Rose Painting

I have begun painting a large composition of a rose I have in my garden. This painting will be large  with five blooms and some buds. I have painted the first flower which was fully open and the oldest bloom of them all. I have used sennelier paints which are lovely to use. The first flower is finished and I have now stared a fresher bloom. I will draw the leaves after I have painted the roses. The paper is white, I have trouble photographing my paintings.

Hand embroidery pendant, roses round a cottage window.

I went to Sissinghurst gardens a couple of weeks ago and the weather was lovely. The gardens at Sissinghurst are fantastic and gave me the inspiration to embroider a view of a cottage window surrounded with roses. There were many beautiful roses growing at Sissinghurst and I took many photographs. The result is a hand embroidered pendant necklace of roses round a cottage window.

Miniature hoop embroideries.

I have been having great fun designing and stitching some miniature embroidery pendants. I based them around my idea of a beautiful garden. I have embroidered three oval designs; a rose covered arch, a fountain and a garden bench. The rose covered arch has tiny french knot roses rambling around with a path stitched in straight stitch. I have tried to create shading under the arch. The garden bench is stitched with french knot roses and straight stitch shadows under the bench. Both these design are sewn on a blue silk fabric. The fountain is stitched on a gorgeous green batik.

Pastel course and rose brooch.

Hi, I have just completed the fourth project in the pastel course by Jane Ward. This course is a great way to get started with pastels and is available through Jane's Etsy shop. It was lovely working on a project so bright and cheerful. I have also completed an embroidered brooch. The rose embroidery was designed by me and was stitched on silk Haboutai. All brooches are available from my Brushes and Bodkins Etsy shop shown above.

Long and short stitch embroidery.

Hi,
I have been embroidering some flowers in long and short stitch. The flowers were stitched using DMC and Anchor embroidery thread and the leaves with a linen thread. I think a butterfly would be a lovely addition to the piece and possible a ladybird. I have just begun the butterfly using 22 gauge wire. I want the butterfly to look as if its flying.

Button hole painting and doll clothes.

Back to work this week after the Easter break. My Tuesday students are painting Biden plants with the aim of adding a Fuchsia and a Pelargonium to the composition. My Wednesday class are painting Aqualegia flowers. It is lovely to see all the plants in the garden growing well. The sunshine certainly makes a difference. I have begun a new painting of a button hole flower from a photograph of my friends sons wedding. I hope to make available custom orders for customers to have wedding button holes or corsages painted as lovely keepsakes. The rose was very pretty and had a hot colour feel to it. I am gradually building up the depth of the colour and using some lovely oranges. I have used Sennelier paints for this project. I love these paints and use them more and more.

                                                                                                                            I have to continue to build up the colour on the rose. I have not yet achieved the depth I would like. I have also completed knitting a jumper and cap for 18" Doll. The pattern I used was by A Jacknitts Design by Jacqueline Gibb which can be purchased from her Etsy shop. These patterns are lovely to follow.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               I have also sewn from my own patterns some dresses to fashion dolls. I have some great daisy print fabric and decided it would make pretty summer dresses. I made three styles of dress. I particularly like the full skirted dress.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Textile art

It has been a very busy couple of weeks. My son was home from uni, another year completed. He has gone back to uni for a month to gain more experience. It was lovely having him home. I have been knitting dresses for Barbie and framing up some of my embroidery pieces produced during my City and Guilds course. I have also put three of my framed paintings and four portfolio pieces into the local exhibition run by the Brentwood and Billericay Wild life trust. The open exhibition begins on the 12th July. It was lovely to be selecting paintings to enter and to paint a new painting. Have a look at the framed embroidery pieces. The three smaller works are now for sale on my Folksy shop.

Embroidery course update

Hi, Just a short note today as time is flying by and I am working hard to complete the City & Guilds course. The fan I have designed is complete and I have submitted the module. The next module for the course involves making the bag and stitching several pieces of pulled thread work, drawn thread work and cut work. Lots to do.

Embroidery course update

Hi, I have nearly finished module ten of the City & Guilds course. I am waiting for the glue to dry on the fan I have made and then I can finish and photograph it. I have made lace style roses and butterflies, machine stitched on soluble fabric and machine embroidered roses on hand dyed fabric. I wanted to create the effect of a climbing rose. I have hand embroidered the stems using cable chain and stem stitch. I used perle 12 variegated thread and it produced a lovely effect. I combined the machine made roses and butterflies with lace flowers I had dyed pink. I stitched the pink lace flowers to the back to give a soft finish. The leaves were a combination of those cut from hand dyed silk fabrics and those made by machine embroidery. I will show more photos when the fan is completed.