Photos, Sketching, Chopping & Painting!

Annie

Hi there.  So how often do you take photos for inspiration for your artwork only to never look at them again?!

I seem to do it quite a lot!  I've been looking back through some of my photos this week and realised I've taken many over the years with the thought of making a picture from them 'one day'!  Time to take action!

So I randomly picked a couple of a lady waiting for a fishing boat, with her dog by the shore, and roughly sketched it on the sewing machine without too much thought, just to get it down 'on paper'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm trying to machine sketch as often as possible, although my idea of doing it daily may have been a little over ambitious! But I think this sketch only took about 15 or so minutes including dabbing a bit of acrylic paint on top, so it should be quite easy to fit in!

It felt good to follow up, even if it's just a quick sketch (that photo was taken about 5 years ago!). Have now put some more photos in a dedicated folder on my laptop so I can pick one whenever I feel like it. I really like this image so it's one I'd like to have a go at again, with a little more thought to perhaps make into something for the wall.

I also pulled a few random ideas out of my imagination for a couple of other sketches. I have incorporated our handmade felt, along with a bit of acrylic paint and hand embroidery for variety. I started with this simple image of a heart cut from handmade felt and free machine stitched around it. A man holding it like a kite popped into my head so that's what I stitched!

Then a few cheery flowers and a simple funny bird to follow.

I was running quite low on calico so I popped to my local shop to re-stock and discovered some much heavier weight canvas (almost like the stuff stretched canvases are made from) in both cream and in white. It seems to take the stitching really well and the white makes a change from the usual cream colour. The bottom 2 pieces are on the thicker canvas.

I think this will be good as I am currently experimenting with different ways to display small textiles works - has anyone had any success with mounting textile work on wood blocks? I really like the way that it looks when people paint wood blocks and the edge of the work is flush with the block. The only simple way that springs to mind is glue - but glue isn't good for textiles is it?!

I've got several ideas such as lashing the felt / fabric round the block with threads or drilling holes in the block to stitch through. Will have to have a think and a play. Small textile work can get a bit a lost on a wall - and I don't really like framing felt and textiles work - I like it just to sit as it is.

As for the big flowers picture I laid out recently - well I felted it, started to stitch it and then decided I didn't like it!  So I'm going to take the scissors to it and make a few smaller pieces from it. I haven't quite worked out which bits to chop yet but I'm playing with an old
mount (cut at each end so it's adjustable in your hands) to try and pick bits out. Small pieces of it look quite pretty and will transform into a new theme when cropped and stitched - maybe the seashore or a harbour. Or just a couple of small flowers. They could be used for small pieces for the wall, or for cards or tiny colourful pieces for brooches. That's the great thing about felt, it's never wasted, it can easily be chopped and re-used!

Here are some of the bits I'm thinking of cropping out...

My other project for this weekend has been a bit of a chore though - painting my work table.  A few weeks ago I finally bought a giant bit of MDF and attached some Ikea legs to make a table and I've been using it unfinished but it keeps getting wet and MDF doesn't like water! So to seal it I've been painting it. So far have done 3 layers of emulsion to prime it. Then a layer of gloss. But I've got to do one more layer cos I came down this morning to discover it had gone all patchy. Argh! Yuck - I hate glossing! But hopefully it will be worth it when I have a nice big waterproof table to work on :-)

 

Comments

[Lynette (NZ)]

Love your blog. Have just done a post about using scrim and have linked to you

[Deborah Allen]

I love the idea of turning inspiration photos into machine embroidered sketches! I'm just like you.. loads of photos for inspiration, and some that I REALLY wan't to work up, I just don't get to them for aaaages (and sometimes they get forgotten). Good for you hitting your back log! I must take a leaf out of your book :)

I hate framing felt and textiles, you lose too much of the character I think. I either mount them on linen or calico and stretch that over a wooden frame lashing it at the back with upholstery thread or crochet cotton, and then stitch a cover over the back to make it neat and help take the strain a little bit. I have also stapled the linen/cotton at the back of the frame and that works well too, but you need a helper to hold it stretched while you staple. OR I stitch a tube from cotton and sew that to the back at the top and run a rod through it to hang from

My work table is an 8' x 4' board too, I covered it with a huge piece of the waterproof table covering material you can buy at Dunelm stapling it underneath to hold - works a treat and looks pretty too :)
xx

[Nicola]

LOVE the bird Annie!

[Jackie]

I have just begun playing with this wonderful thing called wool roving! I'm thrilled with what I've seen and read on your site here. Making flat pieces is what interests me most, so looking at your work here makes me excited. I have wet felted 4 pieces now and each one try a little something new I've seen. The only one that I have completed and displayed has some bead work and hand embroidery. I really like the edges of the felt as you do. So I decided to paint a purchased canvas and used spray adhesive to attach the felt. I left several inches of the canvas showing, creating a border. I also was careful to cover the canvas border area with paper to catch the over spray because it would otherwise become a sticky mess!
That worked well for me and I'm sure it would with wood blocks as well. It may not be smart to use adhesive type stuff with felt, but I did it anyway :)
So after looking at all your creations, attempting embellishing with the sewing machine is next!

[wendy]

Your thread sketching is just wonderful, I'd love to have a skill like that. i also love your pieces of work incorporating felt, so clever!

[Debbie St. Germain]

Wonderful interpretation of your photo. I have some that I would like to do in an art quilt, hopefully this year I can experiment more.

Debbie

[Julie]

Having spent a weekend workshop working with free machining I love the look of your sketches and they are making me keen to get practising the things I learned. Do you know Pam McDonald who blogs as Craftymugwump? She has a recent post on melding textile works to canvas here http://craftymugwump.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/melding.html
I don't know whether that would be any help.

[zed]

It sounds like you've been busy, Annie :)
Your stitched pictures would make gorgeous greetings cards or small framed works of art. I've been trying to find those mounts that have a back to them...like the school photos we used to get-they have a little tab at the top for hanging if needed.
I don't know about mounting on wood, maybe stitch the picture to something else first?
All the crops look good :)