This puffin is made from 2 pompoms. The yarn I used is Jamieson and Smith Shetland wool.
I made him during an online speedcrafting session with Helen Robertson, a designer from Shetland.
These sessions (I joined three series during lockdown) were so joyful, meeting new people, learning a new craft, having a chat. I hope Helen will host more online ones in the future 😊!
I enjoyed making this piece enormously. The 3 parts consist of the same number of small pieces from the same pool of 11 plain fabrics. I made the squares seperately from each other, not looking at the ones I made previously, so they came out quite differently. I even made them all in different countries, as holiday projects, so they connect places and moments in time.
Back home, I brought them all together in this wall hanging. To add something special to the piece, I attached flat pieces of rock on 2 of the 3 rectangles, which looks great!
Twice now my work has appeared in the Canadian Uppercase Magazine, which I'm really rather proud of, being a big fan of them! I love the magazine's credo and the artists and work they give a platform. So thank you, Uppercase!
“Song for the asking” in issue 56:
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.
"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!!
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:
An abstract piece, which tells the story of all the different kinds of encounters we have in our lifetime, easy ones, lovely ones, difficult ones, interesting ones, the encounters that teach us, the encounters that haunt us, the encounters that encourage us, support us, love us...
I used a lot of different types of stitch and also some beads. I have been working on this piece on and off for several years. It was kind of always present in the background. Because it has accompanied me for such a long time, it has a special place in my heart.
One wonderful afternoon last year two of my lovely friends introduced me into the magical world of eco dyeing.
Eco dyeing is a form of natural dyeing where the colours of natural dyes from plant materials are transferred to fabric by using steam.
I thought the process fascinating and the result was really beautiful!
They kindly gave me the fabric we created that afternoon. I was determined to put it to good use and made into a poem art piece (it is rather big!).
I added a lot of subtle stitching, to give it more balance and to emphasize some parts. And onto it I embroidered a poem by Emily Brontë which I think fits really well with the atmosphere of the piece.
I'm very happy with the outcome : thanks again friends!
I stretched the piece over a canvas (80 x 80):
Debbie Smyth is a textile artist who is famous for her "drawings" with pins and thread, and recently I attended a workshop with her and learned the very basic techniques.
I made a hanging piece inscribed with "Here comes the sun" from the fantastic Beatles song. It is a small piece so the pins had to be placed very close together which made it a bit of a fiddly job! I did not cut the threads which gives it a floaty look.
Since I didn't have a piece of wood as a base to jam the pins in, I fabricated my own from 2 plastic lids and some waste material from an iron board cover.
What I like about this piece is that the sentence gets completed as it spins. At first you only see the pins because they stand so close together and then the words are suddenly revealed 😊
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.
