INTRODUCTION

 

Forget any preconceived ideas you may have about ‘embroidery’ and what you ‘can’ or ‘can’t’ do ..

In this workshop we looked specifically at Mixed Media, which, put simply, is about creating a single artwork by combining two or more materials or techniques. This can involve mixing paints, paper, and fabric with found objects, photographs, or natural elements.

To be honest, most of the work which we have undertaken together already has elements of mixing media:  traditional stitching combined with needle-felting, fabric collage, inclusion of objects and the introduction of 3D elements, for example. But, this workshop will look specifically at combining painting with stitching in an almost counter intuitive way namely: stitching into paper, and applying watercolour paint to fabric.

 

FREEDOM

I think that for me, freedom in my own work came from the belief that there are no rules. You can’t do anything wrong.  The surface you work on can be whatever you choose it to be. A mark can be made with paint, pencil, a stick, a hand or a thread. If you can make a hole in ‘it’, you can stitch it or connect it to something else.

The task for this project was to make a piece of artwork which combines paint (on fabric or paper) with decorative or functional stitching. 

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