audrey

Yesterday, in spite of the marauding postal strike, the DVD of one of my favourite stitchers was delivered. Altho she is in her 80s Audrey - fine old name, i know two and they are both redoubtable women- stitches ever onwards. She is solid in her self worth and skills, so very bracing to me who lacks both.

She is a figurative and flower fibre artist.......couldn't resist all those Fs. Fibre artist is perhaps preferable to textile artist as it sounds less like curtains, and covers a wider span of materials. Sometimes I say Mixed Media - obviously just "artist" would be preferable.........
Anyway the DVD is 50 glorious mins of her chuntering on about her work. Finding aspects in common with those one admires is always encouraging. The opposite skill of finding differences with those one does not like is not so positive.
She has/had a small house in Greece and is influenced by the Greek Heroes [gods/goddesses] so her figurative work is strong and monumental. She also explores the Greek myths, plus being very interested in the Adam and Eve story.
I see the latter story [it is all the woman and that serpents fault/the original sin] at the root of gender evils I am thrilled to see how she explores the theme in stitch.
She had some stitchings of her mother on the wall, done in the 1920s I guess. tall painted figures that mother stitched in markings of strong straight stitches, with phrases as part of the whole. Auders didn't seem to fully recognise the continuation between her work and her mother's, just saw the use of lettering.
To commemorate her legacy she often includes bits of lace table cloths her ma made in her work, which led AW into part curtains in her scenes etc.
It is all very fascinating.
I am hoping to use the DVD as a bolster to my focus. It showed her working on large pieces, often on a large frame as hand tapestry is done, so I will try taking the cheap and nasty canvas off the cheap frames i buy and cover them with a softish fabric so I can work straight on the piece, rather than faff about afterwards trying to make the finished piece fit a frame.
However she often machine stitches zigzags to make a base of colour before the hand stitching and that can't be done on a frame........well it can, if not too big. Alice K machines huge areas of felt, and just accepts the warping that it causes, but then she is AK. AW mostly hand stitches now, with organzas etc to provide the backing shade, but I find her straight stitch less integrated and the shaping direction of the stitches cruder..........