Night Garden, mixed textiles embellished and embroidered, about 50 x 50 cm
Almost finished, this piece has been hanging around for months waiting for some inspiration as to how to finish it. I tried adding a mouse but that didn’t work well. When in doubt, stitch, but now I’m afraid of wrecking what there is. The surface is rather fragile as it is mainly nunofelt with scraps of fabric below, all stitched and embellished.
One day later… I added a little more stitch, tried to reemphasise the cat but subtly then, deciding it was finished I added a backing. Next a gently wash then seal with very dilute pva. Then press and a frame of some sort.
Night Garden, approx. 50x50cm, mixed textiles embellished and stitched. 2025.
Each square is a little more than 20 x 20cm and there are more than 70 to make up four quilt panels. Quite a few have been made two or more times and as they are mono-printed and/or stamped as well as inkjet printed, sometimes drawn on, each one is a unique piece. They are also quilted and stitched, sometimes embroidered and that is also unique to each one. I’m not making a second quilt (yet) just want some squares for display and sale.
These are low-res scans, hopefully the originals look better. All work in progress, more printing and stitching isn’t ruled out. And borders have to be added.
I’ve used a free font (non-commercial) all through this work, called Action of the Time New™ by Galdino Otten, although in most places it won’t be recognisable as I have distorted the text, over-drawn, over-stitched and over-printed almost everywhere. It’s a great font family.
This fabric work which I last posted about in June is based on the OIL poem I wrote in 2010 at the height of the USA ‘surge’ in Iraq, the poem in artist’s book form is here.
Although the bulk of the work is done there is still plenty to do and my progress through the summer has been slow – I have to wait for ideas and they don’t seem to come as often as they once did.
OIL quilt panel, one of four, work in progress
The imagery is ‘busy’ with lots going on, but I feel it could be busier still, and darker, more painterly. I’m still thinking about the border(s), those will take almost as much time as the panels and like all framing they will have a big impact on the final piece.
Linda and Laura Kemshall are well known artist quilters of the highest standard, their book, The Painted Quilt (2007) is one I refer to frequently, especially for printing advice and although my style and content is far from theirs I aspire to the standards they achieve.
I’ve also found their sketchbook ideas inspirational and highly practical, design is at the heart of what they do. My own sketches, scans, screen grabs, pics and notes tend to build into massive files on my Mac and eventually deleted but some get saved on paper or cloth.
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