Tag Archives: south downs

New works exhibited in 2021

29 Wednesday Sep 2021

Posted by in Commissions, Drawings, Embroiderers Guild UK, Exhibitions, galleries, Inspirations, Processes, stitched textiles, teaching, Textile Art, UK textile artists

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Having a theme to work to is always a challenge I enjoy. With an exhibition called Alchemy postponed from last year, I was able to make more embroideries on the ideas I started in 2020. I found old threads and embedded fragments of gold leather and fibres, often catching them down over a layer of machine embroidery, to add to the depth. The first 3 pieces shown were made for “Alchemy” with local contemporary art group Artel, and the second exhibition called Excellence was with the Society of Designer Craftsmen. I’ve chosen to show two of 6 works exhibited there. All these works took on their own characteristics and are now for sale, so do please message me if interested.

All are mounted on canvas boxes in whitewood frames to 43cm square. Both exhibitions were at the Oxmarket Gallery in Chichester, UK

1 ) All that Glitters – ideas adapted from the landscape of the South Downs “Alchemy“

2) and 3) on the left Nightfall and on the right The Promise of Spring, inspired by observing the sky and landscape at different times of the day

The Second exhibition Excellence with the Society of Designer Craftsmen , 2 of 6 pieces shown again using the landscape of the Downs

Twilight

Silver Light

Chichester Cathedral and Homeward 1994-2019

06 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by in Commissions, Drawings, Embroiderers Guild UK, Exhibitions, Inspirations, Textile Art

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A very much overdue post by me but here it is. An article has just been published in Stitch Magazine issue 123, on my piece for the Embroiderers Guild UK touring exhibition “Home” in 2019/20. You can still catch this at the Spring Knitting and Stitching show. Sally Stirling, managing editor of Stitch says this about this edition. “Stitch 123 is out now! In recognition with International Women’s Day, this issue is packed with projects, features and inspiration – all either by or about women. Embroidery may be dominated by women, still the depth and breadth of skill and talent continues to astound, and as ever, the best is brought to you by Stitch magazine”

My piece has Chichester Cathedral as a small but vital focal point, and this reminded me of early work I did in the 90s. So for the first time I’m showing some of this work alongside a glimpse of my piece for Home.

The South Downs have long been an inspiration but I haven’t used the Cathedral in my work since way back when I was still lecturing, and had two commissions for St Richards Hospital. I’m showing one of these here, as although the image of the final piece is low res, the drawings give an idea of how I developed the piece. Luckily I do have the sketchbook I developed and these haven’t been seen before! Some of my very talented students produced pieces as well, but I havent access at present to their work. The theme was A Sense of Place and the work was made in 1994 I called this piece Cathedral Vistas

Cathedral Visitas004

Cathedral Visitas002Cathedral Visitas005

Cathedral Visitas001

And now for 2019 and the ideas I developed. You can see my drawings and progress, and read the article in Stitch magazine. I also have a link on my Instagram account @naylorcarol

These were my inital thoughts for the theme “Home”

Like a beacon guiding you to safety, Chichester Cathedral can be seen from which ever direction you approach the city. It is the only medieval English Cathedral that can be seen from the sea, and the only one with a separate bell tower. I have lived in the city since 1972. When you stand on the Trundle near Goodwood, on the rolling South Downs, the spire is often shrouded in mist, a view I’ve drawn many times. You can see it from the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth on a clear day, from the coast just a few miles south of the city and from the trains that run from Brighton or London.

So here it is, very different in every respect to my piece from 1994 which is still hanging in the hospital and I’ve just posted one drawing below as there are lots in the magazine!

2019-06-11 16.37.48-2-1

Drawing Home001

Drawing with the Isle of Wight in the background.

and hope you enjoyed the two pieces and their very different feel. It does show how my work has changed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Sunrise to Sunset

19 Monday Mar 2018

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

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I am indebted to a good friend for this title which she suggested when we were talking about forthcoming exhibitions this week, so thank you to Myfanwy Hart, as it has inspired a new blog post! I have been very involved in the natural world for some years, and increasingly found myself emphasising colours and forms in the skies. Some of these are very detailed, others show simplified shapes of colour and stitch. I’ve put more information with the images that follow.

Firstly, if you don’t know Myfanwys blog site then take a look at https://crochetalongwithme.blog/author/nuvofelt/ with loads of lovely colour!

