The art of embroidery

The art of embroidery by Francoise Tellier-Loumagne

My husband bought me this fabulous book for Christmas and I can't put it down.  The Introduction  reiterates the whole ethos of the OCA course I'm doing at the moment.  I find references to marks, texture, emotion and the idea that it's not necessary to get it right all the time.

"...it is much better not to aim for perfection of form to the detriment of movement and rhythm.  Mistakes, hesitations and reworkings can all contribute to creating expressive and contemporary designs"  p7

In the book I am encouraged to build up collections and then re look and re order just as I am doing and it gives a great deal of validity to what I'm working on.  In fact it almost feels as if the book was written just for me.

Whilst Tellier-Loumagne purports to be writing for the beginner there is much here to inspire artists of all levels and all art forms.  I particularly like the emphasis on the natural world from which Tellier-Loumagne takes inspiration and some of the photos are remarkable and will no doubt provide some ideas for my own work.

There is a wonderful image of a decaying orange that is likened to the Earth seen from space that is truly beautiful and immediately makes me think of how it can be expressed in stitch.  It puts a whole new perspective on the bottom of my fruit bowl.

This was the inspiration for a rug

I'm starting to think about my theme book and there are references to themes in this book and the way a theme can be turned into an inspiration.  One example is the waters edge.  It is interpreted in three different styles, movement and light, textures and shapes and memory and the imagination.  

Organza pebbles - movement and light

Grey waters - textures and shapes

Secrets of the river - memory and the imagination

The reader is encouraged to amalgamate and develop more styles along the theme.  The suggestion is that the sky is the limit.

Tellier-Loumagne has a no holds barred philosophy towards embroidery that gives the beginner a huge resource that might otherwise remain untapped or be disregarded.   

If this book is intended to encourage and excite it is supremely successful.  I find I just can't read it before sleep otherwise I'm just buzzing too much.  Thanks Francoise and thanks Richard for sending it via Santa.

Here's just a little extra loveliness.

Railways tracks.....

...interpreted in stitch

Compost

If you can try to get hold of this book; it's a gem.

Tellier-Loumagne,  Francoise,  2006, The art of embroidery.Thames and Hudson, New York.