Page 58 - The Digital Cloth Issue 7

a stepping off point for my drawing and
designing; I tease out the lines, the shapes,
the patterns, and the colours from my photos
and express, through these design elements,
what I ‘see’ in the photos. Often there are
many drawings, and I have enough sketch
books with designs to keep me going for a
long time! For the thread paintings I usually
have a completed cartoon, with the design

and colour ways worked out in advance
because it is too challenging to unpick the
amount of stitching that goes into a thread
painting! I use thread in much the same way
another artist might use paint or pencils - to
build layers of colour, shapes, patterns etc.
For the art quilts I often have an idea and
work far more intuitively and loosely, I often
begin with shapes and let the image emerge.
I love raw edge applique and try to use both
the positive and negative cut out shapes.

Until recently I kept the thread paintings and
art quilts separate but more often these days,
I am combining many techniques together to
create an artwork– thread painting, free
motion quilting, hand colouring with
pencils or paint, stencilling, collage and hand
stitching. Recently I participated for the first
time in the 100 Day Project with Aotearoa
Quilters and it was an amazing experience.

I set myself the goal of trying to complete a
small textile art work each day. I have
always thought of myself as being reasonably
disciplined in my creative work but the 100
days took discipline (for me) to a new level.
At times it was incredibly tough to come up
with a new piece each day but the rewards
for pushing through the barriers far
outweighed them. I look forward to many
more years of continuing to develop the
‘threads’ of the rich tapestry of creative

endeavours; of pursuing my own creativity, of
sharing my creativity and of facilitating
ois xx
creative experiences for others.
L