done in a salon in Dubai. I was captive, I couldn’t move and I had no choice but to look at an image in front of me with a pattern on it that was wasn’t even. It annoyed me intensely. I spent the rest of the time in the chair trying to subconsciously “order” the pattern. I mentioned it to my sister who was with me at the time and she looked at me in surprise, she hadn’t seen it and it certainly didn’t worry her.
In a restaurant recently, the patterns on the walls were scallop shape and they were uneven… it spoilt my meal because I needed to place them in the way they made me feel comfortable. I was with my sister and a friend on that occasion and I mentioned my discomfort. They looked at me with a bit of a smirk. whacko, I think they said. !!!!
I see patterns, color and shape in everything, and I enjoy it immensely. Take a glass of water on a table with the light shining through it, or a leaf against the sky, even a ripple in water. The smallest details give me pleasure and I photograph those images with the view to creating a textile image.
I wonder why you are inspired to stitch?
I’m inspired by the pattern, colors and the contours of an image and in particular I really enjoy the challenge.
Its one of the reasons I don’t work in a series. I just want to conquer the next project as soon as possible.
I’ve been told that to become professional as a Textile Artist…….
“The first step in creating a consistent body of work is to find your voice—that is, to establish your own working style.”
I’ve always looked at things in detail, even as a child. I always played with color and watched the way the light fell on an object. I’ve come to realize that I’m obsessive about placing things in order or making sense of a pattern.
For instance I was having my nails done in a salon in Dubai. I was captive, I couldn’t move and I had no choice but to look at an image in front of me with a pattern on it that was wasn’t even. It annoyed me intensely. I spent the rest of the time in the chair trying to subconsciously “order” the pattern. I mentioned it to my sister who was with me at the time and she looked at me in surprise, she hadn’t seen it and it certainly didn’t worry her.
In a restaurant recently, the patterns on the walls were scallop shape and they were uneven… it spoilt my meal because I needed to place them in the way they made me feel comfortable. I was with my sister and a friend on that occasion and I mentioned my discomfort. They looked at me with a bit of a smirk. whacko, I think they said. !!!!
I see patterns, color and shape in everything, and I enjoy it immensely. Take a glass of water on a table with the light shining through it, or a leaf against the sky, even a ripple in water. The smallest details give me pleasure and I photograph those images with the view to creating a textile image.
I wonder why you are inspired to stitch?
I’m inspired by the pattern, colors and the contours of an image and in particular I really enjoy the challenge.
Its one of the reasons I don’t work in a series. I just want to conquer the next project as soon as possible.
I’ve been told that to become professional as a Textile Artist…….
“The first step in creating a consistent body of work is to find your voice—that is, to establish your own working style.”
Well to be honest. I do have a voice in this art field. Many of my pieces will be exhibited in Museums, Art galleries two solo exhibitions and even an Embassy next year. I reckon thats more than a voice, its a darn big shout out for Textile Art.
Many of you who read my blog will read of the doubt I often have at completing a new technique. “Can I do it” I work through it until I achieve it. “Yes I can”
In recent thread painting projects I’ve challenged myself to even more difficult subjects, the portrait of an African Woman’s face, a cat with detailed fur.
I wanted to create them by using thread as If I were drawing with pen. Sometimes, its stitch,, by stitch.
At Quilt Shows, you’ve all seen thread painted portraits with swirls of stitching. Circles on the nose, cheeks and forehead. It makes me uncomfortable, like the uneven pattern on a wall, I wanted to see if I could create a portrait in thread and make it as realistic as possible, I doubted it but “Yes I can”
I wondered if I could make a portrait out of cheese cloth. I struggled with it. I had seen magnificent images done in cheesecloth, but I discovered they are made initially by submerging the cheesecloth in glue and manipulating it to form the image. I wanted to stitch the detail into the cheesecloth portrait. Trial and error, but “Yes I can”
I personally am inspired to stitch because of the challenge of achieving the difficult.
Many of you who read my blog will read of the doubt I often have at completing a new technique. “Can I do it” I work through it until I achieve it. “Yes I can”
In recent thread painting projects I’ve challenged myself to even more difficult subjects, the portrait of an African Woman’s face, a cat with detailed fur.
I wanted to create them by using thread as If I were drawing with pen. Sometimes, its stitch,, by stitch.
At Quilt Shows, you’ve all seen thread painted portraits with swirls of stitching. Circles on the nose, cheeks and forehead. It makes me uncomfortable, like the uneven pattern on a wall, I wanted to see if I could create a portrait in thread and make it as realistic as possible, I doubted it but “Yes I can”
I wondered if I could make a portrait out of cheese cloth. I struggled with it. I had seen magnificent images done in cheesecloth, but I discovered they are made initially by submerging the cheesecloth in glue and manipulating it to form the image. I wanted to stitch the detail into the cheesecloth portrait. Trial and error, but “Yes I can”
I personally am inspired to stitch because of the challenge of achieving the difficult.
Pammy take comfort in the fact that it is the things YOU are and feel that have translated into the beautiful work you do. Process is a wonderful tool for those who lack the tools of divergent and original thinking. You don’t need to do that. Look at the results.
Carolyn, you’re right, its the process that excites me the most.
Pam,
I started patchwork by making samplers. Never wanted to make a block over and over again, but if I made a star block to go in a sampler quilt, I had to make another very similar star using similar fabrics in similar places so that I could place the similar pair on opposite sides of the quilt to keep it balanced. I encouraged the girls I taught to place their blocks to balance the overall design of the quilt. The whole quilt design has always been more important than the individual pieces for me.
I see the patterns which are not quite balanced, and often scribble the changes to make them balance, take a photo to remember the parts of the pattern I like. Sometimes the changed design becomes a project, more often just ‘correcting’ the pattern is more than enough. I doubt that I see as many details and as many ‘mistakes’ as you do, and will certainly never become a textile artist of your calibre, but I would never dare think of you as wacko, because I am at least partway there!
PS If that friend is a mutual friend, I have spent enough time with her to know she is part wacko too! I think we ask one little question over and over … ‘What if …?’
What if, why and how….. WOW.