You win some, you lose some.

I created this piece, "Boats: After Hokusai" as an entry for the RHASS (Royal Highland Agricultural Society Show) 2013. The class was "Boats, Blackwork". Being me, I started with absolutely no idea what I was doing, so as usual, I winged it.

I started from a Hokusai print of fishermen and a pleasure boat.

It was much more detailed than I wanted, so the first thing I did was to draw it out in rough, removing the figures and some of the smaller details. Having done that, I marked the shading to highlight the darker and lighter areas before transferring the outlines to graph paper.

The next step was to add in the stitching lines. The small amount of cloud at the top was obviously the darkest area, so I decided that it was the best place to begin. I chose to create a 'stitch' based on an octagon with a square in the centre. With that drawn in I could see that the lighter areas could be created using 'partial' version of the same motif.
The boats were obviously lighter in shade than the rest of the picture so I decided that they should be completed in backstitch.

When I started to put needle and thread to linen, I did at least understand that if I had to ensure that I was not drawing threads across the back as they would show through. That was quite tricky in places and I spent a lot of time weaving through the threads on the back.

It took me 90 hours to design and stitch 'Boats'. It is worked on 28 count linen and the stitched area measures 10" by 6½".

And you lose some. It came last! Was I upset? Well, I admit I was a little peeved. It was the only piece in the class that was 'original'. On the other hand, I have to admit that while practically every other piece was the same design of a galleon under full sail, they were mostly much better stitched than my entry.

And you win some. What I won was a much better understanding of blackwork.

Earthnight, 27th November 2000

I made this for a competition in Scotland in 2008. The theme was Night and the sub-class was an embroidered cushion, The title comes from the inspiration, a NASA photograph of the Earth at night, dated 27th November 2000.

                                         

                                                   

I was fascinated by the strings and clusters of light and the areas with few or no lights and as it fitted, in my mind, with the theme I decided to create a cushion with a wrap-round map of the earth at night. I did not want the bright areas to be 'in your face', nor did I want a contrast in the colours of the land-masses. During daylight hours the earth is a series of bands of colour, but they don't show up in the same way at night. After some consideration, head scratching and fiddling with options, I decided to keep it simple.

The ground is grey linen, the continents are outlined in running stitch and the infill is cross-stitch. The only exception is the Antarctic which shows as lighter that the other continents. I worked that in a zig-zag running stitch. All the stitching is done with the same (DMC) black stranded cotton.
I then added white beads, packed or spread to reflect the values of the bright areas in the NASA photograph. I secured the beads by sinking them between the arms of the cross stitches AND strangling them. I was determined that they would stand proud and not wiggle!

The finished cushion is about 15" tall and 8" across. If it was a picture it would be about 25 inches wide. It took 109 hours to complete.

And the competition?
I'll admit I was disappointed. It wasn't that the piece did not get placed, I don't think this was some of my best work. What disappointed me was that in the show guide, the hundreds of beads I had so carefully sewn on were described as 'pins stuck in'.
That's what comes of not having Artist's Statements. We may hate having to write them, but at least its our chance to describe our work and how we did it, in our own words. 'Pins Indeed!'