Category Archives: Processes

Skyscapes, preparing new ideas

22 Monday May 2017

Posted by in Drawings, Exhibitions, galleries, Inspirations, Processes, stitched textiles, Textile Art

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Working towards a new exhibition is always challenging. I recently joined a group of  contemporary artists called Artel, all of us based in, or near the city of Chichester in the UK. The theme is Transience. This started a train of thought that began with my passion for the natural world. One of the most transient aspects for me is the sky. Skies change as you look at them, colours and cloud formations drift, move, merge, disappear. The light changes constantly, and the winds create rhythmic patterns that dance and swirl, offering endless possibilities that are perfect for abstracting and experimenting.

Capturing moments in time like this with a sewing machine is not easy. Over a period of months I made notes or quick sketches that were no more than a series of hasty lines. I took photos to help me remember colours, although these were soon ignored as ideas began to form. I NEVER work directly from a photo but use them as aides-memoire. Here are some pieces. They are small compared to my usual works, between 4-6 inches square, (10-16 cms) but who knows, maybe they will lead onto larger pieces later this year.

The first image is from a sunset, and the second a late afternoon sky

Carol Naylor, Skyscape-sunset

Little Skyscape Carol Naylor

This is a drawing/collage from my sketchbook. It has helped me make decisions, although it’s not been used as a direct starting point as I had intended to make a much larger piece, but a broken wrist got in the way!

Transiense drawing001 copy

and finally an explosion of gold and blues influenced by the collage above- I think I like it best so far! Your comments would be interesting and helpful.

Carol Naylor, skyscape, early evening

The Colour Red-poppies and memories 1

06 Monday Mar 2017

Posted by in Drawings, Exhibitions, galleries, Inspirations, Processes, Textile Art

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I find red one of the most difficult colours to work with, and tend to add it into a piece of work to provide richness, splashes of colours, and to represent flowers such as poppies without trying to “copy” a flower. In this post you will see some of the landscape that has inspired me, and I explain some more stitch techniques. Sizes given are always for the actual embroidery and dont include mounts, or framing.

This poppy field in France was the start of what became a gentle obsession, looking for glimpses of scarlet amongst the corn, grasses and wheat in France, England and Italy. This post looks at French and English imagery

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I made a series of works where I used photos to jog my memory, and then drew directly onto my base canvas having put the photos away. The following piece is one that I felt worked well. I used cable stitch from the reverse side for much of the work (explained in my last post, From Drawings to a Stitched Landscape) and then put a heavy red woollen Burmilana/lana no 12 in the bobbin, loosened the bobbin case screw horribly(!) tightened my top thread, a normal no 30, and stitching on  the correct side of the canvas the top thread whipped the red thread through. If you try this be prepared to scream and shout a lot as threads do sometimes break! Its called “Glimpses of Scarlet and Gold” 21 x 28cm approx and was based on fields on France.

glimpses-of-scarlet-for-website

In the first smaller piece the red contrasts with the softer colours of cornfields as this is from my local landscape, The South Downs 14cm x 18cm approx embroidery size. The second one is smaller still, 10cm x 13cm, and is called “Poppies Ablaze”. Here I went back to cable stitch couching the heavy red from the back, then turning to the front and wandering across the red freely with greens and golds to get a feel of intensity broken by line

downland-poppies-cropped

poppies-ablaze-cropped

In my next post I’ll look at reds used in other landscapes from Italy and Spain and a private commission where “red” was requested!

 

From drawings to a stitched landscape

16 Thursday Feb 2017

Posted by in Drawings, Exhibitions, galleries, Inspirations, Processes, Spain, stitched textiles, Textile Art

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I have recorded here some of the stages of my most recent embroidery, completed this week, and would welcome your comments. The drawing was done in central Spain near Covarrubias last summer. I have shown some of the stitching as it develops, explaining the processes that resulted in this final piece, a Spanish landscape that contrasts strongly with my gentler South Downs pieces.

