Colour Archives - Catherine Gowthorpe

I’ve been…..

Tuesday 27 June 2017 By Catherine Gowthorpe Leave a Comment

I’ve been…. doing a number of things. Lots of work, for one, but I’ve managed to keep going with stitching too. I’m currently working on a large sample piece, exploring squares (yet again). Here’s a photo of where I’m up to with it:

I’m fairly sure I’ve blogged about the importance of constraints in the past. At the moment I’m constrained by what I’ve got available because most of my stitching materials are in storage. So, when I was planning this rather large sample piece, I was making do with the range of colours and materials I have available. Regular readers of this blog will recognise the square, pretty much my favourite shape, but in this case I’ve added in a few circles as well. This piece comprises 9 x 9 x 2 inch squares, so its overall size is 18″ x 18″. It’s made mostly out of squares of cotton, and a few squares of silk, left over from other things. The cotton is dress fabrics, batiks and a bit of quilting cotton in plain colours. It all goes together quite well, although it’s a bit bulky in places because I’ve left relatively large seam allowances. This is to take account of the silk, which tends to fray. But it’s quite easy to sew through.

You can’t see from this photo, but there is an attempt at a coherent design in this. I haven’t just stuck the colours together at random. If I get it finished (will I, won’t I? Don’t know) I’ll try to get it all into one photograph.

I’ve been posting regular updates on Instagram, and will continue to do this. So, if you don’t see any more on the blog about this, have a look on Instagram. I know I’ve said it before, but I’m enjoying Instagram.

Filed Under: Colour, Instagram, Quilting, Samples, Stitch

A surfeit of pincushions

Saturday 10 June 2017 By Catherine Gowthorpe Leave a Comment

Yes, I’m really starting to feel that I’ve produced a surfeit of pincushions. It’s partly due to circumstances. I’ve done so much travelling around in recent months and I’ve found it very convenient to keep these little pieces on the go. And they’re great for using up small pieces of cloth that are just too lovely/precious to throw away. I also find them very useful for experimenting with colour combinations, so they are fulfilling the functions of samples. However, you can have too much of a good thing, so I’ve stopped making them for the time being and will move on to something else. Here’s a picture of some I’ve completed recently:

Filed Under: Colour, Samples Tagged With: Pincushions

Stitching activity of late

Monday 5 June 2017 By Catherine Gowthorpe Leave a Comment

Having flogged and left the house (see last blogpost) in early March, we then went up to the Scottish borders for a few days, then pushed off to France for about three weeks. Many months ago, when I first found out about it, I had booked to go on a Matthew Harris mentoring workshop in April. And I was quite determined not to miss it. And I’m really glad I didn’t.

If you’re interested in stitching, and if you’ve read my blog previously, you will have heard of Matthew Harris. Here’s a link to his website. I have previously attended one of his mentoring workshops at Bobby Britnell’s in Shropshire and very helpful it was too. However, I was keen to also go to one of his workshops on his own premises in Stroud, because the number of students was even smaller than at Bobby’s. There were six of us altogether, three per studio and each of us had a large space of our own in which to work. I found it very useful to discuss my work and where I’m up to. Matthew is very good at encouraging ideas and suggesting possible directions to explore. For example, he suggested I have a look at the work of Shirley Craven, a textile designer of the 1960s. Very pertinent, very helpful. (Look her up on Google Images and you’ll get the idea).

What I specifically discussed during the two day workshop was the possibility of working on paper. I wrote a brief blog post towards the end of March on the subject, and I’d been doing a bit of work on it (although not much because of the house move and toxic quantities of income-generating work).

I did some sketchbook work, developing a basic shape which I then used in several permutations. Here’s an image that made it as far as being painted and then stitched:

And here’s how I developed it at the mentoring workshop in Stroud:

I cut out a template of my basic shape, and then experimented with overlaying it in various ways. I do like the effect.

I cut a similar design (gouache and coloured pencil on paper) into strips and rearranged them:

I like this one, too, and I can see some scope for scaling it up. However, I’m going to have to wait for a while before I can engage on such activities. In the house we’re moving to (provided all goes well), there is quite a large studio at the bottom of the garden. It was a stable but was converted into an artist’s studio. Imagine how happy I am about that! It’s properly insulated and has a stove so I will be able to work there all year round. It’s well lit from above, and there is plenty of space in it for working on a fairly large scale. So, this red and white piece could be a candidate for the first large piece I make in my new studio…..

Filed Under: Colour, Materiality, Samples, Stitch

Linen thread

Thursday 23 February 2017 By Catherine Gowthorpe Leave a Comment

I’m very attracted by linen thread. Over the last year or two I’ve built up quite a collection. I got them all out the other day and put them in my useful shallow basket:

At the bottom right is some of the thread I bought from Namolio at a show. This is lovely, but comes in quite a limited range of colours. On the left is a little stash of vintage Swedish linen thread which I got at the Linladan stall at K&S in Harrogate in 2015. (Click on the links to get to the Namolio and Linladan websites).These are beautiful threads, although pretty expensive. As usual, when I buy something quite expensive I’m wary about using it. Which is a ridiculous attitude if you spend half a second thinking about it. The only thing that could possibly justify the expense, surely, is actually using the materials. Well, it’s illogical, but I think it’s quite a common attitude. There’s a feeling that you’re under pressure to produce something really good, and it would be wasteful to just experiment and maybe produce something you’re not satisfied with. Understandable, maybe, but it’s an attitude that needs resisting.

