Monday 2 November 2015

Starting at the beginning - my next piece

Ink wash drawing of a teasel
A few months ago I was invited to join the exhibiting group, Turning Point.  I was very flattered as I love seeing their work in various locations, such as the Smith in Stirling.  Of course, I accepted, especially as it adds a new challenge for me – making work to a theme and size set by another.  The first piece I need to make is to be inspired by a saying.  

Flowers

We had lots of family fun coming up with inappropriate sayings, but finally I settled on the William Morris quote:

Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful

Another flower

I’ve been taking lots of photos of nature recently and I thought this could tie in nicely with a quilt inspired by nature.  This also conveniently links in with the nature course I am running over this year.  So far, I have taken lots of photos, 

Lovely flowers from one of the students, Chrystine

looked at lots of Morris wallpaper on Pinterest
My pinterest board

made lots of sketches 
Blind drawing of leaves
and dyed and printed fabric green.

Breakdown printed fabric
 
Initially I was thinking of something directly Morris inspired, but I’m not convinced that this suits me as all my drawings keep going looser and looser. 
I didn’t think it would be a photo realistic quilt either, and that has been confirmed as I’ve gone along – my drawings started from the flowers and have become more imaginary and I use the shapes which appealed the most. 

One of the more recent drawings


So now I’ve done my research and I have a reasonable idea in my head as to how it is going to look.  Having dyed lots of fabric for the background – it was always going to be green! – I just need to get started on the sampling.  
Some of the green fabric dyeing - this shade will not be the dominant colour!
I always tell my students to sample as you will end up with a more interesting work, having worked through any issues in advance, but sometimes I still rush in...  This time I’m going to be good!

I love the dew on the cobwebs in Autumn

2 comments:

Maggi said...

I'm glad that your sampling has led you back to the things that you enjoy most as I always feel that we produce better work that way. Look forward to seeing where this goes.

Gillian Cooper said...

Thanks Maggi. I'm just taking it slowly and enjoying the sampling process. It's lovely just spending time quietly making, although I really do need to get on and make the full piece soon!

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