Filling up my sketchbooks

Creativity gives us a mental boost. But sometimes I just don’t have the ideas, the confidence or even the energy. In those cases, I've found that just filling up my sketchbooks, just starting with some colour and a (small) blank page before me, without expectations, is so soothing and calming and re-energising. Besides, the practice, even if it doesn’t result in a nice sketch but rather an ugly experiment, is what stretches the creative muscles.

I also find that working with another medium, with a sketchbook and some colour, influences and inspires my textile work.

That’s why I’ll be sharing some of my sketches now and then with you, hope you don’t mind!

The Secret Garden

This collage got made while I was reading “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett, what a wonderful book! I tried to capture the enchanting story, the magic of nature and of place, using fabric, paint, paper, transferred images and stitching. The atmosphere is calm due to the muted colours, but at the same time it’s buzzing with life, adventure, and possibilities. 

The piece grew organically during the reading process, which I love. I think I will try this with other favourite books; it’s an intriguing way to make!

Some details : 

Workshop Week 2023

After Sketchbook Revival 2023, I stumbled upon a new challenge : Workshopweek 2023, another bundle of online lessons with an emphasis on drawing. I enjoyed this immensely again : the diversity of the lessons, the enthusiasm of the teachers and of course just doing the practice. So another huge thank you to the to the generous organisers and teachers!

Here are some of the sketches I made:

Sketchbook revival 2023

I really want to improve my drawing skills. That’s why I took part in “Sketchbook revival 2023”, an online event with a lot of free workshops led by almost 30 teachers. Being a novice at most of the techniques taught, I learned so much. I can’t thank the organisers and teachers enough for their generosity! 

These are some of the drawings I made during quite an intense week of workshops:

Breathing space in winter

This collage uses paper from an old pocket book and fabricscraps, stitched together by machine and hand, with sticks, waste material and a gold painted square. 

I put it in a shadow box, which does fit this piece. It’s called “Breathing space in winter”, depicting the atmosphere of a winter walk. 

Today

"Hey, I've got nothing to do today but smile", Paul Simon sings on "The only living boy in New York" : there's no idea more calming, I think. 

I imagined this happy feeling in mixed media, using textile, paper, paint, yarn, thread, beads, crayons, lots of hand stitching, machine stitching and even real flower petals. The bold warm colours evoke a real zest for life.

Spring, bring it on!!

Using natural materials

In a workshop led by Claire De Waard, I learned to use natural materials as embellishments . At first, I wasn’t so sure about the possibilities but doing the work made me realise just how you can manipulate and integrate these materials. They bring such a special glow and texture to a piece, just magical!

This is a sample I made, I’m sure I will use these techniques in future pieces!

The four-leaf clover I made into a small piece by itself:

And so he went

Strictly speaking this piece is a collaboration with my 5 year old son (now 27). My husband and I were clearing the attic and found this paper lantern our son made, all torn and discoloured. I still recognised the love he put into it and remembered how proud he was, coming home from school with his lantern.

I decided to use the thin paper part that was not torn in a piece on his leaving home.

I glued the paper on a piece of fabric and added stitching, drawing in pencil, a poem (unreadable, which is as intended), and muted or highlighted some parts of the coloured pieces. I also added the suitcase, falling as it were out of the picure.

It has become a meaningful and emotional work to me, in which his childhood and the present time, his art and mine, his energy and my feelings all come together. A bittersweet, but mostly sweet and actually very happy piece, hanging in our living room.

The nature of the material makes it hard to take good pictures, nevertheless, here are some details:

Lucebert collage

This collage is made from paper, textiles, paint and stitching. I also added a leaf I made using machine stitching.

I added a quote from the Dutch poet Lucebert, "Alles van waarde is weerloos" [All worthwile things are vulnerable], in stitching.

Using a more graffiti-like style, which contrasts with the quote, I wanted the piece to become more of an interrogation of the truth of Lucebert's phrase.

Autumnal walk

An autumn walk, what's not to like? I Love all the seasons (though slightly less enthousiastic about winter in February, March I must admit), with a preference for autumn. All these beautiful colours, bright and muted, gave me the inspriation for this stitched piece with appliqué. I used some tweed fabric and some pieces of paper packaging. 

OK, enough stitching and talking now, let's go for that walk!

Sketchbooks part 2

These sketchbooks are a bit bigger than the last ones I made. I went a bit rogue here and used rather bold colours for the cover and all kinds of paper, like old calenders and other kinds of reused materials. I love bookbinding in this free way, and I think the outcome is fun and unusual.

the making of:

Connect

A cardboard base, stains of ecoline paint, like an archipelago in their formation, punctured holes that form curved lines and shapes (connecting the 'isles'), some stitching through them. The word 'connect' is stitched in large letters with a thin white thread over the whole length of the piece. Finally, the work is finished (as in classic sewing practice, connecting the different media used here unto a whole) with a biais ribbon. 

Abstract stitching on paper

 

This is the work I made for the workshop by Jean Rill-Alberto.

The abstract design of geometric forms is first drawn, then stitched, onto paper. Some shapes I coloured in. It's fascinating to work with abstract shapes and to see what happens if you combine them, or highlight some of them. Also the stitching on paper is a real favourite of mine!

Calender collage

For my second workshop with Anne Kelly (information on the first one you can find here ) I made these two collages. I used a calender with images of Claude Monet paintings, scraps of cotton fabric, silk fabric, ribbon and different kinds of paper (pages from an old book, illustrations, a paper napkin). I added some drawing, some painting, a bit of ink printing and a few embellishments. The pieces are then completely machine stitched.

This one is about my love for walking and the natural world:

This is a wish for the near future: a summer of reading and peace. Preferably in a beautiful natural setting:

Collages with prints

These collages are inspired by the work of Monique Day-Wilde and one of her workshops which I attended.

They are collages of paper and textiles with added stitching. Using paint I applied prints of plants to the paper. I used tissue paper and handmade Japanese paper, which is so lovely to work with!

I noticed again how joyful it is to stitch through paper! 

Say it's only a paper moon and stars...

This small piece is my take on the workshop led by Jessica Grady, via Textileartist.org. 

The moon is cut from a page out of an old book. I folded written paper into stars and added some yellow beads. 

The big blot is blue ink. I love that effect, suggesting a dark but not gloomy night.

I’m not sure yet if I’ll cut the edges and leave it in the hoop as a piece of its own or whether I’ll make it into something else.

Sky above, sand below

This is a collage of textiles, paper, pebbles, shells and lots of thread. I used acrylic paint, wax crayons, sharpie, pencil and ink.

it's a sea-themed piece and I loved making it. The different layers of paint have given it extra texture which I find fitting here. 

More of not stitching on fabric

I loved last week’s workshop so much that I went on stitching on all kinds of different things, like paper and orange peel and I also made some collages.

Here I used a chestnut leaf, after I made a print of the leaf on a piece of cloth. I sewed the leaf to the cloth and added some more stitching :

This is a fun collage of paper, stitching, paint, different leaves, dried physalis husks, a poppy seed pod and a piece of an old shirt. I’ll use the button holes to attatch the piece to a branch : that way I will be able to hang it on the wall.

I did some stitching on part of an envelope:

And here is the most fun one, stitching on dried orange peel : “We all have lots of crazy layers”! Well, don’t we? (Hanging from a thread, it spins nicely 😊)