Drawn Thread Forests with Catherine Jordan

For the past two days I've had the pleasure of learning from this warm and talented woman, Catherine Jordan.

I've been admiring Catherine's work for years as she tends to exhibit her work at the Woodlawn Needlework show each March.  

Her work is wonderfully three-dimensional and she uses a combination of drawn thread, fabric painting, needleweaving and embroidery to make contemporary forests, boxes, journals and more.

I just love how her trees not only recede back into the composition but come forward as well, reaching over the picture frame.

Our project yesterday was this 4"x6" contemporary drawn thread forest...

Though it appears as if this forest is deeper than one piece of fabric, it's not.  Isn't that cool?

The first part of class was learning to withdraw threads and re-weave them to create an opening in the linen...

That took me most of the first day...a bit time-consuming but well worth it.

Next, we each painted the fabric, giving added dimension to our forest setting.

I love a process class like this where individual choices makes each piece unique. 

Folks were choosing shades of autumn, spring and summer and pieces started coming to life...

We learned many tips for shading and creating skylines during different seasons and times of day.

Once the stage was set, the fun continued as we learned methods for weaving our trunks and embroidering the foliage...

Lots of decisions needed to be made about tree placement, foreground and background...

As well as clipping out threads to make space for the trees to breathe...

After two days of work, some of our forests were well underway...

And some of us only had the beginnings of an idea...

I decided on a dark and creepy forest and spent yesterday painting my linen and working on a creepy tree.  Just one.

I have visions of something like this..

Though I'd really like to keep working on it, I've got to push it aside to work on a few other things for Mrs. Rose and my Japanese embroidery.

Most of the time when I attend a workshop at my Guild, I feel badly because many of the courses are not available to you in your areas.

Here's the good news.  Catherine is teaching this class, Contemporary Forest Necklaces, at the Shining Needle Society online and registration is open now!

If you are not yet a member of the Shining Needle Society Yahoo group, you can go here to find all the details.  There are MANY opportunities for you to take classes there, just request to sign up and you will receive updates on class offerings.  Catherine's forest class begins November 1, 2014 but registration closes today so get a move on!

Catherine Jordan will also be teaching at EGA National Seminar in Phoenix in a few weeks.  If you can't find her there, spend some time perusing her website to see her work and her class schedule.  She sells kits for many of her designs (including instructions) as well as supplies.

Oh, and check out her maps (kits here, workshops here)!  They are amazing! And there's an online class for that too if you're interested in making one for your area (details here).  

I would love to do the Chesapeake Bay so a group of us from our EGA Chapter hopes to research one and stitch it together with Catherine's assistance.  She told us about a group in Cape Cod that is creating one for a class she'll be teaching there next Summer which gave us the idea.  Thank you Catherine!!

Here's hoping you get to learn from her one day.  She is wonderfully open with her expertise and her workshops are chock full of information that will open up whole new areas of possibilities in your needlework...

Literally.

Through the Eyes of My Blog

Make no bones about it.

This blog has transformed my life.

Susan Tuttle said it most beautifully in her article titled A Room of One's Own in the most recent issue of Somerset Life. She said,

When I create a blog post there is an unveiling of truth that takes place -- I am often surprised by the manner in which the photos I share and the thoughts I write about weave together into a cohesive whole, revealing something more powerful than I could have ever imagined.

And as I have written posts, day after day, and week after week...my heartsong has been revealed to me and I have made amazing self-discoveries.

Like the fact that I absolutely love photography.

Jim gave me my first digital SLR camera about 6 years ago -- but I didn't really move past the "auto" settings until I began serious blogging. I wanted the pictures in my posts to help tell the story...and that led me to explore creativity in photography that went beyond the green auto setting.

This year for Mother's Day, Jim bought me a new camera body that has a much more powerful sensor...this will help me take better pictures in low light (aka indoors). Right now, I am slogging my way through a 500-page manual on getting the most from my camera and I'm not even bored. In fact, I'm fascinated. (OK. You can call me on it. Some parts are boring...)

It's like a whole new world has opened to me and I have just jumped in with two feet. And this Summer, I've been more quiet than usual because I've been studying photography and taking lots of online classes on taking photos, workflow and editing. And *phew*, it's been quite a ride.

The first online class I took was a few years ago from Karen Russell. I love everything about Karen's photographs...She has the gift of telling her life's story through her images which is something I aspire to do.

Through Karen, I learned of a new community called Clickin' Moms. Since they charge a fee for membership, I decided to join for only 6 months. Now, after reading all of the tips in the forums and learning through watching the process of thousands of talented women photographers, I wish I had become a lifetime member right out of the gate! There are tons of free tutorials, helpful members willing to respond to questions, and many different courses being offered all the time.

They should have just called it Clickin' Women. Even if you're not a mom, it's a very active group of talented photographers and worth checking out.

So that's some of where I've been.

Studying photography so that I can better share my life's story with you...

And with me.

{My brother John sent me this link to a speech given by photojournalist, Renee Byer, who won the Pulitzer Prize for telling a story with photographs. Here's a link to just the prize-winning photographic essay titled A Mother's Journey. It's a bit tough to watch but very beautiful...}