A recent walk took me to Ingram in the Breamish Valley after a gap of too many years. The landscape here is beautiful, even in midwinter the colours are bold; contacts of russet, green and gold with pewter skies.
The hills roll away to the skyline, revealing ancient archaeology and more recent crashed planes (WWII). It is so exposed, and so quiet. On a grey January day there were few birds and fewer walkers. It felt good to be striding up hills, even through peat bogs and along paths that were more water than earth.
I am going to develop new pieces inspired by this walk. The first two are underway, today has been spent working up compositions on paper that will progress into fabric and stitch. I want to record the colours and textures and try to capture the sense of open space and adventure that this landscape represents for me.
These A2 sketches will act as templates, helping me to build up layers of fabric and stitch as I interrogate the colour relationships and textural contrast of land and sky. I want the colours and textures to express the energy and openness of this landscape.
Do you do workshops? Do you run workshops for others?
I do both and I find that taking time to be both teacher and tutor benefits each role- and my own creative practice. The most recent workshop I have delivered was on fabric colouration for a lovely group of 10 people. As a teacher, I want participants to have an experience that is fun and challenging, that will be enjoyable but also develop skills. As a student I want the same for me.
As a teacher, I am very aware that I don’t know everything – so I take courses to stretch and develop myself as an artist and to help me fill gaps in my knowledge. Working with different tutors also gives me ideas on presentation and delivery methods. Not every course I do relates directly to my own practice but there are usually insights or ideas that help me move forward in my own work.
I take courses that will help to strengthen my creative practice. Currently I am doing the online ‘Find Your Joy’ taster course with Louise Fletcher. I have years of experience and folders of certificates relating to my textile skills, however, I have never specifically been taught to paint and yet painting and sketchbook work are essential to my textiles practice. I also know that I want to make my textile art more expressive and looser in style. I feel that developing my painting skills will lead to powerful developments in my textile work. This online course encourages me to explore paint as a medium in a very experimental way. It reminds me of some of the approaches that I like to use and encourages me to take leaps in the way that I work and, this particular course really forces me to focus on painting – after all you can’t improve if you don’t actually do it!
First task from the “Find Your Joy’ taster course
This is the second time that I have taken part in this course, the first task is to do half an hour of painting with a limited palette. I was thinking about the Rosebay Willow Herb growing rampantly along the roadsides here in the North East. I thought the whole image caught some of the vivacity I see in this plant growth but I found the entire piece too ‘cluttered’. However, when I removed the tape to reveal the smaller ‘accidental’ compositions and I might play with some of these to develop a series of textile pieces. These images are definitely not finished images but they are certainly going to be jumping off points for some new work. Already I have been reminded about the ‘taping exercise’ and also about how many different colours can be mixed from a limited palette.
I should say at this point that one thing I love about painting compared to textiles is it’s so blooming fast!! One of the main challenges I have in developing the sketchbook work into textiles is finding ways of to keep the sense of fluidity in the stitched art. I think I am getting there with this – mainly because of the number of people who on first looking at my work say ‘Ohhhh – I thought it was a painting!’.
Planning and delivering workshops is time consuming. I can’t just turn up and teach – mainly because I usually have to prepare materials and equipment. For each course I offer (See Workshops page here ) I have content notes, time plans and equipment check lists. After I have delivered a course I go back to the paperwork and make refinements or add new ideas. Because courses are delivered in different venues around the UK, I need to adapt and be flexible in terms of space and time available, and numbers of participants. Feedback from recent workshops suggest that this is worth the effort, people enjoy their session and feel that they have developed their creative skills
“It was a blast. Thank you Donna for so generously sharing your skills and experience. ” September 2023
“I had a fabulous time, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. An afternoon of pure crafty goodness.” September 2023
“I have been well and truly inspired, and back to remembering how important the process is, not just the finishing” May 2023
“Thank you for a wonderful day guiding us to work out of our comfort zone. We loved the day” May 2023
My next public workshop will be at the Biscuit Factory, later this month. I’ll be working with participants to make Autumn landscapes using appliqué and free motion embroidery. So I’m going to be taking some time to develop some fresh Autumn landscapes for inspiration – maybe some of that Willow Herb will creep in!
In October, I’ll be teaching a four week short course on Free Motion Embroidery, also at the Biscuit Factory. In four half day sessions I will show participants how to get going with this way of stitching from the basics through to using special materials and techniques. It’s always a lot of fun and participants fingd that their confidence and skills really grow.
Then in November, there will be another fabric colouration course, where participants will be advised to bring aprons and rubber gloves as it can all get a bit messy!
So its September, the start of the academic year in the UK – bring on the learning, bring on the teaching lets make it a year bursting with creative progress!
It’s been another wonderful year for wildflowers, the coastal paths are glowing with pinks yellows and blues in amongst lush greenery, and the sunny skies are making the chilly North Sea look positively Mediterranean. I have just finished three wild flower pieces that started as prep for my Spring Landscape workshop – if you missed that there’s still time to sign up for a Summer Landscape in July – details at the Biscuit Factory we’ll be exploring sunny days and free motion embroidery – and maybe using some of my new Madeira Burmilana threads too!
These three are available now over on my gallery page.
FINALLY!! This has been a beast of a piece to finish but it’s reached the stage of being semi displayed on my stairway whilst I decide if it really is done – Silene Sea is inspired by the Arran Coast – that’s Bennan Head in the background. It needs signing in stitch, scanning and framing and then it will be coming with me to Alnmouth Arts Festival on 16th – 18th June.
Larger pieces of my original textile art are on show at the Biscuit Factory Gallery, here in Newcastle – and this week they have made me the feature artist in their Showcase!