Here is the drawing, A4, pencil, pastels, watercolour pencils, and pen.

looking-towards-clunia-drawing

The planning stage with mainly Madeira threads, Natesh and Wonderfil added later

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I draw a few main lines directly onto the painters canvas, stitch them in and then turn to the back as most of the work is done with cable stitch. This technique means putting threads that are too heavy to go through the eye of the needle on the bobbin. I stitch on the reverse side of the canvas, couching down the heavy threads to give long, uninterrupted lines of threads- the next image shows me workimg from the back. The top thread colour is important as it affects the bobbin thread adding new  colours to the piece eg the bright red is couching down a heavy metallic copper underneath.

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I have to keep turning to the front, shown next, to make sure I’m happy with what I’m doing, but as the bobbin runs out every 3 minutes I get plenty of opportunity to correct any errors and add any fine details. You can see below that the fabric starts to move and undulate. I “go with the flow” in the hope I can control the final results!

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-and here it is, 24cm x 35cm approx. The drawing is  only ever a guide, as once I start stitching, the thought processes and techniques take over. I never try to copy my sketches, but aim to translate and interpret. Hope you found this useful and interesting!

–looking-towards-clunia-final

 

Sketchbooks, the 90s

15 Sunday Jan 2017

Posted by in Drawings, galleries, Inspirations, Processes, Spain, Textile Art

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My first entry for 2017 and it’s a look at my sketchbooks in the 90s. All the drawings here are from 1991-92 and there’s quite a change of direction. I started looking at architecture and architectural features, so here are drawings from France and Spain. I also show two embroideries that evolved from the drawings.

Carol Naylor Beach Umbrellas 1993

Beach Umbrellas, Costa Brava.( machine embroidery onto muslin) The embroidery came after making about six drawings. The first, which is the delicate pencil drawing below, was made in situ on the beach. Then I made several others, extracting shapes and lines until I felt I was ready to stitch. The final piece in no way copies my drawings but I hope shows the developing ideas

beach-umbrella-sketch001

beach Umbrella sketch 3

I visited France on a field trip with students, Chartres and the Matisse chapel at Vence were just two venues. Here are some designs I did after looking at Matisse’s amazing windows.( the on site sketches are difficult to show here) I eventually did a series of embroideries based on stained glass but with my own take! So you see. I didnt always makw landscapes! Art evolves all the time– The embroidery below was onto calico that I painted and then stitched.

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Sketchbooks revisited, the 80s part 2

28 Monday Nov 2016

Posted by in Drawings, Exhibitions, galleries, Inspirations, Processes, Textile Art

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Some more drawings from my 1980s sketchbooks to look at, from a garden in France to a student field trip to Munich via Garmisch Partenkirchen. I  did not always draw with end products in mind, but to record where I was, what I was thinking and so on. Many pages are too messy or sketchy to put here, but I’ve found a few that show my journey They are shown in chronological order . Next post-the 90s! The first drawing was made in a garden in Cesson, France 1982. One of my followers might recognise the venue!

All drawings approx 20cm x 18cm French garden 1982 Detail followed by full page .

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french-garden-1982001

The alps at Garmisch in 1986 and yes it was cold drawing outside so it was done very quickly!

garmisch-86-001

Fruit bowl 1985, pencil and coloured pencils, drawing what’s in front of whilst the TV was on

fruit-bowl-001

This is a pastel drawing from 1989. I was looking at landscapes and playing with potential ideas for embroidery. I did work  up a series, but only have a couple on old fashioned slides!

landscape-abstract-001

In 1989 we seemed to keep coming across standing stones, dolmens, rocky formations on our travels, so lots of drawings did lead to a series of works in handmade pulp with additional stitch and fibres. Here’s a drawing and one of the final pieces which I made for an exhibition in 1990. The drawing uses pastel and a tippex pen

dolmen-1982001

carol-naylor-1988-dolmen

see you in the 90s next time!

