Studio Practice

Well it isn’t exactly Tracey Emin and my bed is not the title ,but if have finally partly put together part of my installation of embroideries titles’The worst Journey in the world ‘which was a phase coined by Whinston Chirc

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hill when he described the ordeal of the Arctic Convoys.There is three pieces of embroidery in this work,a blanket, a jacket and an army shirt.The jacket is the main piece which I have photographed and spoke of quite a lot in this blog, the shirt which I have folded neatly in the old suitcase.This shirt I have stitched the countries where he visited during the war apart from the town of St Helens where he was born and grew up,the town where he was destined to stay there ,live and work in either the coal mines or the glassworks.Where the jacket tells in general the whole story and the stories he told us about the war ,the blanket tells of nightmares,and thinks he didn’t talk of much at all also blank space where experiences went unsaid.This piece of work is quint personal to me and my family but to the viewer I hope that they can take their own stories from the work and enjoy the visual and intricate work on the jacket.

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Finally the last few days are upon us and we are all busy working and busy withthe mundane jobs such as painting the floor ,the walls and fixings on the back of the paintings.I have also filled in my risk assessment form and thinking of every scenario of bizarre freak accidents that could happen to people. I have however managed to reign myself in from possible head entrapments and severed fingers due to the antique army campaign bed I have in my display,so kept it simple for my own sake before the health and safety police come to cart me away.Im still busy with the art,I don’t think it will ever be finished(the jacket)because I keep thinking of more things to add to the work I know at some point I will have to stop.I have left the studio today with my work leaning against the wall with not much idea of where to hang the paintings and embroidery and where to put the bed.I have decided not to use the mannequin to hang up the jacket because a mannequin would be a bit too obvious.My tutor Jane suggested this to so it confirmed what I was thinking anyway.

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Well I have been so busy creating ,making and sewing and working on my traditional paper sketchbooks I have hardly had time until now to update my on line presence.I realise that it is important to keep up with my blog,I have every intention to, but making the work has taken priority but also I think that if there is no work there is no blog.
I have been so busy working with mainly stitching the old army jacket and the dress picture which is embroidery over paint.I have put a lot of thought into displaying my work and also pleased with the decision to have the dress picture professionally framed because although it was quite expensive I am so happy with the end result and so looking forward to seeing it on my wall for the final degree show along with my other pieces of work.The paintings are all finished and ready to hang,finally I think I will be more able to have a good nights sleep tonight.

This work was inspired by a vintage child’s dress belonging to my daughter which reminds me of dresses I had when I was a child.I have been working on this piece for quite some time as most of the work is stitched with tiny straight stitches over most of the painting. The painting is on un-stretched canvas and the stitching has changed the texture of the canvas almost looking as if it has been woven,which I find quite interesting.I also find the back very interesting which has left me with a dilemma of how to display the work. When I first set out to do the piece I thought of having it framed so I can hang it on the wall with the paintings, but now I am not sure because I think I might want both sides to be seen especially because I think the title might be’two sides to every story’,so I might have to think of somehow sandwiching the work between two pieces of Perspex and making a stand so that it can be viewed on both sides.

This work’Tippi Hedren’ was an appliquéd suit to pay homage to the actress in the film’The Birds’ by Alfred Hitchcock the work was a collaboration between Tracey Emin and Sara Lucas in the 1990’s when they ran their’shop’ which was a gallery studio in London they worked together in producing and selling work.The suit was a green woman’s suit which was appliquéd with images of birds and displayed on a Mannequin.This came to mind when I was thinking about my work and I was given the vintage jacket I was well into sewing the piece when I remembered the piece of work by Sarah Lucas and Tracey Emin so it gave me the confidence to continue with my work and also think about how to display my piece.
I did think about suspending the jacket somehow with clear thread or fishing line but with further thought settled with a mannequin which I bought from eBay for a reasonable price(a male shape)I am thinking of stitching onto an army shirt which I have and leaving it in a crumpled heap at the foot of the mannequin.I will have a flat wall with my paintings behind and the mannequin in front so that it can be viewed all the way round as I have worked onto the jacket on all sides.