Water’s Edge Bowl

At last, I’ve added a new bowl design to my collection. This one is meant to evoke the margins of a lake or pond in summer, with impressions of bulrushes, flag irises, cotton grass and forget-me-nots amongst rushes and grasses.

Like my Meadow, Country Garden and Hedgerow bowls, it’s constructed entirely of thread – free machined on soluble fabric.

I’ve made three so far, and the first one is in my Etsy shop. But now I’m wondering (a little late, I know), do those plants have the same names in other countries? My description might make no sense at all to someone who’s not in the UK! Hmm, bit of research needed.

Loose Ends

January. A time for tidying up the loose ends of the old year. Filing, accounting, yawn… And all the unsold work is returning from Xmas exhibitions – help, where can I put it all?!
But I’m really pleased with my sales at Platform, Signature and Craven. Online sales picked up nicely in December too, but I know I need to try harder with my virtual shops – that’s one thing to focus on in 2011.

Happy New Year!

(Oil rig, Qatar; Iraqi tank graveyard; trees amongst karst pillars in Madagascar.)

As another year ends, so does another sample diary. This is something I’ve done for four years now – I get a large diary with a picture per week and then each week I make a little textile sample inspired by the picture and stick it in. They don’t all work, but it makes a lovely bulgy book to look back through.

(Indian marble quarry; boats in Nile clogged with water hyacinths.)

I started with a cheap leftover Rothko diary – quite a challenge. The following year it was Van Gogh – more variety. Painters worked well, plus I must surely have learned a bit about their art along the way? Then I did an Earth From the Air diary of aerial photos, which was much more difficult at first, but in the end I loved it so much I went on to do another one this year.

I don’t do this for anyone else to see, but I’ve scanned a few examples here just to show what I’m on about. And maybe spread the idea?

(Shadows of camel caravan, Niger desert; the Eye of the Maldives.)

I don’t want to copy the pictures – all I aim for is a little sample inspired or suggested by the picture (or sometimes the accompanying words), using whatever I’ve got to hand. For me it’s a valuable exercise in quickly responding, completing and moving on – not endlessly reworking in search of perfection. But it could work with any rules or none, depending on what you need or want to achieve.

It’s also a great chance to have fun with techniques and materials I don’t use much in my everyday work. So as well as machine embroidery, there’s hand stitching, embellisher, appliqué, etc.

(Autumn trees, Quebec; Sao Paulo apartment windows; dugout canoes in Mali.)

The big problem now is, I can’t find any diary that appeals for 2011. But I can't stop, this is addictive. Going to have to do something radical. I’ve decided to take a picture from the newspaper each week instead… hmm, could be a challenge too far?!

Happy Holidays!

How's that for Christmassy - one of our photos from Antarctica in 2009.
Wishing everyone a lovely relaxing break, whatever you're doing.