Well maybe not quite as busy as 2019! A full teaching schedule, writing and publishing my first book, an absolutely amazing solo gallery at Festival of Quilts and unexpected drama on the home front meant 2019 was a bit of a roller-coaster ride. No wonder that I have spent a lot of the Christmas break sleeping!

However I did get into the studio most days even if only for an hour or two and spent my time working on the first two full pieces in my new series. I have given the series a working title of ‘Democracy’. I could have called the series Brexit but I want to make pieces that express my broader concerns about politics, the proliferation of lies and fake news and the way our political leadership is changing. And although the individual quilts may reference events in the UK I hope they will resonated with people in other countries. Despite the rather gloomy subject matter I am thoroughly enjoying working on a series. And, as per usual, I am spending lots of time machine stitching straight lines!

But the holidays are over and it is back to work for me. 2020 got off to a flying start - yesterday I gave a talk to the Manchester Branch of the Embroiderer’s Guild. This was the first of 8 talks I’ll be giving this year and the first of 4 that I’ll be giving to branches of the Embroiderer’s Guild. I arrived with a car boot full of quilts including some of the pieces I’ve exhibited in recent years. And, as you will already know, most of my pieces are big. Really big. Which means that some are quite heavy. So a big thank you to the ladies and gentleman who volunteered to hold them up! The difference in scale between my work and some of the pieces being worked on in the room could not be greater.

I also took along some older quilts and some sketchbooks from the City & Guild’s Diploma I did with the lovely and talented Linda Kemshall many years ago. Whilst doing my diploma I figured out that if you work onto separate sheets rather than directly into a sketchbook you can choose what you share. And you can back engineer a lovely looking sketchbook after you have finished making a quilt. OK, so I learnt that you could cheat. But much, much more importantly I learnt that I didn’t need to work into sketchbooks to produce art. It might not have been the intention of the course but this learning was an big step forward for me.

As well as talks I have a full teaching schedule this year. Most of my classes for the first half of the year are sold out but I still have odd places on my Simply Screen Printing workshop and my Print Your Palette workshop. I will also be welcoming my first three guest tutors into the studio. The workshops with Alice Fox and Christine Chester are sold out but there is still one place left on Ruth Browns Books for Textile Artists.

I will be demonstrating at The Creative Craft shows in Glasgow and Birmingham in March and will have a stand at this summers Festival of Quilts. And I am delighted to have a gallery at the West Country Quilt and Textile Show in August. Phew! There was me thinking it wouldn’t be as busy as 2019!

Understanding and embracing your own creative process is incredibly powerful. It takes away that ‘where do I start moment’. It helps you ride out those days when everything you print looks like a disappointing fuzzy, mucky mess. It increases the chances of printing a fuzzy, mucky mess when that is just what you want. And it allows you to wrap yourself in the gentle warmth that comes from creating. Just what I need right now!

There is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to creative process. It’s a deeply personal thing. How many articles have you seen that proclaim that working in a messy, chaotic studio increases creativity? I saw one this week and sighed (again). If you can work in a mess then why would you stop to tidy up? But if a mess distracts you then cleaning up before you move on doesn’t make you less creative. It means you understand your creative process. Some people like to work through their ideas thoroughly in a sketchbook, others just jump straight in and accept that they may make some ugly ducklings before they successfully transfer what is in their head to their cloth. Some artists like to complete one piece of work before starting another; others find it more productive to have multiple pieces on the go. We’re all different.

Those that have been reading this blog for a while will know that once the ideas rattling around in my head have reached ‘critical mass’ and are demanding to find expression I start by experimenting with colour. Once I think I have blended the right colours I print a few metres of fabric using marks that sort of fit with my ideas. I don’t really stress about what I actually print - I am using the process to decide if my colours are good. Colours which look OK as small squares scraped onto white fabric don’t always look OK when used in large areas alongside other colours. More often than not I will then adjust my colours and print some more fabric. In the series that I am currently developing I did this a couple of times before having a big rethink and starting again with a different colour family. My subject / inspiration is the current state of UK politics. Irrespective of where you stand politically this is a pretty dark and depressing subject so my initial colours featured drab blacks and brown colours. Hmmm. Turns out that I just can’t work with dark, depressing and drab colours. And why would I keep working on a series if I’m working with colours that make me miserable? Tortured artist? No thanks.

