Well – I feel that I have spent enough time on this piece – not one of my better ones, now to decide:-
1) Plop in ready made frame
2) Have it framed.
Decisions, decisions!
Your comments are invited and welcome.
Click on image for a larger view.
Sometimes it is difficult to know when a piece is finished. Often when I think a piece is done – I put it out of sight for a while, then I can come back to it with fresh eyes and I will see any glaring omissions or imbalances.
As a working artist – I have to balance the amount of time I spend on a piece with the “asking price” and this piece is a good example of that.
I love hand stitching, especially seeding and french knots – I could seed and french knot until the cows came home, or until I make a hole in the end of my stitching finger. I know, I know – that’s why thimbles were invented. However, I have decided that I need a summer thimble and a winter thimble – my hands were so cold in the studio to-day that my thimble kept falling off.
So, when I wore a hole in my finger, I decided to stop the french knots and running stitches on this piece – to work at it anymore would just mean that I was going to pay myself about 6p an hour – assuming that it sells. In all honesty, on this piece, another few hours of hand stitching would not add to the work.
So when DO you decide when a piece is finished? I think for me there is a whisper in my head that says “enough” and I stop. The enough can be made up of many things, enough hours spent on one piece. To do more would be to “overwork” the piece. Enough, because suddenly I have ideas for the next piece and want to move on.
On reflection – I think it is easy to overwork a piece, my rule of thumb – is that I stand back from the work and squint at it. There is the fine line between the stitching looking spotty, or blurry – if nothing jumps out too harshly then the seeding and knotting are probably right and then you have probably reached the “Enough” point.
This is just popped into the frame with no mount-board or backing – just to give an idea of how it will look.
The other great thing about hand stitching is that it gives me time to think. To-day I was thinking how nice it would be to give this piece a name with “Flora” in the title – she is the goddess of flowers in Roman mythology, unfortunately, in the U.K. that word is associated with a well known brand of margarine now.
I finished this little piece a week or so ago, but I have let it “sit” for a while to make sure I didn’t want to add anything and to-day I decided it was OK – although as yet it has no name.
(detail, click on image for link to larger picture)
The finished work is approximately 20cms x 20cms (7 inches x 7 inches), so quite small.
Materials used include tissue paper, tissutex, bond-a-web, fibres, copper, beads, wood, leaves and hand stitching.
Wolf Moon is now finished – in this picture it probably does not look a lot different than in the last post – but there is more stitching on it. I don’t know why but all the close ups I took of the piece today showed a real haze on the layer of organza (with light reflection I suppose) – but it is not there at all when you look at the real piece. It is quite hard to photograph – which will be a problem if I want to have giclee prints made from it. (OK not a problem – a challenge!)
I am going for the unglazed unframed look in my work at the moment – which is quite new for me – people do worry about dust and unframed work – especially in textiles!
The naming of a piece of work is always something I find thought provoking and interesting.
Sometimes the name comes first – I will hear or read a phrase and immediately it invokes the idea of a piece of art. Other times – as in this case – I was working to a brief “In a country churchyard” and the name of the piece is still undecided.
While working on the big piece – in my mind I was calling it “Fabric of Life” – however I like this title so much that I really want to do a series of work with this title – or use it as the theme for an exhibition.
I have been toying with variations on journeys and songs – as the piece has a “journey line” in it – which is a theme I enjoy but nothing I thought about was really right.
Friends came around this evening to have a look at the art before I submit it for selection tomorrow. We were all playing with thoughts and ideas – what the piece was saying to us as individuals. Trying to find the appropriate name.
One of the group said “Sacred Mysteries” and I knew that was right – Again for me it is an internal click – I suppose like putting in the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle; Click the jigsaw is finished; Click the piece is named “Sacred Mysteries”. The title says everything I want the piece to express, and I am happy.
The Gift for a Friend
This piece is now finished, and it is called “The Gift” (Size 20cm x 20cm)
below is the finished piece, and some details.
Detail showing ExtravOrganza scroll
Detail showing the service sheet background
(in Welsh)
photography Nigel Thompson
please click for larger image
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