So here are some images where sunrise and early morning skies played a part in the work. The first image is very recent and uses memories of the South Downs where I live in the UK. It’s followed by two other locally based pieces. Finally I don’t write a lot as I hope the images speak for themselves but your thoughts are always welcome!

Daybreak001

Daybreak 2018

On the left, Silver Lining, a windy morning, and on the right a bright sunny winter morning at Petworth, which I’ve shown before here. The blue-grey palette of Silver Lining contrasts strongly with the rich morning late mid-winter sky on the right. They are followed by “A Quiet Summers Evening” where memories of travelling through France and the UK combined to produce a palette of golds and blues, as I tried to echo the sky colours in the fields below.

 

A Quiet summers evening

Sunset from Lanzarote, with the night sky gathering and darkening from behind the distinctive mountains there, and a softer Sussex sunset of gentle pinks

EPSON scanner image

Fading summer light detail

And finally a piece from 2017 where the sunset has faded away giving way to the night. You can see more of these on my earlier post called Skyscapes.

C Naylor, Skyscape Nightfall

 

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!

 

Art in Action 2016

07 Thursday Jul 2016

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

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I am really lucky to be demonstrating and exhibiting at what is going to be the very last Art in Action at Waterperry, in Oxfordshire from July 13th-17th. This extraordinary event was started 40 years ago and has gone from strength to strength. It is surely the best of its kind in the UK and will be sorely missed. Where else can you see hundreds of artists working in every media imaginable, showing you how they create their work, alongside concerts, performances and lectures all held in the stunning grounds at Waterperry. So if you havent got a ticket and can make it come along and see it, its your last chance! You can even watch a flamenco performance this year! So if you come along you will find me in the textiles Demonstrators Marquee working on my sewing machine!

I’ve been busy making new pieces all year, from small portfolio ones to a range of stitched and framed canvases. Here are two of the smaller pieces.

“An Abundance of Poppies” 12cm x 15cm aprox (South Downs UK)

An Abundance of Poppies small

“Amber Glow” 11cm x  14 cm approx (Spanish memories)

Amber Glow

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

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

Designer Crafts at the Mall 2014

02 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in Exhibitions, Inspirations, Processes, Textile Art

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Firstly Happy New Year to my followers!

I mentioned this exhibition in my final posting in 2013, so starting the New Year with more information seems like a good idea. The exhibition takes place from January 10th -19th, open from 10-5pm daily, closing at 4pm on the final Sunday.

The Mall Galleries, London SW1 (near Admiralty Arch off Trafalgar Square)

As well as a wide range of textile media on show, quilting, stitching, felting, mixed media and weaving to mention just some of the areas covered, you’ll see wonderful furniture, ceramics and glass, metal and jewellery. You can get a good coffee and scrummy cake there as well! Details on the following website:-www.societyofdesignercraftsmen.org.uk

I’ve already posted some of the images I’ll be showing there as I’ve made them over the past few months-a record of seasonal changes seen on the South Downs.

Here are a couple more for you, looking at stitch detail that I’ve magnified in some cases as they show the way I draw with threads. Enjoy!

EPSON scanner image

EPSON scanner image

EPSON scanner image

 

Making work for exhibitions

30 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by in Exhibitions, Inspirations, Textile Art

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With the Knitting and Stitching Show in London next week and other gallery commitments to fulfil I am very busy stitching. I’m going on with my series based on the South Downs. For non British readers of this blog, the Downs are gently rolling hills that run along just inland from the south coast of England and I live a five minute drive from them. They have influenced my work for many years. The forms and colours change dramatically throughout the year, and it’s this that I’m currently exploring. Light, shadow, crops and pathways are recurring features for me.

I put up a couple of images earlier this summer but here are sections from two recently completed works. They will be on show for the first time at the Mall Galleries in London in January along with other pieces from the series.

EPSON scanner imageEPSON scanner imageAnyone likely to visit AlexandraPalace next week for the K&S show do come and see me!  You can also find out more about this show on

http://www.theknittingandstitchingshow.com/london/

So here are the two central sections from the Downs, one based on summer, with hints of poppies in the fields, and the second looks at days in early autumn with the Isle Of Wight in the distance.

I’ll be posting later again this month with more exhibition news.