Flag Day
This is one of the new pieces that I took with me to Alnmouth Arts Festival, last weekend – and what a glorious weekend it was! The sun shone and the crowds came. I had a wonderful time talking art to so many lovely people – if you came along, do say hi in the comments! The village gets taken over by artists and residents share their homes as gallery space for the event – so grateful to Penny for letting me and Sheridan share her garage for the weekend!
Just hope I can get back again next year!
Flag Day – original Textile Art by Donna Cheshire
The Flag Iris growing along the coastal path are so beautiful – and their golden yellow glows against the turquoise sea. This piece measures 305 x 305 mm and comes framed in a white box frame measuring 345 x 345mm, unglazed. I have used free motion embroidery and hand dyed fabrics to create this vibrant piece. Hope you like it too!
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!
Bellingham, Northumberland. Changeable weather, windy and showers, 6C
Walking up the sheltered river valley to the waterfall on a damp Wednesday morning. The old, moss enrobed trees were a joy after driving to Bellingham over exposed moorland.
Such vivid shades of green and yellow.
The river was running high after heavy rainfalls, rushing down the valley maiden with peat. The water looked like liquid amber. Lots of foam and froth too.
The path crosses back and forth over the river six times, on wooden bridges. A good walk on a wet day as most of the route is paved with fossil flecked stones. Bare earth sections were squelchy with rotting leaves and mud.
Birds were singing all around but kept out of sight. The white rump of a deer, startled by a barking dog, flashed passed at the top of the valley. The trees were mostly leafless, some starting with buds already, though.
At the fall, plants dangled and water dripped from the clifftops. Rocks were scarred and slick with water. Misty droplets added to light rainfall. Everything under the thrall of the gushing water. The noise was awesome, water tumbling foaming and spilling over dark, shining stone. Carving and curving a way through the cliff into the valley. The constant motion of the water contrasting with the stoic, unmoving rock. Trees growing, impossibly from some of the rocks, their trunks curving out to the centre of the valley, and the best light.
On the return journey, coin encrusted fallen trees glint as sunlight breaks through into the valley.
Back in Bellingham, to have warming soup at “Tea on The Train” with the usual thought of how wonderful it would be if the train still ran to Bellingham!
A late winter walk taking in the low tide around St Mary’s Lighthouse. Winter isn’t all about snow and frost. Sometimes it’s damp rock and darkened seaweed. The textures of different substances caught my eye.
Water reflecting the low light levels, seaweed glistening in shades of green and pewter. An old wooden support, roughened and worn by endless tides. The knots and holes in it make it seem totemic; of endurance, of the sea’s power, indefatigable.
The columns stretch across the rock pools, solemn groups giving me a feeling unease, as if they are figures newly disembarked from stressful and dangerous voyages.
January 10th 2023 – A2 sketch using Sennelier pastel, graphite, Stabilo ‘Woodies’ and water colours. Think I will use the details to stitch more Journey Mapping pieces.
One of those walks where I carried my sketchbook but didn’t actually do any drawing. We were walking with friends so I’ll use that as my excuse!
The textures of driftwood and petrified tree trunks caught my eye, as did this stone doing a very good impression of a jawbone. I did pick up some scraps of plastic that will make good mark making tools and some old netting that I think might work its way into a collage next week.
We walked about 6 miles in total, along the coast from Huxley to Amble and back along the dunes. So many birds – listening to the curlews was wonderful – and there were seven herons perched on the shore at the nature reserve, looking like wise elders in their black grey and white feathered robes.
I’ve been reading Raynor Winn‘s Landlines this week, so once again I’m itching to get my boots on and walk miles, although maybe not accompanied by the midges and horseflies that she encounters on her route. I find that after about three thousand steps my mind seems to become calm and ideas for work start to flow, so as the mornings get lighter I hope to get back into the habit of starting the day with walking and drawing.
Do you find that certain pllaces make your heart sing? I had that sensation this morning when I found a beautiful wildflower meadow. It wasn’t lost! I’d just never heard of it before. In the UK the Wildlife Trust is holding a *30DaysWild event this June. I’ve been taking part – feeding my love of nature again ! I was so enjoying it that I’ve joined my local Wildlife Trust and now I have information about the location of lots of pockets of nature close to where I live, in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne.
This morning I cycled to Cross Lane Meadow in Gateshead, a beautiful wildflower meadow situated just above the A1! Talk about incongruous, look one way and its all clover, grasses and yellow rattle, look the other and its juggernauts and the Metro Centre, Geordieland’s indoor consumer playpark..!
Durham Wildlife Trust
I felt so happy, even on a cloudy day strolling through the waist high meadow on narrow paths cut through the swathes. I’ve been doing a lot of small wildflower pieces lately but have found myself getting bogged down in intricate detail. Too much fiddly detail when I am trying to make my work more expressive. Walking through this meadow made me want to come back to my workroom, get my paints out, and work on larger and looser wildflower compositions. Something else on my to do list!
In the meantime I need to get on and finish the piece I’m currently working on – again a beautiful landscape in a quite urban area – just along from Weetslade Country Park – a reclaimed colliery site between the A1 and the A19. There is a beautiful purple field – I cycled there too (But not this morning – phew!) The crop is phacelia, related to borage, a natural nitrogen holder and weed supressant that is also good for pollinators.
Phacelia field, near Weetslade Country Park.
All of my new large pieces are coming with me to Art in the Pen in August, along with some small works, giclées and cards. Prepping with this along with showing at The Biscuit Factory and Just Canny is keeping me very busy! I’m only just managing to get out on my bike in search of these landscapes that make the heart sing!
Donna Cheshire Textiles 