Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Intermediate Retrospective Pt1

For some time now I have been having some correspondence with Linda, the most recent of which has been about our stitching experience & how we learnt our craft. Part of my experience has been through the Embroiderer's Guild here in Sydney, where I have participated in a few courses & classes over the years.

About 12 years ago I enrolled in their Intermediate Certificate, and as this was long before my blogging days I thought I would show some of the work that I did back then.

I'll never forget that first day. On our equipment list was drawing materials, no fabric, no thread. That alone was scary, let alone the still life that was set up in the middle of the room for us to draw. It was very cleverly done, boxes at different levels, covered with a multi coloured cloth. Then on top of each level sat something, a pot, a vase, a book, etc etc. It was done so that no matter where one sat around the table there was something to look at & draw. Guess what we did that first lesson.

Our homework was to go home & draw. We were supposed to draw for at least an hour every day. We were to set up our own still life, draw it, then interpret it into stitches.

Below is the drawing that I did, very faint so I do apologise. But the pic at the top is my stitch interpretation of the sketch below.
That is something that I still find hard, trying to find stitches that work for a particular design in surface stitchery.

2 comments:

Rachel said...

The trick is to think of the texture or form you want to convey.

Oh, and don't be in a desperate hurry to stitch. Time leafing through stitch dictionaries is always well-spent!

Linda said...

It's really nice to see your earlier work Jenny. I am extremely interested in such things. I really don't draw, simple as that. I push myself, but find it quite difficult. I think I'd have been looking at that decanter and wishing for 'something' to be in it, and available!! I think both the drawing and the stitching are lovely. I remember doing a correspondence course with the Emb Gld NSW, years and years ago. It was fun. Thanks heaps for posting this.