Currently I am working towards the first gallery show of the year. It’s a new venue The Fountain Gallery in East Molesey near Hampton Court.
I am delighted to be sharing this gallery space with Jaci Hogan to present a two woman show. We enjoy displaying my textiles and Jaci’s pastel drawings together as they share the same level of detail and texture. We are both working on the same theme of water.
WATER: COAST, LAKE AND SEA 23rd May to 4th June 11am to 5pm Tuesday to Sunday 26 Bridge Rd, Molesey, East Molesey KT8 9HA
A selection of our work that will be on display The 3 stages of this embroidery shows the silk painted base, the layers of stitch building up the texture and detail and the final finished piece ( 20 x 20 cm)
The show will include my intricate detailed embroideries alongside Jaci’s beautifully observed pastel drawings. Vibrant and textured interpretations of water in all its forms. One of us will be in the gallery each day and we look forward to seeing you there! If you want to meet me email me to find out which days,I will be there. alison@alisonholt.com
My next big event is an exhibition in Cheltenham in December. I am busy making new embroideries and I am excited to be showing a selection of my new work in such a super gallery.
Pastel drawing by Jaci Hogan
The exhibition is called CHANGING HORIZONS, and I am sharing the venue with pastel artist Jaci Hogan. We both work in a detailed way but in very different mediums. We will be showing a wide range of richly textured artwork of the natural world. This will include stunning animals, birds and landscapes by Jaci and my embroideries inspired by rock pools, coastal walks, woodlands and the English countryside.
Jaci’s method of using a combination of a soft pastel base with pastel pencil details allows her to encapsulate the different textures of each animal from the fur of a leopard to the feathers of a nuthatch. She feels each animal deserves it’s own treatment and she spends many hours building layers to achieve the beautiful finished artworks.
My aerial scene embroidery on painted silk
It is at the SIXTEEN GALLERY 16 Rotunda Terrace, Montpellier Street, Cheltenham. Gloucestershire. GL50 1SW We open on 15th December and it runs until 21st December 2022, open from 10am to 5pm each day except Sunday when we have something special happening!
We invite you to MEET THE ARTISTS on Sunday 18th December. Open from 11am to 4pm we will be stitching and drawing in the gallery! We will be sharing our creative process with you and talking about why we make art. There will be mulled wine and mince pies, as well as an array of items for sale from cards to stitched prints and original artworks. There is no charge for this event and all are welcome, I do hope you can come along.
This is a great opportunity for people to see the exhibition of two very interesting artists and buy Christmas gifts with a bit of individuality.
As an Aurifil Artisan i have the opportunity take part in monthy challenges. I decided to get out of my comfort zone and sign up for this month which was a fabric partner collaboration. We were sent Forbidden Fruit Snacks Kiwi cotton fabric by Tula Pink and Aurifil 4093 50wt cotton thread and no instructions! Total freedom to create anything we like to showcase the fabric and thread.
I decided to make a cushion panel with a mixture of the printed fabric and some embroidery versions of the fruit. The stages are shown in the step by step photos below
Creating a new fabric with random patches and stitches!
First I used a lime green cotton (colour 1231) to stitch down my small patches of frayed edge fabric
I added stitched berries in 2 variegated threads (no. 4648 and 4657). These worked beautifully giving me colour variations without having to change thread. I set the machine on zigzag and moved the hoop slowly in a small circle to form each berry.
Finally I added more structure to the design with straight stitch around the outer edge of the design
When flying I have always been fascinated by the aerial view of the landscape. It can be the first view of a new country or the last you see of somewhere that has stolen your heart. So often an emotional experience, I remember the excitement or the sadness that view creates.
I think it’s so interesting to see the landscape from that perspective. It’s broken down into shape, pattern, colour and my favourite…texture! Also a completely different colour palette to the UK so often new and beautiful colour combinations to get excited about. Over the years I have been fortunate to take trips in helicopters, sea planes and a hot air balloon. Often on the coast, sometimes over forests and woodlands and have never used these ideas for my embroideries until now.
