It is cold and dark here in the North East today, so I’m cozied up by the fire doing hand stitching (😱🤣) I know, I know but it seems the right thing to be doing today 😊
I have a series of workshops to deliver in the next couple of months and I want to have new examples of both my tin can pieces and miniature scenes. The new work is more reflective in style of my recent large landscapes, rather than the happy camping scenes that began this series.
This one is inspired by sketches from Dumfries and Galloway- but I didn’t tell you that- it’s so beautiful there but if I keep telling people then it’ll get as busy as the Lake District!
It will be housed in a mackerel tin collaged with papers relating to the area. Working from my sketchbook studies, I’m building up the scene with hand dyed fabrics, then adding detail with hand and machine stitch.
It’s stimulating to switch between large and small scale pieces; having to rethink composition and detail. Although sometimes the difference in the time it takes to complete a bigger or smaller work is minimal!
The next piece I’m working on is a miniature scene of a woodland brook. Usually with these pieces I like to ‘break out’ of the frame somehow, to extend the work beyond the confines of the rectangular support. I’ll be experimenting with how to do this- perhaps the trees or a branch will grow up and out.
I’m already planning how to show the textures of the fallen leaves, moss, grasses and water.
Donna Cheshire Textiles 