Blog Post
Painting on Aida (Part 2)
My previous post about painting on Aida looked at the beginning of my experiments. After rejecting the idea of either painting or stitching the outline on painted works, I moved forward by embracing the messiness of the process. I […]
Blog Post
Painting on Aida (Part 1)
A major aim of my Contemporary Art Cross-stitch practice is to push the boundaries of what cross-stitch can be, and attempt to create new ways of working within the medium. I began to experiment with painting on cross-stitch fabric, originally […]
Blog Post
Making Something Out Of Nothing
As in any of my practice, I hate the excuse that something can’t be done simply because I don’t have the right equipment or materials, or enough money etc. There are creative solutions to these problems if you look hard […]
Blog Post
Taking Greek Myth to Greece
In May 2017 I was invited to join a group of artists exhibiting in Athens, Greece, as part of Platforms Project 17. I have an interest in Greek Mythology, which often comes into my practice, and so I wanted to make […]
Blog Post
Stitching and Un-stitching Work
Aida can be very unforgiving if you make a mistake while sewing. Where the needle passes through the fabric it enlarges the hole, and if the sewing is then unpicked, it leaves behind a trace of where it once was. […]
Blog Post
Running a Participatory Cross-stitch Project
Back in late 2014, when I began my Thread of Life project, I asked people to make and submit their own version of a pattern I had designed, inspired by a strand of DNA. I was blown away as the […]
Blog Post
Stitching The Thread of Life
My large scale cross-stitch work The Thread of Life (sharing it’s title with the project I ran alongside it), took one year to complete. I had set myself a deadline to ensure that I had an unfinished piece of work. However, […]
Blog Post
The Thread of Life Inspiration
My first big Contemporary Art Cross-stitch project began late in 2014. I applied for and was awarded funding for the project, which involved free Contemporary Art Cross-stitch workshops, a participatory project, and the undertaking of my own large scale piece […]
Blog Post
A Note on Cross-stitch as Craft
In my last couple of blog posts I have written about how I want to use cross-stitch as a form of contemporary fine art. In the past this has got me in to trouble with cross-stitchers who have misunderstood my […]
Blog Post
Beginnings
When I began working with cross-stitch as a form of contemporary fine art, I didn’t want to just be producing any old picture as a cross-stitch pattern. There are thousands of cross-stitch kits out there if you just want to […]