I've been working on some background stitching before going on with the painting which is only half done. There's lots to add, but I'm waiting for supplies - thought you might like an update!
Laura, like her mum Linda, doesn't need an introduction to a lot of you in the arts and crafts world. She is a very well known artist working with print, textiles and paint. She co-hosts DesignMatters TV with Linda, and is also based in Shropshire. Have a look here to find out more. https://designmatters.thinkific.com/
Above is a video of her most recent exhibition space at the prestigious Festival Of Quilts at the NEC, Birmingham, UK. She has won many awards throughout her career and was the original instigator along with Annabel Rainbow, of Through Our Hands, a platform to showcase their work through exhibitions and a quarterly magazine. It developed into a Portfolio website and represented at it's height 27 textile artists. Although there are no immediate plans to make this second version of Through Our Hands quite as large, they are back together exhibiting as a smaller group.
Laura also has a blog here: https://weprintyoupaint.co.uk/blog/
An incredibly inventive artist, she is inspired by her home, immediate landscape, the natural world, family and music. She works in sketchbooks developing ideas and techniques which she's happy to share (see links above). She is happy to use digital print and stitch and her work often suggests a narrative or story; characters and motifs recur, as do colours, patterns and themes.
Working on quilts has it's limitations, but sometimes that provides an edge against which to push!
All images © Laura Kemshall
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| Out of Time |
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| Long Night |
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| Midnight Deals |
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| Starlit Poppies |
Benjamin Zephaniah and George Saunders to go, but here's the 3 local quilts that I've managed so far.
Jennie Moncur studied at Goldsmith's College, University of London before specializing as a tapestry weaver at the Royal College of Art, London. She set up her own studio after graduating, since when she has created work for exhibition and commission.
She has been a visiting lecturer at Middlesex University, the Royal College of Art and at the Glasgow School of Art. Appointed by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport as a trustee of the Crafts Council she was Chair of the Council's Development Award committee. She also served on the Council's Finance and General Purpose committee and the Council's Nominations committee before completing her term in 2004.
Whilst continuously developing the tapestry-artwork produced from her studio, she has also been creative director of the international furniture company Vitsoe since 2004.
Focusing today on some of Linda's work. Linda is an artist working with textiles, watercolour, acrylics and mixed media.
Linda has been making quilts since the 1970's. Originally they were traditional and many of them stitched by hand. She also has a passion for drawing and painting and together with a love of fabric and thread, which has evolved into her own style of work bringing lots of her techniques together.
She often layers images, textures and patterns to produce complex designs involving many different techniques, including digital printing. Her quilts are heavily free motion quilted and sometimes have hand embroidery and embellishments.
She is inspired by nature, the rural landscape around where she lives, her garden, birds and creatures that she sees every day.
She is well known for her publications, books, TV appearances, competition entries, judging international quilt shows, and video courses taught online through Design Matters TV (link on Linktree - sidebar).
Linda is joining us for the Leamington Spa Art Gallery and Museum exhibition in 2025.
I'm back to working on Jeff's quilt, and have been busy doing the veining on his arms. As with most things I do, it's trial and error and I put this down to having no formal art training. Was it Oscar Wilde who said experience is simply the name we give our mistakes? I find painting and making quilts a great challenge because of the near constant problem solving - very satisfying and hopefully less and less is ending up in the bin!
I am also thinking about the Life is Hard and Then You Die sub title of "Chain Stitch". Bit flipping gloomy don't you think? I need to cheer it up a bit and am thinking about "Life, Death, and Everything Inbetween". I think it's the title of a book, or a quote from somewhere that's nudged itself to the surface. Momento Mori means remember you should die, so is a gloomy subject anyway, but there are limits!
I have also thought of a 3rd piece to do which involves a self portrait and the samplers at the museum