Friday 28 September 2012

Sea Edges

I don't normally take this long over a quilt.  This one took just over a year.  It began with a workshop with Jo Budd on monoprinting and collage and a sketchbook full of drawings paintings and photographs of various bits of the Northumberland coast in the north-east of England, up against the Scottish border, an area of warm welcomes, windy deserted beaches, abbeys and castles, seabird colonies, farms boats and inshore fishing, saints and wildlife: my favourite part of the country.

My monoprints were of the organic rather than formally-patterned kind, sort of messy but deliberately so.  Organising them into a collages (including layering with organzas and chiffons) was a lengthy process, from here:
 

to here:
 
 
 
over a period of about three weeks.  Simply pinning on a design wall, moving elements around until they appeared to balance.  I discovered that the striped bits (originally greyscale samples) were essential to give the piece a bit of structure.  The fabrics chosen were ones which suggested the colours and weathering of the coastal landscape.
 
 
The rest was about the quilting.  Though I'd originally planned it as a machine-quilted piece I found that certain areas needed hand-quilting, and it was this that took the time - a mediatative process that meant the quilt evolved slowly (my hand won't let me hand-stitch for too long at a time) and developed in unexpected ways.
 
 
 


The end result (above) combines areas of texture with areas where stitching has been used as a medium for drawing - close-ups below:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

9 comments:

Blue Witch said...

That is truly beautiful.

I know that part of the country well, and your have perfectly captured the nuances and essence of it.

I wish I could see your gorgeous work in real life!

My first visit here - following a link from a link - I shall return!

Margaret said...

Sandra,

Lovely, inspiring, and encouraging all at once. Lovely in the palette. Inspiring in the effort, and encouraging - a reminder to take the process gently, patiently, "however long it takes". Thank you!

Martha Ginn said...

Sandra, thank you for the exquisite detail shots of your work! I recently combined hand and machine stitching on a collage of silk pieces and like it; however, seeing your work tells me that I need to just keep stitching. I love seeing your studio assistants; hope you'll look at my Bigboy. Couldn't quilt without him. http://www.marthaginn.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

Such a beautiful piece of work Sandra, and so many wonderful textured areas to feast the eye on. No wonder it took so long, but it was obviously worth it.

Unknown said...

Such a gorgeous piece of work Sandra, with some lovely textured areas to feast the eye on. No wonder it took so long, but worth every stitch!

Plum Cox said...

Absolutely stunning! Thank you for sharing, it's really lovely.

Georgina said...

Fascinating - the quilting was worth the time it took as it adds another dimension to an already beautiful piece.

Candied Fabrics said...

Although it's already been said by others, I must echo them - this is STUNNING! Glorious texture, subtle texture, wonderful composition...BRAVO!

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