Process - the Penny has dropped

Wall hanging - Penny Rug with a twist

As you will see from past posts, I have been trying to work out what process is and how process applies to my practice.  I think the penny has finally dropped!

Art students today are taught to keep visual diaries and establish mood boards. 

But I’m a wordsmith by training and I write daily.  

I record my thoughts on anything: personal highs and lows, my view on current politics, family matters and ideas about my art,  whatever occurs to me at the time.  In the course of my writing I see that I keep coming back to certain ideas.  

For a long time I was convinced I should write in one book and that my art ideas, images and drawing should be in a visual diary style journal.   As a result, I had no cohesive ideas about my art and its progress.   I tried to take the ideas from my daily writings across to my visual diary and that didn’t really work.  I thought I had a to have a visual diary to fully explore every idea.   Then I ended up with a heap of visual diaries with only a few pages of drawings on that one idea.

Looking for help, I did an online journaling workshop with Sharon Boggon.   She gave me permission to write and draw on the same page!    

Exploring penny rug ideas in daily writing

It took a while but now my daily writings include notes and drawings of my art ideas when they come to me.   When I have an idea that reoccurs and sticks, I move onto a visual diary.  And its not a special diary, I just keep adding ideas to it.  But, by the time I get the ideas into a visual diary I am working through the ideas and how I can make my own mark.

Rough drawing in daily writing

rough drawings in visual diary

In the course of my daily writings I realised that I like applique, I like felt, I like thick threads and I prefer a number of simple stitch techniques.   When I look at what I have done in the past I see lots of applique in various formats (from traditional turned applique to raw edge collage), lots of running stitch and chain stitch and spirals and circles.

Add to this mix an invitation to participate in an exhibition with five textile artists who work primarily with wool.  My thoughts jumped to penny rugs: felted wool, applique and stitch.   Ideas started to appear in my daily writings.  Then drawings and internet research happened in my visual diary together with drawings that has started as initial ideas in my daily writings.

With the Albury Wodonga Branch of the Embroiderers Guild Victoria exhibition looming I explored the penny rug idea and created a hanging. (Photo at top).  And I revisited and explored appliqued faces again. 

    

 

I have realised that for me, process is:

·         recognising recurring ideas

.     playing with those ideas that take my fancy 

·         working with those recurring ideas over a longer period of time.

Thank you for letting me talk out loud. 😊   

Filling Stiches by Edith John

I am a bit of an op shop addict?   I can browse and touch. And if you buy, it’s only a couple of dollars.  Every so often I come across a wonderful find.  In a holiday in Anglesea (Victoria) I discovered some wonderful pink dupion and old linen begging for a new life.   

sample worked from
Edith John's book

More recently I picked up a great book - Filling Stitches by Edith John.  The book was published by Batsford in 1967 in with black and white diagrams.  As a result, it has wonderful contemporary graphic images.   The instructions are clear and easy to follow.  

I have played with some of the patterns with perle, DMC and machine threads and they create striking patterns.    I like to do crazy patchwork and I can see fillings and seam embellishments on every page.

I couched down the threads but why stop there?   All sorts of lines could be made with thick and thin threads and heavy and light stitched lines.  Why not raised chain band and chain.  Or couch with detached chain.  Or…

sample worked from 
Edith John's book 

I think the book should have been called ‘Design by Default’.  When I see the drawings I think I could…

·         make a quilt

·         play with twine and raffia on hessian and make a hanging

·         branch out and couch down chop sticks (wrapped or not), textured wool or something found

·         applique in the traditional sense or

·         make a Mola design applique with embroidery.

Old Chiltern Cemetary, Victoria
Wroung Ironwork - Grave surround

More recently, I stapped at an old cemetrary by the Highway.  It was closed in about 1860. I had a browse around the surviving head stones and thought how I could transpose the ironwork patterns into something textile.

Edith John had a number of curvey line ideas in her book. The wrought iron could be easily transposed as  couched threads or applique.

 But for time being I will continue to make 5 cm squares and mount them on my workroom wall and enjoy the changing patterns.

Hello Hello

Working with the embroidered letter project inspired me to play with felt applique for a display at our local Library.  The Concord and Five Dock Libraries have regularly hosted an exhibition of works made by Embroiderers; Guild NSW members to a challenge.  This year the theme was "Say it with Words" and some interesting works were received.  Not many this year but it has been a busy year for many of the members what with the embroidered letter project, many group (and other  exhibitions and the Margaret Oppen Competition.

The original piece that I made for the challenge itself is the first collage I put up in my last post.  I am still exploring this sort of collage - a wonderful reason to play with laces and beads and buttons that I have been squirreling away for that special project.