LOCKDOWN LANE TEXTILE ART

At last I've completed my Lockdown Lane piece of textile art, started as a response to the nature we studied on our walks during the lockdown.  It started on March 17th here in France and we were restricted to one kilometre of home and one hour of walking, this meant we walked a similar circuit nearly every day in different directions so that we got enough exercise to keep ourselves fit.

I soon started to notice the different flowers as they came into bloom and picked a few to take home and draw, as you may have seen  in the previous post, but also as the sun was very strong for a few days I started to make sun prints using acrylic inks and pieces of old sheets.  Very soon I had a stack of these pretty images and started wondering how I could use them. At the same time the Textile Artist.org group had started a series of video workshops and one in particular caught my imagination: Cas Holmes who showed us how to join all sorts of pieces together and stitch on top to tell a story.

Another workshop by Sue Stone suggested sampling various stitches to see how many different ways they could be used.  I've used a lot of chain stitch to depict these flowers on fine organza which I later cut out to applique to the main piece.

The dandelion is stitched on black linen using a single thread as suggested by Emily Tull in her excellent workshop on careful observation.

I had a lot of fun with the spider using a shiny thread on pale blue organza.

I love to see the different grasses as they grow and flower.

This is the start of the story in March when there were only a few flowers: wild garlic, primrose and violets, soon to be joined by the bluebells and celandines, daisies and dandelions in April.

The swallows came back in the middle of April and it's such a joy to see these acrobatic birds as they celebrate their return to their old barn where they nest every year.  The plantain flowers and cow parsley were joined by the ragged robins and scentless May weed in May.

One of my favourite spring flowers is the navelwort with it's tall spikes of pale green flowers that usually appear on the shady parts of the lane like slim candles. Red campion and foxgloves add some more colour to the banks in semi shade.

I added a winter tree at the beginning as there are no green leaves in the middle of March but by the end of three months all the trees were covered of course!

A few more little blooms from the meadow, clover and buttercup,  fumitory and herb Robert that pepper the sides of the road like little pink stars.

I hope you've enjoyed my stroll down our lanes and may even be inspired to try interpreting nature in stitch yourself.

Here are the instructions for sun printing if you fancy having a go.

50 SKETCHBOOKS!

I can't quite believe it myself but I've just started my 50th sketchbook in 19 years.

I've decided to dedicate it to the trees in my garden which have grown up with us during our life here in France for the last 16 years.  I'm using an old spiral bound book which has had half of the pages taken out so that there is enough space to allow for extra pieces of paper and fabric to be added in.

I began with my favourite trees, the three silver birches in the front garden which we planted not long after we arrived in 2003.  I've drawn them many times over the last few years and now they are the tallest trees we have, enjoyed by all the birds that sit there to sing or watch the sun rise.

After an autumn shower the delicate hanging branches hold the raindrops that glitter in the sun low in the sky at this time of year.  I've captured this lovely sight on crumpled pastel paper in soft drawing pencils.

Then I made a stitched version of the view using a scrap of textured black fabric, layered with organza and stitched in assorted threads and yarns.  I love making French knots for the sparkles!

A detailed drawing of the delicate twigs with a background of distant autumnal trees.

I took a few photos one day and made this drawing, again on crumpled paper using graphitint watersoluble pencils.  It's surprising how many colours you can see if you look more closely at something.

This drawing is of a piece of bark that fell off the tree last year and kept in my nature collection drawer ready to be drawn when the mood took me.

I made this stitched version of the bark on a printed cotton scrap, layered with odd bits of silk and organza for the texture.  I enjoyed interpreting the markings in different coloured threads and couched on woollen yarns.

A few metres away from the silver birches stands the pine tree, which came home as a small lollipop shaped sapling in the back of the car.  Now it looks ancient with a thick trunk covered in deeply textured bark and wounds where we've had to cut off low branches.  I made this drawing last year, sitting on the bank next to the tree and using a fine black pen.

I traced the drawing onto white cotton organdie and stitched the lines in fine black thread.  There's a gap down the middle because I had to split the picture to spread it over a pair of pages.

I made rubbings and took lots of close up photos of the pine bark and here is my interpretation of a small section.  I find the shapes quite fascinating, those bits that look like nipples are where tiny twigs grew out of the trunk.

So of course I had to find a way to interpret this in fabric and thread and found some thickish black backed jersey fabric in grey and brown which I cut into shapes and appliqued together with various threads and couched yarns.

This is the embroidered cover I've made to go over the original book, bark printed fabric coloured with inktense pencils.  The writing goes vertically along the spine but I can't seem tomake this photo turn.

I have a couple more trees to draw and stitch so I'll be seeing you again soon.

Have a happy Christmas and an excellent creative New Year!

MY FIRST SELFIE

 

When I was studying dress design at art college in 1966 my boyfriend was a student of photography and one evening he took me to his part of the college to take some photos.

 

 

I put on one of my latest creations, a jumpsuit made from burgundy coloured needlecord and tied my hair back with a wide velvet ribbon.

 

In the photography department there was a huge roll of white paper that spread out over the floor and I was told to stand there and pose moodily.

 

Being only 16 at the time and not used to being photographed I didn't really know how to pose, despite studying Vogue magazine closely every month.

 

However the photos weren't too bad when John developed and printed them.

 

I lost the photos for many years and have only just rediscovered them so I felt I had to make something special of them.

 

I traced the faces to start with as well as the figures on a smaller scale then transferred the faces to a piece of white linen using my light box and an erasable pen.

