Four Legs ... an exhibition

Whats is red?   WIP

I have been working on pieces for an exhibtion "Four legs..." in May this year.   I was chuffed to be invited to add a few works to this exhibition.

As my fellow exhibitors work with wool I wanted to incorporate felted wool into my stitched pieces.   

What is red?  is my first piece I have got close to finishing so I thought I would post a little bit about my process.

Yep,  I am still thinking out loud about process.   I tend to work intuitively which is why process is such a hard this for me to understand.   I struggle to plan in detail.  I am inspired by colour and form.  I find a mass of tangled thread stimulating.  Trying to sample or work a number of pieces in a planned theme leaves me cold.   The idea forms and morphs over time in my subconcious.  I have now recognized that it's then that I can start conscientously working on the idea.

Well I didn't really have any ideas tio begin with.

First I got carrried away and tried felting some wool.   Yes, I forgot I wasn't a felter!   But  I ended up with a lovely red circle which I looked at for quite a while.  And, I had lots of thoughts about what I could do with it.  Cue - start thinking out loud and deciding what to do.

Well it looks like a flower.  Stitch into it.

Did that.  Well that looks a bit dull.  What will I do with it.

I know, I will make more flowers .  Nah.  Bad idea - note to self - remember I am not a felter!

I will add text to it.   Maybe a saying?

Look at stitched shape again.   Love the scalet red colour and the explosive flower shape.

What about adding flower names around it?   Like the look of that.   White stitching on black felt makes the red pop.

What next.   More text.  Not more flowers though.   What does red mean?    Thats an idea.  Google stuff about red: phrases, poems, meanings.   Jot some of them done on the nearest bit of paper.  Decide on what is associated with the colour red.

Think about them.   Is the order important.   How selective will I be?  I took out some negative concepts and the words lost their pizzaz.

Add to all this - what do I call the work?    I have to confess most times the title will be settled before the work is completed.   I then work to the title.   Surely this forms part of process?   Not sure when the name happened in the work though.  Save that the word red was always going to be in it.  :-)