For centuries women have used cloth as a tool of comfort and as an expression of beauty within their homes. Creating cloth for warmth, cloth for shelter, our female predecessors embellished these linens with hand stitch using laborious and time consuming techniques thereby enhancing the functional beauty of objects which enveloped and protected their families. Inspired by these women I hope my creations pay tribute to and recognise the devotion expressed in cloth by our female ancestors .







''the use of traditional often time consuming process alludes to the devotion of a mother''. c K. A. Ruane 2007







Tuesday, November 29, 2011

sketchbook....

There is an obvious lack of ''current'' embroidery today. I will resist an apology as I think you may prefer this anyway...another video. This is a sketchbook from 2007, probably my favourite ever sketchbook. 
I hope you enjoy it.....


Also, while I am here and just because I can, a plug......my shop is dead....dead I tell you. Doesn't anyone want a wonderful Christmas gift for someone special? There are so many cobwebs over there I fear I may have to condemn the place!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think the sketchbook is wonderful, too, Karen - not surprised you say it is one of your favourites!

Suztats said...

i enjoyed your sketchbook video, Karen. Thank you.

fabriquefantastique said...

really must start keeping a wee sketch book again

monika@mysweetprairie.ca said...

Etsy sucks for me too. I do much better locally and with facebook it seems. I have seen some people load or link a shopping cart onto their bLog. Good idea if all your traffic is here already. You have to network a lot on Etsy to make it work for you.
Monika in Canada

Sandy said...

Hi Karen,
The video was very interesting. It was great to see how you got ideas and how you developed them. I wish we could see the sketchbook better!

you asked for comments. The difficulty was that it was hard to see what was on the page because it was too far away or too out of focus, something.
Ideas:Not sure if you could edit videos to insert closer photos for the bits you have referenced verbally? The one close up you did was the only one you could really see the work properly.

another problem was that the page near you was hidden in your shadow alot.
Ideas: perhaps you could put an anglepoise light on the opposite side which could shine onto the page.

Anyway...hope you don't take it all wrong. It is just that your work is so great it would be nice if you could find ways to show it more clearly.
Still a fan,
Sandy in Bracknell
PS where can I find out about the course you are starting in January?
Thanks.

jan b. said...

Thank you Karen for showing us your sketchbook. I love seeing how artists approach their work and your inclusion of samples along with drawings/paintings and photos is very intriguing and fascinating.

deanna7trees said...

didn't have time until now to watch the video. enjoyed that one close-up, wish i could have seen all the pages close-up. are you planning on giving any new classes after the first of the year? i like to plan in advance so i don't overload myself.

Wendy said...

Hi Karen, I really enjoyed your video...thank you for sharing your creative muse with us...I too would have liked to see more closeups of your work as that was the clearest on the video...at the same time I drew much inspiration from your video and will be making one of these in the new year...again thank you for your time and sharing of your creative muse....when will you be having another class for the whole cloths?