After over twenty years as a primary teacher I became a full time artist, returning to painting was challenging and satisfying in equal measure. Painting full time allowed me to spend my days working with colour, my absolute passion. After a while two things started to happen: more and more of my paintings took on the form of a grid, and I also found myself wanting to stitch into the dried paint.
The influence of quilts on this portait of a garden (detail)
At the same time a quilt made by my grandmother came back into my life after a long absence. Inspired by this beautiful item I started to paint patchwork quilts and also to stitch into the quilt with some visible mending…. then without warning my painting became blocked.
My Grandmother’s Quilt
It felt that the sewing wanted to take precedence. I started embroidering, how did I know how to do these stitches? Chain, back, stem, running, fly stitches. These stitches and this knowledge were coming from somewhere deep, somewhere important.
cottamarts 