Turbulence - Earth Pigments and Stitch

This is the finished piece from the earth pigments extracted from the bottom on my garden during Claire Benn’s course. The linen fabric was primed with freshly made soy milk (not store bought) and then the fabric was placed face down with some threads on a sheet of heavy plastic sheeting. The back was then printed with soy paint made from the fresh spy milk and my ground pigments. It was then left to dry so you don’t really know what you are going to get until it is dry and you lift fabric off the plastic. The underside is the right side of the art work. The threads are called thieves and absorb more of the colour where they are sitting and therefore create an organic pattern.

When I revealed the underside I was reminded of the turbulence of the sea on our west coast so decided to enhance that feature with a a range of French knots in different threads and weights. There are a LOT of French knots in there varying in colour and desnit of stitch.

As I worked I began to contemplate more meanings of turbulence - instability, conflict, upheaval, tumult, troubles unrest. The dictionary meaning is a state of conflict without any order. So the physical characteristics of the sea began to also represent the metaphysical one of psychological upheaval where conflict begins below the surface and suddenly erupts in uncharacteristic outbursts. As I was stitching images of Gaz and Ukraine flitted acros the television screen so yet another vision of turbulence was brought to mind.

Below is a close up showing more of the French knots in colour and density. The piece is mounted on a stretch canvas and I had a very difficult time getting the corners to sit nicely.