Winter Tide

Yellow Port

When All The Spring Flowers Came At Once

I have been working on ways to make my stitched images more expressive. This has involved a lot of exploratory collage and painting and then sampling in fabric and stitch. These pieces have now all been stretched and set into box frames by Reid Framing. It is exciting and challenging to be pushing my work in this way – I am constantly trying to find ways to make bolder stitched marks with my trusty Bernina sewing machine and I have recently discovered the Madeira Burmilana range of threads at Barnyarns. These wool threads are fantastic to stitch with – once you have added a top stitching needle to your machine!

If you follow me on Instagram you may have noticed I’ve just been to Arran. This is where the inspiration for Yellow Port, above, came from. I did lots of walking and some sketching whilst I was there and so new ideas are bubbling up in my sketchbooks. It was wonderful to focus on the dark lichen encrusted rocks around Kildonan and also to spot all the shades of yellow in wild flowers – from bold gorse to delicate primrose via daffodils and celandines.

However, I’m knee deep in experiments with red campion and bluebells at the minute, so these ideas will have to hold on for a little bit longer!

If you are interested in doing a workshop with me, I have some more coming up at the Biscuit Factory Gallery, here in Newcastle and if you are a Friend of the Hatton Gallery – then watch this space!