At the time I pulled back from buying a whole box of Linladan thread – at £38 per box, it seemed a bit much. But look at this example here and you’ll see why I was tempted…

Isn’t it lovely? Now that I’ve got my actual threads together I see that they’re mostly in rather sombre hues, and there’s very little contrast. Either I shell out on this box of threads, or I use some cotton or silk when I want a bit of colour contrast. I think for the moment I’m content to do the latter.

And what am I going to do with these threads, I hear you ask? Well, more on that next time….

Filed Under: Colour, Materiality

Excellent present

Tuesday 7 February 2017 By Catherine Gowthorpe Leave a Comment

It seems (and is) rather a long time since Christmas, but I thought I’d just tell you about an excellent present I received. My son and his girlfriend have been spending quite a lot of their spare time recently producing mosaics. They’re both really into it, and it’s a lovely, creative, activity that they enjoy working on together. On Christmas Day they gave each of us (husband, me and daughter) an identically sized package to open, which turned out to be a very well-executed mosaic. It’s such a pleasure to be given something that’s been made by the givers, and the more so in this case, because the mosaic theme, colours etc. had been carefully selected for each of us. And in each case, the mosaic expressed something about the character and interests of the person to whom it was given. Very clever.

Here’s mine:

Those readers who are familiar with my work and tastes will realise that this piece ticks a lot of boxes for me. For one thing, it’s square, and I dearly love a square. The choice of colours and the regular gradation within a strict format are also likely to appeal to me. So, well done them. It’s also a great pleasure to see your children being creative. Like me, my children have chosen careers in the professions/business, but of course, like me, they can make the most of their spare time to do other things.

This piece of mosaic is framed and stands on my desk so I see it while I work. What a pleasure!

Filed Under: Colour

A whole lot of pincushions

Wednesday 30 November 2016 By Catherine Gowthorpe Leave a Comment

Regular readers will have observed that I’ve not been posting much recently. I’ve been too busy a) working and b) making pincushions to have much time for anything else. I’ve just finished a pile of 8, as shown in the first photograph. Each pincushion is 4 inches square (approximately 10cm square) and each has a button top and bottom. It’s been a great opportunity to explore my button box which otherwise doesn’t get touched very often. I’ve put a small button on the embroidered side of each pincushion and a larger feature button on the plain side. Here’s a plain side to illustrate:

And finally, here’s a close up of one of the recent additions. Why so many, and what am I going to do with them? Well, there are many because I’ve simply enjoyed making them very much. And what will I do with them? Sell them, I hope. If my work goes into the next Prism exhibition I’d like to put some items into the shop. And I keep returning to the idea of opening an Etsy shop and these little items would be ideal. I may even get round to it someday.

Filed Under: Appliqué, Colour Tagged With: Pincushions

More pincushions

Saturday 5 November 2016 By Catherine Gowthorpe Leave a Comment

After making one pincushion (see previous post) I was seized with the notion of making a few more. I’m currently busy with some work that I intend to submit to the 2017 Prism exhibitions (this is not a typo – there are two exhibitions, one in London and one in Birmingham in 2017). In this work I’m exploring some ideas in black, white and my favourite chromatic greys. It’s very absorbing but it’s not what you’d call colourful. So, embroidering some pincushion bases in a riot of colours makes a lovely change from the more sombre colours. I’ve prepared several of these pieces. The one pictured below was finished this morning:

It looks a bit of a mess, but will look much better when it’s made up into the finished article. I prepared eight of these in advance and took them away on a recent trip, and I’ve spent some very contented hours stitching them. Before I left I stuffed some threads into Ziploc bags, divided into eight colour groups. Choosing the thread colours has been a lot of fun. With something like this you can try out mad colour combinations just to see if they work. Having said that I’ve stuck, broadly, to complementary colour theory. So in the piece above there are yellow/purple and red/green complementaries. Most of the scraps of fabric here are silk. They include (second from right) a little strip of Margo Selby woven silk, which I just love. I got a small remnant bag from her shop a few years ago and much of that small amount is now gone. Wonder if I can get some more?

Here’s a close up of the stitching. I just use whatever stitch comes into my head at the start of a line. So liberating.

Filed Under: Colour Tagged With: Pincushion

Winchester Cathedral

Sunday 25 September 2016 By Catherine Gowthorpe Leave a Comment

I can’t believe I didn’t know about the fabulous floor tiles at Winchester Cathdral. Nobody ever mentioned it. Can’t think why not.

Over the years I’ve been to many cathedrals and churches around England, but had never been to Winchester until last month. You have to pay to get in, but that’s fair enough as it must cost a fortune to keep these ancient buildings going. I was very impressed by the building and by the modest memorial marking the resting place of Jane Austen. But it was the floor tiles that I liked most. I’m sure you can see why, especially if you know of my penchant for grids and repetitive pattern.