Sketchbooks revisited, the80s

06 Sunday Nov 2016

Posted by in Drawings, Exhibitions, galleries, Inspirations, Processes, stitched textiles, Textile Art

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With over 35 years of sketchbooks in my studio I decided to look back to see what I was doing at various times during my career. It has been somewhat revelatory! I drew differently, often more boldly, without holding back, used a wider variety of media, and  frequently explored ideas that I thought I could use with my students. Back in the 80s with a fulltime lecturing post and a young family, I did make my own work, and had several exhibitions in the south of England, but I have no real record of those in visual terms. Do take a look at my drawings and ideas from the 1980s. You might be as surprised as I was!

This is from 1986. I photocopied some images, including pieces by Henry Moore, cut fragments up, pasted them down, then drew freely from them, inventing a surreal landscape. It was an exercise I did quite often, I found several in different books during this decade. I did quite a lot of mono printing and also batik at this time.

journey-1-henry-moore001

Here’s a more formal drawing from 1983 and its one of the few drawings I remember doing. On a field trip with students to Florence and Venice, on a cold, rainy March day, I sat in the Duomo in St Marks Square, and drew what was in front of me. You can see the date in the bottom lefthand corner. Its bolder and more direct compared to my current architectural studies and stays in the memory far longer than a photo!

journey-st-marks-1883001

The following mixed media piece shows me playing with pastels and pencils, thinking about land and sea in an abstract way. Its dated 1986. I did a lot of papermaking at this time, and this would have been part of my thought processes. I rather like it!

journey-1-mixed-media002

We spent several years as a family on a gite in France in Brittany. Here’s a drawing I’d totally forgotten, of the lake at Le Lendu. 1987 Pencil, pen and pastel

journey-1-france001

and finally, from my 1989 sketchbook, an abstracted drawing from a friend’s garden using pastels. Now I’m thinking I need to look at these again and start stitching from them! More to follow in my next post–

journey-garden-89

www.textileartist.org

19 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by in Inspirations, Processes, stitched textiles, Textile Art

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The owners of this terrific website have started producing ebooks for sale. This is such a good idea, bringing the world of contemporary textiles to a wide audience at very affordable prices. I am delighted to say that I have a chapter in their most recent book, A Response to Landscape. This includes some fabulous work by other artists so well worth taking a look. I’ve now created a new PAGE here on my blog called http://www.textileartist.org which has links to several books including the aforementioned one. Do take a look.

In the meantime here are some of the images of mine that you can see. I talk about the way in which landscape has been a major influence on my life and my work. Both these images are based on the South Downs where I live. A summers day catching glimpses of poppies in the distance, and the Downs near Goodwood, which I see as soon as I start to travel north out of my home town Chichester

CN Where poppies bloom

downs near Goodwood

Capability Brown Festival

18 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by in Drawings, Embroiderers Guild UK, Exhibitions, Inspirations, Processes, stitched textiles, Textile Art

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Capability Brown Festival with the Embroiderers’ Guild Guild CB logo - Docs res copy

This year is the tri-centenary of the birth of the landscape architect Capability Brown, often referred to as England’s greatest gardener, who in the 18th century transformed the gardens of many of the country’s stately homes by his radical approach. The formal layouts so popular in France and Italy that had influenced the UK, were abandoned in favour of the natural landscape. This is what the UK Embroiderers Guild say-

“As the first ever celebration of Brown’s work, the Capability Brown Festival brings together a huge range of events. The Embroiderers’ Guild is delighted to be a Festival Partner and is contributing to the celebrations with a series of unique textile exhibitions at venues across the country throughout 2016”

For more information visit the guild website at https:// http://www.embroiderersguild.com

I am honoured to be amongst the textile artists invited to exhibit in a series of exhibitions throughout 2016. For this, I visited Petworth House near our home in West Sussex. I’ve been there many times, and indeed nearly 20 years ago made work for a festival in 1998 there, when I used the house and the iconic temples in the grounds, as my starting points. This time the grounds were much more significant. I walked, looked, made mental notes and took photos, as early winter isnt the best time to draw outside. 

