What a lovely summer my boys and I have had. Whilst it was initially hard to get very excited about all the new happenings due to a very hectic workload and a lack of good sleep, there is now time to reflect and enjoy what has happened.
Last Sunday my sons, my niece and myself spent the day in London – the visit was arranged so that I could hand deliver my piece of work ‘A bar of drinking chocolate’ to Diana Springall. At the beginning of the summer at Art in Action, Diana Springall, a very well known British textile artist and collector of work made by needle and thread since 1970, had purchased my piece of work to add to her collection.
At first I had had my usual rush of nerves and worried that my work just wasn’t good enough for such a collection – but this is nothing unusual for me when I am tired and running at full steam. However, after an amazing trip to New York and some time to relax with my boys, I was able to enjoy the success and appreciate the accolade. I could also realise that my anxiety over the making and selling of my work aptly fits my process of working – obsessive attention to detail with changes of threads for just a few stitches in the attempt to achieve perfection which is then lost in the final stage when the backing fabric is removed and the threads find there own space. My mistakes become part of the work and how this is interpreted is much the same how I handle issues in life itself.
And now there is time to realise the most important accolade – my sons’ approval and delight that I had finally let go of a piece of work and it would have a place in Diana Springall’s collection. Without Josh and Mikey’s support, my work just could’t happen and for that I will always be grateful.
Please see this link for more information on Diana Springall Textile Collection
To continue the very good summer, Josh has had his own success by gaining an A* in his ‘A’ level Maths exam. Next year will be the second year of sixth form for Josh and the start of GCSE courses for Mikey. For myself, my first project with ‘Seam Collective’ – a shift dress that will be drawn with stitch and discuss a chronic lung condition called ‘Bronchiectasis’.