Fortunately I had found the right colours before our recent domestic hiccup. I don’t think I could have got back into the studio if I was making myself work with colours I didn’t like. Instead, with my colour family selected, I have been able to spend a few hours here and a few hours there printing cloth. I warmed up by just adding colour to cloth using an open screen and some thermofax screens I had already made using newspaper headings from the day after the illegal prorogation of parliament. As I printed I got more ideas. Using block text to create positive and negative shapes. Combing breakdown printing and text. Using my new Brother Scan N Cut to scale up and make stencils of scribbled patterns. Varying scale. Utilising different parts of my colour family to create ‘light’ and ‘dark’ cloth. Using different fabrics such as linen to introduce slightly different textures. Some pieces went through just one process but most had two or three layers of mark. I love every part of this process, even washing out my fabrics and washing up my screens. Happy hands, happy heart. Fabulous!

As I was printed I started to think about construction. I’m a piecer. Although I used wholecloth for my series inspired by coal mining, piecing is my comfort zone. And comfort zone feels good right now. I cut some different size apertures from paper to help me decide what size pieces to work with. I like the idea of letters, words and sentences being partially seen so opted for narrow, long pieces. I cut up about a quarter of each piece of fabric then laid the pieces out on my design table in a random way. No cherry picking allowed!

At this stage I often decide that I need to print more fabric - maybe to adjust the colour balance but not this time. Although I did think it needed the addition of a complimentary colour to help draw the eye in. I found a reel of red thread and experimented stitching letters and words onto some pieces. The text wasn’t visible enough but I loved the colour - a good, solid, socialist red! So I mixed some textile inks to match the thread colour and printed onto some of my ‘white’ fabric pieces. I still want to play around with this but decided to go ahead and stitch my fabrics together.

And I am really happy. I trusted my creative process and it has got me from white fabric to a layered sample that (just!) needs quilting. My lovely husband is doing well; I’m still tired but, once again, my studio and my art practice is helping my heal.

Just 14 days until this years Festival of Quilts opens at the NEC, Birmingham and along with it my gallery Deconstruction-Reconstruction-Evolution. I’ve just started work on the final three pieces and am reasonably comfortable that I will be ready with a few days to spare. A few days to catch up on sleep and recharge my batteries! I need it. I have really pushed myself for the last few weeks - I have dug deep as the saying goes.

But isn’t it easy to find that extra level of energy when you are doing something you love? Tired but happy sums me up right now.

Of course there have had to be some sacrifices in the name of art. I can confirm that not cleaning the bathroom for 8 days does not lead to an outbreak of plague. That having toast and jam for breakfast and lunch each day saves time. Especially if you leave the bread, butter and jam next to the toaster. And use the same plate. That my family showed a deep level of empathy by not commenting on the fact that I wore the same top for four days. Actually they are all male so probably didn’t even notice. Which also makes not cleaning the bathroom easier to get away with ….

As well as making art I have been busy doing lots of other stuff in preparation for the exhibition. I have a delivery of more books arriving tomorrow, new flyers are also on route and the fabulous Moo Printing are busy printing postcards. And I have been very honoured to takeover the Festival of Quilts Instagram account for three days this week. If you ‘do’ instagram have a look at @thefestivalofquilts.

And now I need to get back to work ….

Time to get real ….. I’ve auditioned fabrics and stitched some samples but now I need to commit to a ‘proper’ piece. And for me that inevitably means a large scale piece. Time for a quick drawing on a scrap of paper to work out exactly what size and I’m off!

First I take all my beautiful breakdown printed fabrics and cut them into rectangles. I don’t ‘cherry pick’, I just cut everything up. I take the cut pieces and jumble them up then close my eyes and pull them out one by one ready to lay them down in rows on my big print bench. I try to make this process as random as I can. The control freak in me would agonise over this part of the process and would inevitable produce a background that would not be as interesting as when I let serendipity happen.

I sew the pieces together into long rows and put them up on my design wall. I like to leave the rows up there for a while and allow myself to change a handful of pieces to balance the colour and composition of the background. Just a handful - I do not give in to the temptation to change too many pieces!

