The Big Reveal: New Collection of Small Works

Forgotten Figures I by Gillian Cooper

Finally, I’ve finished some of the series of smaller pieces I’ve been working on.  And here they are.  Each of these pieces is 8x6in – the smallest I’ve ever made.

Forgotten Figures II by Gillian Cooper

I’ve really enjoyed working small.  I love the speed (there are about another 15-20 in progress as well as these ones) and playing around with composition by cropping the slightly larger pieces to fit within the frame.  All of these are now mounted ready for sale at Holmwood House on Sunday (and afterwards).  Come and see me at Holmwood House in Glasgow on Sunday afternoon if you have time and you will see exactly how these pieces were made.

Forgotten Figures III by Gillian Cooper

These pieces are all wholecloth too – no piecing before I printed, painted, stencilled and stitched.  In some ways I think I would be too precious with a piece I had already made to stick it onto the printing plate just to see what happens.  Perhaps that will change with experience, but for 8x6in there are already a lot of techniques involved, so I’m not convinced it would add anything. 

Forgotten Figures IV by Gillian Cooper

I’ve also altered my colour palette to some extent.  Other people have been commenting on this rather than me, as to me it seems entirely natural and not really anything different to what I was doing.  This is where the insights of others come in handy.  Do you have any views on these pieces?

Forgotten Figures V by Gillian Cooper

I intend adding them to my website for sale sometime soon and reviving my Etsy shop to start being a bit more commercial about my art.  There.  I’ve stated it.  Now I have to go through with it as I’ve put it in black and white.  I still want to make totally unsellable installations, but even I don’t have them on permanent display in my house so I can hardly expect others to do the same and it would be nice to have some room under our bed/in our garage/under the stairs again rather than it being taken up with artwork.

Forgotten Figures VI by Gillian Cooper

In my studio: creating a collection of small works

Work-in-progress by Gillian Cooper

Over the past month or so, I have been working concurrently on lots of small pieces.  Some have worked; others will remain samples (a polite term for failures!).  What is really exciting is that they are all coming together now and will be ready to take to Holmwood House for the Meet Your Maker event next Sunday (23^rd November 11-4).

Work-in-progress by Gillian Cooper

The completed pieces will be hand-dyed then mono-printed using acrylic paint, followed by more colour added using Inktense pencils.  I’ve made stencils and used them with Shiva Paintstiks over the top.  Parts are then padded before they are machine quilted.

Work-in-progress by Gillian Cooper

I met my dear friend Marjory Mackinven for lunch today and showed her some of them, saying I was worried that these are too simple.  However, having listed out all the techniques involved, I think I am now agreeing with her that they are more complicated that I had realised!  It was lovely to see Marjory and catch up and we had a fabulous lunch at the new Three Sisters Bake Cafe in Killearn Village Hall.  Highly recommended if you are in the area.

Work-in-progress by Gillian Cooper

Finding the balance between strong design and suitable levels of detail is an interesting challenge.  I often find that as I add more and more detail, the composition becomes less clear and so the overall design is not as good.  The good news is, though, any overworked pieces can always be cut up and used in another piece.  Do you know when to stop?

Work-in-progress by Gillian Cooper

The back of one of the pieces, showing the padding

Work-in-progress by Gillian Cooper

Exciting news: Meet Your Maker and EPM

Despite being laid low most of last week (I really, really hate migraines), it was surprisingly good work-wise!  I can’t share all of it with you now, but the next 12 months is beginning to shape up nicely.

Holmwood House

First up, I heard on Friday afternoon that I had been selected as the Maker for ‘Meet Your Maker’ at Holmwood House, a National Trust for Scotland property.  It’s a project being run by CraftScotland.  It is always nice when your proposals are accepted, but I’m really thrilled as Holmwood was designed by Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson, who was born in the village where I live.  You can read about my visit to Holmwood in this blogpost: http://gilliancooper.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/holmwood-house.html  He was inspired by Ancient Greece too and the building has a lovely feel to it.  So please come along and see how I make on Sunday 23^rd November.

Secondly, I know I’ve been posting lots about the European Patchwork Meeting, which I went to in September.  I’ve still got loads more images to share, so I may just do one large post with them all, as it is now ages after the event.  It’s tricky trying to balance the time to blog with studio work, especially when the studio work is going well!  In addition to just wanting to see the show, I had an ulterior motive to visit as I’m very proud to announce that I am one of the exhibitors in the 2015 Show.  I was blown away by the quality and variety of work on display this year and looking at the list of artists for next year, I am in illustrious company – you should book your flights now!

And finally a teaser – there were a number of other exciting developments, one totally out of the blue, but until they are signed on the dotted line I can’t really say anything.  Hope your week was as good.

Synergy by Gillian Cooper - for sale on my website