Tag Archives: drawing with threads

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

Sew ‘Scapes

13 Friday Nov 2015

Posted by in Be Creative with Workbox, Be Inspired by Workbox, Drawings, Inspirations, magazine articles, stitched textiles, Textile Art, UK textile artists

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Delighted to see my article called Sew’Scapes so beautifully produced in the Annual Be Inspired by Workbox magazine vol 4 now published. This magazine has really developed into a super read, with beautiful images well printed and displayed in all the articles. Having an 8 page spread is a real treat– Other artists who are featured include Michelle Cook, another UK textile artist who looks at the land in a very different way to me. Bethany Walker mixes cement with stitch, wonderfully different, and  other artists working in the Netherlands, Australia and Kenya have stunning work to look at as well. It’s good to see conceptual pieces alongside delicate botanical images and I feel honoured to be in such good company.

Here are a couple of the pages from my article. Even if you’ve seen the textiles before, I hope those who read the magazine will find that the text gave an insight into my working methods. I also rather like the way the pages have curled into folds when photographed Maybe I should try and develop this in my future embroideries–

Workbox article 3

Workbox article 2

You can find out more about the magazine on facebook, twitter and pinterest

Selecting Ideas

30 Wednesday Sep 2015

Posted by in Drawings, Exhibitions, Inspirations, stitched textiles

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I’m often asked what I am going to do next, and the answer is usually I dont know, I have to wait and see. I am constantly looking at land formations, light patterns, textures and so on, and will draw or make notes without knowing exactly where my thinking will end. This summer we visited friends who live in a small village on the banks of the Loire. We went out drawing, watched the river change daily at different times, and passed fields of varying colours and textures. On one journey, a splash of brilliant purple colour in the distance was too intriguing not to investigate, and we couldn’t identify the source from a distance. When we reached the field we found delphiniums being grown, perhaps for seed. A riot of pink, purple, blue and white, set against a golden green backdrop. Here I’m showing you the flowers, a drawing I did, and a small embroidery that I made on our return to the UK.

Delph photo

Delph 2 pic

My drawing took about two hours, pencil, ink, and fibre tipped pens that run when you wet them. I tried here to extract enough information to be able to start stitching.

Delph drawing001

and this is the first small piece I made. It found a new home on its first outing. My intentions are to go forward from this and work a larger piece that is perhaps more abstract, looking at the contrasting shapes and colours. I never seek to imitiate, only to investigate.

Delphiniums

and finally a detail, I haven’t tried to draw individual flowers, but to say something about the ways in which the colours overlap and merge. If these ideas do develop I’ll show them in a future post!

Delphiniums stitch detail

ArtExpo2015 Milano, Italy

08 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by in Exhibitions, galleries, Inspirations, stitched textiles, UK textile artists

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My next venture is participating in an international exhibition in Milan that is running alongside the Universal Expo 2015 taking place there this summer. The exhibition is being presented byArtMeet Gallery whho are based in the city and have been running exhibitions, community projects and other ventures. THe show will take place in the Spazzio Progetto, East End Studios and runs from July 3rd- September 30th. http://www.artexpo2015.com. The piece I’m sending is a favourite of mine from my Irish series, called The Mountains of Mourne, so although I’ve shown it in an earlier post, here it is again. As there are only two UK artists showing from those invited. I’m pleased to see textiles taking its place amongst the paintings and sculptures!

C Naylor, Mountains of Mourne

and here’s a stitch detail which shows the way I used metallic gold threads to try and capture the essence of the light catching the land. I’ve used a range of threads, mainly from the Madeira range. 30weight golds are overstitched onto classic rayon no 12 and Burmilana wool/acrylic mix. I’ve also used Natesh Empress rayon and all these were put in the bobbin and done from the reverse before I added the fine lines from the front

Detail MM

My next post will concentrate on  Art in Action in July, an event not to be missed!

Exhibition Preparation, Chichester Art trail 2015

21 Tuesday Apr 2015

Posted by in Drawings, Exhibitions, Inspirations, stitched textiles, UK textile artists

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This post features not just my textiles, but life drawing and painting by my husband Albert, so do take a look! With several exhibitions coming up, I’ve been making new pieces to tie in with my current themes of light and shadow, especially looking at the different seasons. The first show is Chichester Art Trail in May, which I’ll be doing here in my home with Albert, who is showcasing a series of new life drawings alongside some of his paintings. The mix of paintings, drawings and textiles makes it more interesting for visitors who can see how differently we both interpret the same subjects. The textile and painting here are both inspired by the same area of Spain.

The trail is on the following days, May 2/3/4 and 9/10. All details from http://www.chichesterarttrail.org

and here are a few images to whet your appetite!

The tools of the trade-my sewing machine, threads and sketchbook

Carol Naylor, close up of textile

Gold and Silver Light-memories of Spanish evenings in Castille

Golden Light small file

Life drawing by Albert Naylor

Life Study in conte001

One of Albert’s abstract Spanish landscapes from Castille

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Lavender Fields 2015

10 Tuesday Mar 2015

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

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I published a post in 2014 about a series of small textiles I’d made from a visit to local lavender fields in West Sussex, UK. I’ve recently been working on a series of drawings and new pieces for exhibitions and galleries coming up in 2015. Drawing for me is an essential part of the process, allowing me to moderate ideas, record, change and translate. All the drawings are from my sketch book, my current “visual diary”

My textiles are not about imitation, but about experience. Walking through the fields, the heady smells and the rich colour palette provided by the environment was unforgettable, and I hope my work says something about it. My next post will give details of forthcoming exhibitions, venues and times.

Drawing no 1, inktense, pastels pencil, pen

Lavender Drawing001

Drawing no 2 gouache, pastels, pen,

Lav One drawing two002

Drawing no3, inktense, pencil, pastels, pen

Lav One drawing001

Stitched Textiles, threads nos 6/12/15/30 weights by Madeira and Natesh, rayon, cotton and metallic ranges

Textile ” Lavender Panorama” 23cm x34cm

Lavender Panorama

Stitched Textiles, threads nos 6/12/15/30 weights by Madeira and Natesh, rayon, cotton and metallic ranges, with some merino wool fibres added

” Lavender Flow” 21cm x21cm

Lavender flowing

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

Brighton Art Fair 2014

21 Sunday Sep 2014

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

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I’m busy preparing my work for Brighton Art Fair which takes place from September 26th-28th. For non UK readers of this blog, Brighton is situated on the south coast, a really lively and historic town centre.  I shall be showing the Skyfall series, some of which have featured in earlier posts here, as well as smaller, more intimate pieces. I like to contrast detailed, impressionistic works with larger more gestural pieces. As most of the other exhibitors will be showing painting and printmaking, I’ll be one of a handful of textile artists. Here are a couple of images for you. The first is a smaller piece that measures approximately 20cm square mounted onto a canvas and in a box frame to make the overall dimensions 33cm square. The second image is a detail of the sky from Skyfall 1, a windy day on the Downs

Hints of Lavender001EPSON scanner image