VAL HOLMES galerie43@aol.com
My biggest secret is the observation of my surroundings. I look and draw a lot. Even if you are not much good at drawing, whilst you are doing it you are really looking at the subject matter, getting to know it, and beginning to understand how you can interpret it.
Nylon fabrics were ‘embellished’ using a machine embellisher onto the surface of the silk then treated with a heat tool to melt them into the silk paper.
Shows the back of the work after being embellished. Once ready the whole surface was stitched with a selection of coloured threads in different thicknesses.
Silk fibres were embellished into the areas to represent the windows and doors.
Sienna: worked on gummy silk paper made by the artist. The following sequence shows the production of the embroidery.
Drawing of vines in water colour from my sketchbook
Lutradur ( a non-woven polyester fabric used in the building industry) has been painted with acrylic paint, cut with a heat tool, reassembled and stitched with free machine embroidery.
My biggest secret is the observation of my surroundings. I look and draw a lot. Even if you are not much good at drawing, whilst you are doing it you are really looking at the subject matter, getting to know it, and beginning to understand how you can interpret it. A close up showing the use of a wide selection of threads and colours. Polyesters thick and thin cottons, and aurilfil’s lana wool/polyester thread which is so beautifully matt and quite thick. I use it through a 90 topstitch needle with quite a loose top tension – around 2.
Sienna: Worked with appliquéd painted and heated lutradur with different thread thicknesses and colours.
Watercolour of a building on the island of Murano, Venice.
“When you find your way to the sea”. Is worked similarly to 12, except the part on the ground which has fibres and lace stitched onto heavy plastic with invisible thread. The pebbles are attached by hand with invisible thread on the hanging part; by machine on the part on the ground. I use a similar method as for applying shisha glass. The methods are more amply described in my book “ Creative Recycling in Embroidery” Batsford, Amova books, 2006.