The piece I have made especially for the Festival is called “The Lake at Petworth” as the lake proved both a challenge and a change of imagery for me. The paintings of Turner, who drew and painted there provided additional food for thought, and I used his glorious golds to inspire my sky.
You can see this at venues that include the NEC Birmingham and the Knitting and Stitching shows in London and Harrogate.  I am delighted that it has already featured on the guild website to advertise the Festival, and by the Landscape Institute (Royal chartered body for landscape architects) in their February newsletter.Lake I never try to imitate what I see, but I adapt aspects of form, colour and light and once I start stitching, the photos and sketches are put away, so that I simply create my own response. The whole piece follows where you can see the free edging. This has been sewn to a white box canvas. Embroidery size 35 x 45cm approx, mounted to 50 x 60cm

Naylor, C The Lake at Petworth 1 new

And here is the centre part so that you can see the detail. In my next post I will show you the work I made in 1998!

Petworth Lake, Autumn_edited-1

Developing ideas and techniques

04 Wednesday Feb 2015

Posted by in Drawings, Inspirations, Processes, stitched textiles

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I’ve recently been re-visiting some of my earlier work and am surprised how much my techniques have developed and changed. Up to around 2004 my work was quite vigorous and gestural, but as my fascination for landscape took over, I began to work more regularly on a less dramatic scale, concentrating on building up line upon line. This allowed me to really draw more with the needle rather than making sweeps of colour. In the images here, you can see how the very heavily textured earlier pieces contrast with the more recent ones. THe first image is a detail from a series I made based on rivers. This was a trial piece for a much larger hanging. (1999)

EPSON scanner image

I used a very loose top tension which was dragged over the heavier threads in the bobbin ( I do most of my work this way!) I’ve spent today repairing and re-working a larger hanging from this series and hope to show it at a later date.

The next image is a hanging called Harbour. One metre in width, it included ideas taken from aerial photography. I was happy with the ebb and flow of the watery section and the overlaid white highlights. I made a companion piece to this which found a new home last year! (2004)

Hanging-Harbour

Finally a more recent piece that shows the way in which I try to now build layers through over stitching with many different threads. This is a detail of a piece I made for a textiles challenge on facebook. I’ll write more about this next time! (2014)

Fading summer light detail

Sewing the Land

05 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by in Exhibitions, Inspirations, Processes, stitched textiles, Textile Art

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It’s been awhile since I posted, but I’ve been getting ready for my exhibition “Sewing the Land” at the Old Chapel Textile Centre in Greenham, Newbury, UK. This is an interesting venue, as in the 80s it was the chapel for the troops on Greenham common during the nuclear missile crisis. It’s now the home of the National Needlework Archives and I was invited to put on an exhibition in their gallery area. This has been an interesting challenge. I wanted to do something a little different, so I’ve put up work that spans the last ten years, from a hanging made for another one person show in 2004 to some of my most recent pieces. The exhibition is now open until December 6th,details from the centre on both facebook and of course from the following websites

http://www.nationalneedleworkarchive.org.uk

http://www.carolnaylor.co.uk

When people say to me “what are you doing next” my answer is invariably “I don’t know until it happens” This exhibition shows how both my imagery and stitching have changed and metamorposed during this decade. From large abstract river hangings, that used both aerial photography, maps and memory, to site specific pieces that draw on landscape observed on my travels.

The Mountains of Mourne are on show again and contrast well with the more abstract hangings

C Naylor, Mountains of Mourne

Blue and Lilac shadows is part of a series of smaller works looking at lavender fields in the UK, France and Spain

blue and Lilac shadows

Arunscape is a diptych based on local area maps, experiences, rivers and many other ideas, this is part of one of the panels.

Arunscape, first panel

Arunscape is part of a diptych rarely seen, and I have enjoyed looking at it again.