I then prepare my backing fabric and my wadding (I use acrylic felt as I like how flat it is). Having cut them to size I use an adhesive spray to stick them together. I draw parallel lines, 2 inches apart, on my wadding and use a ‘stitch and flip’ process to sew my rows together and to the backing in a single process. This way I can ensure that my rows are sewn together accurately. Yes, I fully embrace my inner control freak for this part of my process! And it has the advantage that I don’t have a separate basting stage. I have always hated basting quilts!

I now have my background. It is ready for me to add what I call my top structures and to add stitch. As with my Ruins series I am stitching lots and lots of parallel lines in my new Print series. I can’t image not adding stitch but at the same time I don’t want the stitching to distract from the fabrics. Simple lines seems to work well with fabrics that contain so much detail. In one of my samples for this series I stitched a word as my top structure. I’ll probably use this idea for one or more of the pieces I will make in this series but for this first piece I had a light bulb moment and have gone in a different direction. And it is a direction that could not be sampled on a small scale piece. Yes my ‘sample’ is 290cm wide by 100cm high and is going to have a prime position in my upcoming exhibition so you only get see these work in progress shots!

There is a saying that fortune favours the brave …. I’m certainly hoping so!

I have an itch. I can feel it growing inside of me, gaining momentum. It’s at the edge of my consciousness now whatever I’m doing. It needs scratching!

Yep, all the ideas about a new series of works on the printing and publishing industry that have been brewing in my head for weeks have started to come together. This is how I work. I don’t use sketchbooks when developing new ideas but I do like to have something pinned to my design wall or sat on my desk that is always there, in the corner of my eye, as I work on other things.

I started thinking about printing and how it has, as an industry, changed and continues to change when I printed some fabrics using simple grid based breakdown screens in July. I made a small quilt called Process Colour for my stand at Festival of Quilts expecting it to be a one-off. But I don’t think it’s going to be. Actually I know it isn’t going to be. I liked how the simplicity of a grid become complex it broke down. I liked printing in only black. I cut some thin strips of the printed fabrics. There is no text but they somehow remind me of newsprint. And so my mind has continued to churn ideas around.

I thought about introducing text on top of some of the fabrics using old wooden print blocks. I wasn’t sure how but I’ve had the blocks sat next to my computer for a while now and they have been the catalyst that has caused an ‘idea’ explosion in my head. I need to get the ideas out. I need to play. I need to print!

New work: Process Colour #1

With one day to spare I am all ready for Festival of Quilts. How do I know? Because I have checked everything off my Festival of Quilts 2018 checklist. I love a good checklist! Have I forgotten anything ....

• FoQ paperwork / car pass / Hi-Vis / Exhibitor Passes - check
• Float / Phone / Tablet / Chargers / card reader / power bank - check
• Sack truck - check
• Two table tops (with pre-drilled holes for legs) - check
• Eight legs (in their handmade carrying bags) - check
• Makita drill / small screws / screw driver / spirit level - check
• Two table cloths - check
• One stool (but I will be too busy to use it!) - check
• Small steps (can't reach top of stand) - check
• Quilts for stand (in their handmade bag) - check
• Postcards / stands - check
• Leaflets / stands - check
• Fabric for sale (lots) - check
• Display boxes - check
• Velcro dots - check
• Panel pins - check
• Small hammer - check
• Duck tape and cable ties (thanks for the tip Ruth) - check
• Double sided tape - check
• Invisible tape - check
• Scissors - check
• Wet wipes - check
• Hand fan (hot flushes!) - check
• Notebook - check
• Pens / pencils - check
• Twine - check
• Fabric care slips - check
• Business cards - check
• Labels for quilts - check
• Price labels for fabric - check
• A4 workshop 'adverts' for stand (love laminating!) - check
• 100 snazzy paper bags / labels - check
• Lint roller (for the quilts) - check
• Tape measure - check
• Fine pins - check
• Calculator - check
• Newsletter sign up sheet - check
• Workshop sign up forms - check
• Paypal sign (yes I take PayPal and cards) - check
• Price / availability list for workshops - check
• Joe (oldest son, my gofer, and, he says, ace salesperson) - he is around here somewhere!
• Clothes to wear (by far the hardest decisions!) - check

If you are at Festival please come see me on stand H35 in the main hall! It will be lovely to put faces to names x

And my spare day .... unless it is pouring down I'm taking my grandson to the beach and eating ice cream. 

