Notes
from my Tutor report
Things
to do
It is my priority for the
next week or two to get to grips with using my sketchbook properly. It has been an area
of great uncertainty.
Develop
a cross referencing system.
Undertake further study
relating to the traditional designs and include the material in your
learning blog. There could also be some rich source material for future
work.
I
would urge you to delve more deeply into Islamic and Moorish art.
Take the sample based on autumn
leaves further as a basis for a stitched sample.
Try folding the dry cloth and then
dipping the folded edges into the bleach. You will then begin to build up
patterned areas not dissimilar to tie dye.
Of the two samples you produced for
stage 4, I felt that the orange/yellow /black design from your earlier
pastel drawing worked best. The composition was much more balanced than
the mauve circle which I felt was a little bottom heavy. This might be a good design to re work
using layered tissue to create a much softer feel. Give some thought to
the position of the solid shapes in relation to the background area. Would
it be a more balanced design if you were to move the shapes further up the
circle? Think about what you learned about composition earlier.
Liz included a tutorial on fusing
plastic and I’ve tried it already. Not a great masterpiece but it’s showed
me new possibilities like stitching into it or using fragments in other
work. It’s also good for
experimenting with colour – thank goodness I have a carrier bag stash. It’s
hard to judge the right temperature for the iron and I found that as it
cooled there was some curl to the fabric. There’s lots to play with here.
Colour, mood and theme was well
handled and I was pleased to see that you made good use of symbolic colour
association as well as utilizing the mark making work you completed in
assignment 1. In terms of applying what you have learned, how do you think
Picasso used the above to create the atmospheric mood in the painting you
included in your sketchbook?
Experimental samples with stitch showed
the extent to which a black background can leach the colour from cool
colours such as blue. However, as you discovered, by placing the blue next
to warmer colours such as yellow, or a lighter tone, the balance is
restored. What insights might this give you when selecting surfaces for
future stitch work?
Other interesting effects were
noticeable when you increased the density of stitch and the thickness of
the yarn used. Did you notice the emergence of the secondary orange in
your red and yellow spiral? Try looking at it from a distance to see this
more clearly.
The machine embroidered samples on
dissolvable fabric were a good learning experience for you. As you
discovered, stitch density is a key factor in achieving success and you
have clearly sorted out your tension problems. There was some great colour
blending here when you varied the thread colours in the bottom spool. How
far do you think you could push the buildup of surface texture?
Your first sample (Project 4
Developing design ideas) did
make good use of the simple fragmented red and yellow paper cuts.
Experimentation with varying the negative black spaces was very useful.
Which of the spacings did you feel worked best in terms of the overall
balance, rhythm and harmony of the design? Why was this so?
The first design in contrast worked
well as a single image and also as a repeat pattern, especially when
mirrored and rotated. Ask yourself why this design is so successful. You
also mention that this design is ‘more comfortable than the pastel design.
Why is this?
Another priority
The
patterns which intrigue me so much will no doubt crop up in my ideas for
my Theme Book. I love looking at this area and am glad to be encouraged
this way.
No urging needed – I love it and will
be trying to incorporate more of it.
I’ve already tried this with a collage but it didn’t work for
me. I feel that Liz is right it
could be a lovely thing to work with.
Something new to try.
This needs some time to consider - I'll look at it when my work comes back.
Questions
to address
He used blue which is a cool colour to
depict sadness. I'll look at it again from the point of view of mark making.
Treat the stitching surface as a
foundation for everything else.
I’ve already found that if the surface isn’t right nothing else
works. I also learned that doing a
small sample pays dividends because I can see what happens to the colours
before I launch into something larger. I should think carefully about the
mood I want to create and combine the surface and the other materials to
achieve it. I need to consider the effects of one colour on another from
the word go and not as I’m working. For instance, one line of blue against
a similar one of yellow does not give the same effect of a line of blue
against significant yellow. This means becoming intimately acquainted with
my colour wheel.
I’ll do this when my work returns but I
think I know what Liz means here.
I
think the amount I use the machine is limited to its capacity for the
thickness of the fabric I make.
After that I could apply stitching by hand as I would with any
other fabric. I’ve not thought of using fabric I make by machine as a base
for applying other stitching – exciting.
I’ll check this out when my work comes
back.
I’ll check this out
when my work comes back.
Suggested
reading/viewing
Greenlees K 2004 Creating
sketchbooks for embroiderers and textile artists
Hedley G 2000 Surfaces for stitch. Plastics films and
fabrics
Luckily
I have these books. The Kay Greenlees
one should help a lot. I read it before
the course started but haven’t looked at it again since.
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