 

I cut out the hair and collar shapes from a piece of Liberty fabric that I had backed with bondaweb and pressed them in place before machine stitching all the lines in black thread and straight stitches.

 

 

 

 

I used some organza for the shading around the eyes and hand stitched the figure outlines afterwards.

 

 

I think the back of the picture is just as interesting as the front as I tried to keep my threads under control!

 

 

 

I'm really pleased with the result and I think I'll try this treatment on some other photos soon.....

HOME FROM HOLIDAYS 2

                                       

 

We arrived at Benodet and found our campsite only a short distance from the shore with a fabulous promenade all around the headland and back along the river bank to the town itself.  This is a stitched picture of the sketch  below, using linen as a background with assorted organzas and yarns and a bit of inktense coloured fabric for the tree trunk.

 

I sat on a bench one afternoon to draw this in my new long sketchbook which is quite a challenge to use as I have to think carefully about how I'm going to fit in the image I want to depict. I used water soluble triplus pens on this trip as they are so quick and easy to add a bit of colour.

 

 

This another view from the promenade  around the headland looking out to sea and the yachts coming home after a day's sailing.  The cormorant posed on his rock just long enough for me to capture him and his strange movements as he tried to swallow a large fish!



                                         

 

We walked into town one day and found a very busy port with boats taking people out for trips up the river as well as to the nearby islands. There were coaches full of visitors and many bars and restaurants to choose from selling the local seafood as well as crepes.  We chose a bar with comfortable sofas facing the harbour wall to take a couple of beers to refresh us ready for the long walk back to camp.

 

 

 

The campsite was very well laid out with lots of attractive trees between the plots and this is the view through our front window.  I've left out the caravan that was actually where I've done the writing and used my Museum water soluble pencils to add the colour.

 

 

 

I picked a few of the red sycamore leaves from the tree on the left of the sketch to play with using the crimson water soluble pen from the triplus set.  I had wanted to pick one of the chestnuts from the tree in the distance but there was another camper on the plot and I didn't want him to think I was a total nutcase!

 

 

From Benodet we moved on to Arradon on the gulf of Morbihan and another campsite only a short walk from the sea.  We had arranged our annual get together with some camping friends and we spent three lovely days together, walking, talking, eating and drinking so I only have one sketch to show for it.  Carolyn and I took their dog Florie for a walk and sat in the sun to draw this while our menfolk went shopping for wine.

Now we're back home and I'm catching up on my family portrait project which I'll share with you next time.  A bientot!

HOME FROM THE HOLIDAYS

 

Back home now after a couple of weeks touring Brittany. 

We started at L'Aberwrach on the 1st of September where we celebrated our wedding anniversary with a delicious meal at le Vioben, an excellent restaurant renowned for it's seafood.

This is a sketch drawn while we were walking along the footpath by the edge of the river, I haven't added the blue of the water or the pale green hills in the distance as I wanted to concentrate on those wonderful tangled pine trees.

 

The path was lined with all sorts of plants like brambles and bracken but my eye was taken by the velvety looking sloes and the nibbled greeny grey leaves.  I used to gather these inedible berries to make sloe gin but as we haven't finished drinking the last batch from 2 years ago I thought I would leave them for someone else;  I also believe in only taking what you need from nature, not over collecting just for the sake of it!

 

From L'Aberwrach we drove on to Locronan, designated 'une petite cite de charactère' by the French tourist board.  The campsite was on the edge of town up a winding hill road and we were allocated a plot with a fabulous view through the front window which I couldn't resist drawing as I sat at the table in the morning.  I could see across the valley to the hills opposite with their éoliennes (wind turbines) turning slowly in the distance.

 

As always I took some sewing supplies with me and stitched this picture postcard view over the next 3 days. The background is a printed patchwork fabric perfect for this kind of work and then I layered up organza and other scraps as well as some of the confetti patchwork I prepared before we left home. I used a mixture of threads and yarns to depict the trees and leaves and chain stitch around the edge for a border.

 

In the mornings we visited the town to see what all the tourists came for and to have a refreshing beer before climbing back up the hill to camp.  The walk was very pleasant through the woods with glimpses of the view through the trees and then the roof tops and the old church spire came into sight.

Coach loads of people come here to see where many films have been made and spend money in the gift shops.  I felt there wasn't a lot of character though, just a lot of well preserved grey buildings and hundreds of people pointing their cameras in all directions.  We even overheard an American trying to persuade his wife to pose in front of the bank pretending to take out some cash!

We moved on to Benodet next but I'll have to save that till next time.

A bientot!

ANOTHER SET OF PORTRAITS

 

My portrait project is growing and I've hand stitched another six pictures during the summer.

Here is Kirsty with her lovely red hair which is actually a lot longer than it appears in the picture.

 

My niece Esther was quite difficult to capture, this is the second attempt at her face.

 

My nephew Gregory, son of Rosi who died 15 years ago, has a wonderful head of curly red hair which he is very proud of.  I had a lot of fun stitching it in a mixture of  yarns.

 

This portrait of Steph, my middle granddaughter is a reject, it's not very pretty and her plait is far too dominating.  I've started a new version using a different photo which I'm sure will be more flattering.

 

My brother Chris has white hair like me and a jolly smile.  I used a pale grey linen and monochrome running stitches in different thicknesses.

 

And finally here's a funny one of me, I'm not happy with the likeness so I'll probably try another one for the final quilt.

The main thing with all these portraits is that I am really enjoying working them and the challenge to make the recognisable.