Ive been out and about a lot over the last two or three months, entirely within England, and to some places I’ve rarely, or never, visited. Perhaps I’ll write some more about this. Although, there again, I might very well not, as my shortage of time is likely to continue into the middle distance. So, more to come…. perhaps.

Filed Under: Colour, Inspiration

Embroidery on a bike

Tuesday 17 May 2016 By Catherine Gowthorpe 2 Comments

Well, it’s not actually embroidery on a bike – that would be silly. To be more precise, this is about carrying the materials for embroidery on a bike. Husband and I have recently completed a very long bike ride indeed, from Worcester in England to Prades near Perpignan in the South of France where we often go on holiday. This was a mad enterprise, really, especially for a person like myself unused to great feats of physical exertion. I didn’t tell very many people about it before we left, because I was by no means certain that I would finish it, or even get very far. But, much to my surprise, I did finish it. Woo hoo.

I was riding a hybrid bike (hybrid, that is, between road bike and mountain bike) which is useful if you’re covering varied types of terrain as we were. It’s not the lightest bike on earth and nor is it a particularly expensive bike. I was carrying two Ortlieb pannier bags attached to a rear pannier rack. These had to contain everything I’d need for four to six weeks cycling. We were staying in chambres d’hotes and bed and breakfast places along the way so didn’t need to carry camping equipment as some brave long-distance cyclists do. But the bags did have to contain useful stuff like spare tyres, inner tubes, pump and basic toolkit as well as clothing sufficient to cover a range of scenarios (keeping the rain off, keeping us warm, having something halfway decent to wear for dinner, spare cycling clothes, maps, iPad, chargers etc). This was all carefully thought out and planned for before the trip, to try to keep the weight down to a minimum.

Some stats – we covered just short of 2,000 kilometres in 31 days. This included a couple of days off, so our average rate of progress per day was around 67km, with some wide variations (the longest distance covered in a day was 97km). The weather was very poor for much of the trip. The English section was made very difficult by strong winds which were almost always against us. And it was perishing cold for much of the trip in both England and France. I’d taken my three season cycling gloves along because I supposed there would be a few days when I might need them; in the event I used them almost every day.

I don’t like to undertake any trip without something to sew, and I put a lot of thought into this beforehand. Think about it for a moment: what would you take if the weight was a big issue?

And what did I actually take? Well, I took two pieces of lightweight calico, each measuring about 18 inches square. I tacked some other lightweight materials to them in places – little oddments of linen, silk, cotton etc. A 6 inch hoop. A small square of felt with half a dozen needles of different sizes. And then threads. I decided to stick with five main colour groups – yellows and browns, pale greens, greys, whites and pinks, intended to coordinate or contrast with the appliqued materials. I put these thread groups into five small ziplock bags, packaged inside a rather larger ziplock bag. Another larger ziplock bag contained the hoop and appliqued calico, the felt with needles and my small embroidery scissors. And that was it. I weighed it all and it came to less than 1lb (450grams) and I felt that I was prepared and willing to carry this amount of extra weight so as to be sure of having something to stitch when time allowed. Here is the yellow and brown selection in its ziplock bag:

And the photograph below shows the selection of threads laid out on a table:

How much did I do? Well, en route, I was just exhausted for the first week or so and would just fall asleep at the first possible opportunity. However, as the trip went on I did find some spare minutes every now and then, and on the rest days I managed to put in a couple of hours or so. Once we arrived at our destination I had determined that I was going to spend a lot of time stitching, and I did. Was there anything I really wanted that I hadn’t taken with me? Well, actually, no. I’d planned this carefully, and in any case, it’s always helpful to have a few constraints in materials supplies. I’m so pleased I took the materials with me – I wouldn’t have liked to go for almost six weeks in total without having something to stitch.

So, you see, it can be done. If any of you are inclined to take a lengthy cycle ride or any other type of endeavour where your baggage is severely limited, rest assured that you can get some stitching done… Has anyone else done anything like this? Drop me a line or a comment if you have.

Filed Under: Colour, Stitch

And another small piece completed…

Tuesday 26 April 2016 By Catherine Gowthorpe Leave a Comment

As previously noted I’ve been working on smaller pieces. Here’s another in the series:

I’ve divided the space in this one with a vertical line in medium-toned bluish grey. This breaks up the composition a little and gives it some direction. As to the colour choices, I’ve worked without too much planning, hoping to see where the piece would take me. I do tend to find that the introduction of some pink and/or red livens things up and helps to bring the other colours alive. I wonder if any other colour could serve the same purpose?

I feel it’s important to avoid getting stuck in a rut. At the same time, I feel a need to continue to explore colour in this way. I’ve made a sample piece using the same fragmented stitching but working in lines of colour. The light isn’t good enough to take a photo at the moment, but I’ll try to remember to add a photo as and when I can.

I seem to be getting a lot of new viewers of my blog these days. Welcome to all! And please note that I do love to get the occasional comment, so feel free…

Filed Under: Colour, Samples

Contemporary Appliqué