A selection of aerial embroideries
For some of the pieces my process has remained the same, I paint my composition on silk and stitch the detail on top. Others have seen me experiment using black silk as my base. I am creating more texture than before, using a range of weights in my threads. Aurifil cotton in 28, 40 and my usual 50 weight helps me do this.
Work in progress showing the silk painted base.
I have now become hooked on this imagery! It forms part of a new body of work for a forthcoming exhibition called Textures in the Wild, for March 2022, it will be launched at the Willow Gallery, Oswestry
Created on black silk
Textures in the Wild is a collaboration with Jaci Hogan, a successful pastel artist who has recently turned her attention to wild animal portraits. Using a combination of pan pastels, soft pastel sticks and pastel pencils she achieves life like and tactile studies of some of the world’s most majestic wildlife. Check out her work on Instagram @animal.artistuk This collaboration started as a conversation about each other’s techniques and processes which sparked the idea to create to create a body of work together which would celebrate the beauty we both find in the varying range of textures within the natural world. During the planning we have encouraged and inspired each other to step out of our comfort zones and explore new ways of working.
4 stages in this embroidery showing the development from paint base to stitch detail
Its always a pleasure to create another project for my Aurifil Artisan group. This month is an easy brief, a seasonal project. It seemed obvious to me it had to a snow scene! I have been experimenting with contre jour and finding ways in paint and stitch of creating that illusion of light breaking through the landscape.
The first stages show 1. My drawing on silk using a textile pencil for guidelines and gutta for the frame. 2. The sketchy painting to give some background colour and structure to the composition. 3. Choosing my range of threads. 4. The first few stitches for distant foliage.
I have worked with a series of straight stitches so far, drawing what I see in the background of the photograph. I then move forward to the foreground and start incorporating some zigzag stitch to give bolder, smoother marks for the snow and give perspective to the work.
1. My reference photograph on my tablet for a constant reminder of colour, shape and texture. 2. I have added some tree tunks. 3. Moving to the middle distance and working some snow on the ground and a few more tree trunks. 4. Finally to the foreground with zigzag for the snow speckled textured trunk.A finishing touches like decreasing the size of the sunlit “hole” and its complete. This embroidery has the classic limited pallette, I only used 9 colours of 50 weight Aurifil mako. They are beautiful shades and quality to work with. I love the way it looks like it snowing!
I am very pleased to be an Aurifil Artisan for a second year. It’s a pleasure to work with them as a company and use their fabulous threads. Here is a step by step of my process showing the evolution of my Lavender Field. This has been worked using my favourite Aurifil thread, 50 weight cotton.
1. Choosing the composition and threads. 2. The first few stitches on my silk painted base. 3. Adding more shades of green for the trees and defining the lavender plants 4.Starting to embroiderer the lavender flowers in the distanceProgressing towards the foreground adding more flowers and stems
The flowers are worked in a straight stitch at first and I as move towards the foreground I use a small zigzag stitch to make a larger mark to represent each flower. The direction that they lie, the size of stitch and the various shades of purple all add to the realism I aim for.
I try to get movement into my scenes, so you can imagine the lavender moving in the breeze. It’s a living thing and I want it to look alive!
I felt an update was due to let everyone know how the last few weeks have been for me. If you read the previous blog post you will be up to speed on the #artistsupportpledge.
The support has been wonderful, thank you. My sales have continued thanks to collectors of my work in USA, NZ, UK and Europe. So lots of trips to the post office and perfecting my wrapping skills!
The other great part of the pledge is the promise to purchase artwork from another participating artist. I have linked up with artists all around the world following their work on Instagram. Here are the first few pictures I have bought.
The first purchase. An oil painting, The Brisoms by Steve Sherris an artist based on the Ilses of Scilly
This is my second purchase, “Morning Light” by David Smith a UK artist. It hangs in our breakfast room and looks great especially in the evening lit by the lamp below.
