Embroidery & Drawing

Putting a big emphasis on drawing throughout my embroidery rotation, has really helped me understand the importance that visual response has to studio practice. By creating a large quantity of drawings, each using different mediums and drawing methods such as; collage, painting and unusual techniques such as 'blind' drawing, this provided me with a extensive base of ideas that each highlighted different areas of development. By having a visual pallette, this helped to inform my decision making regarding materials and threads,  for example if my drawings had a bold approach I could represent this through using thicker threads or cording techniques. I found that as the weeks progressed it was important to find a balance between conducting an idea for the sample and actually letting the materials and fibres play a part in the direction of the development, as this resulted in the most effective samples. At first we were asked to used monochrome tones as are palette, but as my drawings evolved I found it hard to leave out the colour, as it has always been an element I have been comfortable using.

After a one to one critique session with Kate, it became clear to me how abstract my drawings and ideas tend to be, which is actually something I haven't explored much before. After realising my eye for composition and shape, it then became easier to relate my drawings through stitch. I could use combinations of fabrics to create layers within my pieces, and cording techniques to add line and texture. Eventually I noticed that my samples where slowly evolving into a combination of ideas from all my drawings. Instead of creating a single drawing and recreating it through stitch, I began to extract and instruct the qualities from a number of different drawings, to create an abstract and focused sample, that represented my own 'handwriting' .

The pictures above demonstrate my translation from drawing to stitch. The object I was analysing was a feather earring, I started off by using collage techniques to add block colour and then worked in to the drawing with a variety of line to represent the shapes within the object. I tried not to make my translation into stitch too literal as I wanted the embroidery piece to be its own idea, one that had just extracted aspects from my drawing and evolved into a stitched piece. I would however, with more time, wished to add more to this piece through hand stitching; such as french knots and hand satin stitch. I personally favour the quality of hand stitched pieces but with having such a short time frame, the machine allowed me to create more samples to demonstrate my work.

The limited time frame was one of the elements i really struggled with within in this unit, my development process is usually made up of a variety of experimental work and  spans over a longer period. I tend to spend lots of time building a collection of drawings, combining them with artist research to create a strong basis from which my ideas can evolve. So I noticed that when having to complete samples over a couple of days, my ideas felt hindered and didn't develop as efficiently or end up the way i would of originally hoped.

My time in embroidery has really helped me understand my personal assets as a textile artists, seeing where my strengths lie and how I can work with those positives to create my own stamp and way of working. I allow the drawings i construct now to portray that personal flare and hope that with more practice i can learn to confidently translate those ideas through stitch and embroidery.  Overall the specialism has been one which I have thoroughly enjoyed and has already helped me expand as an artist even after just three short weeks.