Well maybe that is a little bit dramatic but it is now only 44 days until my exhibition with Helen Conway opens at The World of Glass in St Helens. And only 37 days until we drop off the art work. Today Helen and I met with the curator Hannah to discuss layout and the minutia of things we need to do between now and then.

Getting the layout of the exhibition finalised is really important. Hannah and her team will hang the work and we wanted to be sure that we have the right number of pieces to fill this beautiful space. Turns out we can include an extra 4 metres of wall without crowding the space. Good job I made more pieces than I thought I needed. It does however mean that I will need to correct the scaled 3D model I have made!

So my to do list for the next 37 days:

• Send out the remaining Preview Invites.
• Finish final quilt (the original piece was finished in December but I liked it so much that I submitted it to the European Quilt Triennial. So now I am making a replacement. A 135cm x 240cm replacement. Good job I work in series!).
• Cut, drill and label top and bottom battens for three large quilts.
• Make storage bags for each large quilt.
• Iron, de-lint and carefully roll three large quilts in tissue paper before storing in their bags.
• Add hanging mechanism and mirror plates to 20 small pieces stretched over canvas.
• Wrap these 20 pieces in bubble wrap, find a box to store them in and print out a hanging plan for them.
• Decide whether 6 medium sized pieces currently stretched over canvas would actually look better framed (OK so maybe I should of thought of this earlier!)
• Add hanging mechanism and mirror plates to said 6 pieces.
• Wrap them in bubble wrap and print out a hanging plan for them.
• Collect 8 framed pieces from Manchester Custom Framing.
• These will come with hanging mechanisms and will be carefully wrapped so will just need a hanging plan printing.
• Make labels for everything. Sounds simple, takes forever to get them perfect.
• Get postcards printed ready for sale in the gallery.
• Decide whether to have limited edition prints for sale and get them printed.
• Get poster printed onto foam board for entrance to gallery (Helen is organising the design).
• Organise something for visitors to leave their details and comments on.
• Sort out drinks and nibbles for the preview with Helen.
• Decide what I will wear (this is the item that stresses me out most!).

Easy!

I recently posted that I can't created in chaos. And that messy in my studio is when there are snippets of thread and fabric on the floor. Well I got really, really messy (for me) over the long weekend we have just enjoyed in the UK. I also got sore feet from standing for hours. And my rotary cutter needed a long lie down in a dark room afterwards. But look what I got in return - trays of cut 'bricks' and bondaweb backed 'brickettes' ready to build backgrounds in my Ruins and my View series.

I love printing and it is so tempting to just keep on printing, especially on sunny days when breakdown screens dry quickly. But it is only by cutting up the fabrics that I can see if I have the right balance of colour and pattern. I can see that I have enough fabric to start making backgrounds. I use the bricks to piece backgrounds for my large quilts and I use the brickettes to fuse backgrounds for smaller works. But I can also see that I will need more of the darker fabrics in both series to complete the work I am planning for the rest of this year. Which means more printing. Happy days!

I make a mean lasagne. I could eat it every day but hate washing saucepans so guess what - I don't want to make lasagne every day. But I love all aspects of breakdown printing and I could very happily spend every day making beautiful fabric. I love mixing the dyes and preparing the screens. I love pinning out my cloth and pulling the screens. I even love washing my screens, washing the objects I use on my screens and washing my printed cloth. Because I love it I have spent hundreds of hours learning to  sort of control the outcomes and it now forms the foundation for all of my art. I made my first breakdown screens during a Committed to Cloth workshop in 2010. I wasn't really aiming for anything - I just picked a couple of colours and made two screens.

I printed the golden yellow screen first by pulling through with more golden yellow. I wasn't that impressed. Then I pulled the petrol green screen on top. I was worried that I had lost all the first layer. And then I washed the cloth and feel in love.

The joy of breakdown printing for me is in the detail. Those tiny areas of texture that are impossible to create in any other way. When I made that first piece of printed fabric into a piece of finished art I added stitch that mirrored some of that detail. Today I use breakdown in a very different way but thought you might like to see how I started!