I will continue with the pledge producing new pieces of my work with the incentive to be able to buy more from other artists but also grateful to have an outlet for my work during this time. It has become a joyous community of artists that have connected with each other through worrying times.
Clockwise top left- Oil by Christina Weaver.(USA) Watercolour by Sara Johnson. (UK) Watercolour by Deboah Gourley (UK). Oil by Sergiu Ciochina (MOLDOVA)
It is such a generous scheme, giving everyone access to original artwork at a fraction of the cost that artists normally sell for. Something to cheer us up until life gets back on track.
If you are tempted to buy take a look on my embroidery page on my website and look at the range of £200 or less embroideries on offer. I will be adding new ones regularly too.
Thanks again to all of you who have bought so far your support is much appreciated.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many artists like me have found themselves without art fairs, teaching and gallery work. Exhibitions and sales have disappeared. In an attempt to help alleviate some of this stress a UK artist Matthew Burrows instigated the ARTIST SUPPORT PLEDGE #artistsupportpledge
The concept is a simple one. Artists post images of their work on Instagram, which they are willing to sell for no more than £200 each. Anyone can buy the work. Every time an artist reaches £1000 of sales, they pledge to spend £200 on another artists work.
Matthew said. “I realised the work needed to be cheap enough to make selling it an act of generosity, but also I needed to make that infectious because generosity creates generosity.” Since Matthew posted his first image and wrote those fateful words ‘I pledge’ it has become a global movement towards a generous culture and economy in support of artists and makers.
The first 4 embroideries I created under the scheme inspired by my walks with my new dog in the glorious weather we are having here.
I thought this was such a great idea so I have joined in this initiative on my Instagram and Facebook pages. I have created new work especially for it priced at £200 or less. It has been successful and I have subsequently bought pieces of artwork from participants on the scheme! A painting of a seascape by an artist on the @scillyartist, a watercolour by @debourahgourley and a beautiful misty landscape in oils @davidsmithart
4 more embroideries based on the beautiful cherry blossom I saw in Japan
These £200 embroideries are also available on my website for people who don’t follow me on Instagram and Facebook. If you want to see the new ones as I post them you can follow me by clicking on the Instagram or Facebook logo on my home page. Thanks!
It feels good to produce new work, sell to all over the world and the best bit is having the perfect excuse to buy art, its addictive!
It’s a strange time, I find myself creating art for exhibitions and events that have been cancelled or at least postponed. It makes me realise that deadlines and imagining my work in a space is quite an important part of the process. That has always helped to supply the drive. I have had to produce work with no aim other than for the love it! How wonderful you say, but it was a tricky transition at first!
Life doesn’t feel too different from normal on some days but lockdown can produce a level of anxiety, fear of the unknown and worst of all, separation from loved ones, we all know now how that feels. We are all trying to find the positives each day. For me this means long walks with my new dog Bobby, accompanied by my son or husband who share lockdown with me. Baking flapjacks and chocolate cake, cooking lovely food and gardening. Wine o’clock has crept a little earlier in the evening than usual and sometimes it’s a cheeky G&T to round off another day.
It’s been a pleasure to allow the good weather to distract me into my garden, which, like many is in shock due to the amount of attention its getting! Cooler days and inspiration gets me in the studio creating embroideries.
I have been working on pieces that were due to go in exhibitions as they were already in progress and I was keen to complete them. In addition I have been experimenting with my embellishing machine. I have tried to make images by felting layers together, learning which fabrics work, how to blend colours and finally add definition with stitch. It has been an interesting learning curve.
One of my embellished landscapes
I have experimented with filming myself stitching, thinking it would be of interest. It was a challenge, getting the right gadget to hold the phone, trying not to nudge the camera when I rethread the machine, getting the right camera angle and still be able to see to stitch! I got there eventually and posted the results on social media with a great response from followers, so it was worth the effort!
