"Looking in Looking out" Arts Central Residents Exhibition

Our first residents exhibition for 3 years since Covid.
I displayed one of my paint pouring pieces which you'll see further down the page.

Work by Jan Harrington

Work by Jane Charles

Work by Helen Simms

(middle) Purple River by Naomi Lutman

Transformation

Transformation is a contemporary art and textiles exhibition held at The Cornerstone Church, Milton Keynes from 24th September until 30th October 2016. 

My textiles piece 'Butterfly Release' is on display during the exhibition and is a quadriptych showing four butterfly designs that signify the changing seasons through the variety of colours, patterns and textures of fabric. The piece incorporates machine embroidery, reverse applique, foiling and beadwork techniques.

Here are some examples of other work at the exhibition - a beautiful display of colour and texture through a wide variety of techniques - well worth a visit!

 

First Day of Bucks Open Studio

It's been lovely to welcome guests into my studio today.
Thank you to everyone who visited, I'm very pleased that you could make it :) 

I now have the start to my collection of needle-felted leaves for my 'Tree of Visitors' which will be made using the wet felt making technique. 

Each colourful needle-felted leaf will bring the tree to life. 

I'll be posting more pictures as the project develops.

‪#‎feltwork #‎bucksopenstudio‬ #miltonkeynes 

Bucks Open Studios: Official Opening Day!

I now declare my studio officially open!

A display of vibrant contemporary paintings of furry farm animals and fantastical creatures. See my latest collections of tactile textile art. Find out where I find inspiration, see demonstrations and make your own needle-felted leaf for the Visitors Tree!

Limited edition prints, fabric bags and greeting cards will also be available to purchase.
Come for tea and enjoy my latest work.

I am exhibitor number 11 in the Bucks Open Studios brochure, for more details visit www.bucksopenstudios./org.uk/exhibiton_details?id=2733

The venue - all smartened up for the event

An insight into my paintings displayed at Hair Co 2

Where the magic happens!

It's worth the climb!

Machine embroidery over foils, velvets and organza

Working with velvets and foils this week was definitely a first. A totally new technique which has steps you should follow in the right order, otherwise you foil the base of your iron - big oops!

Foiled butterfly 'eyes'

I decided to foil the 'eyes' on my butterfly wings, which once drawn out onto Bondaweb looked rather like easter eggs! Each set of foiled eyes followed a different colour scheme and once the foil had been applied, we added a top layer of organza and embroidered patterns over the top. 

I used these to test out my pretty variegated embroidery thread, and also practice flowing patterns from the previous week.

Doodle Embroidery

The idea of doodling with the machine sounds easy, although practising on paper first was worth doing first, to plan the route the machine should take. 

Unlike when you draw a picture, the needle would not be lifted during creation of a pattern, so all lines are joined up and all patterns flow. 

After some practice on paper, I  created circular patterns and plant shapes using the machine. Some look more like scribbles than doodles, so I'll definitely need more practice to master the art of machine doodling!

Test sample using coloured embroidery thread

The wonderful world of machine embroidery

Very excited to start a new workshop today - learning the art of free machine embroidery with textile artist, Jane Charles at Community Learning MK in Bletchley. 

Today we learnt how to set up our machines and test out this new technique using a small embroidery hoop. Had fun attempting to create shapes on the machine - it's quite different from ordinary sewing on the machine and the freedom of movement is going to take some getting used to! 

We also dyed plain fabrics in rich bright colours, ready to use for our embroidery samples. We need to leave these to develop overnight, so it will be exciting to see what patterns have emerged one they are rinsed out tomorrow.