I usually have some textile work in progress. I call this part of my practice drawing in thread.
I really appreciate the change of pace that this kind of work offers. Some projects might take a week but most take months or even years. While I’m working I imagine that I can sense the spirits of my mother (who was a perfectionist and a very capable seamstress) and my master tailor grandfather who made uniforms for the army until late into his seventies. My work is entirely different to theirs in its intent. I use thread and sometimes ink to record increasingly rare plants and natural phenomena while my ancestors focussed on less whimsical and far more practical outcomes.
Title: The seas around us (after the book by Rachel Carson).
Materials: ink and thread on undyed calico
Made in Brittany on a promontory, an ‘almost island’, summer 2025.
Backing expertly made by Jayne Smith.
This piece was shown at Terre Verte Gallery in a group show titled “The Seas Around Us” to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Rachel Carson’s book. www.terreverte.co.uk
Title: Our front garden at number 54
Materials: Ink pen and thread on undyed calico
Made over many months of observation of wild plants growing in our front garden. The plants were patient, uncomplaining models.
Backing expertly made by Jayne Smith.
SOLD
Title: Burgess Field study
dragonfly, oak leaf, mallow, white campion, white bryony and St. John’s-wort.
snails shells, oak leaf, grass stem and the song of a blackbird
Rowan, grass and ox-eye daisy.
These photos show details of a piece that I have been working on for the past year. Every element here is sewn onto undyed calico, sometimes using cotton and sometimes silk, with the grasses highlighted in metallic thread. The subject is Burgess Field Nature Reserve where I am currently artist in residence. I began by recording each bloom as it appeared from January through to June, so blackthorn to field poppy. Gradually small creatures joined the plants - a hawking dragonfly, snails and birdsong.
This is an example of a sketch in thread, made in the snowy winter of 2026 in Boat of Garten, Cairngorm National Park.
The material is a piece of undyed cotton sheet with strips of the same joined and embroidered with cotton. The colours were observed on woodland walks, and I have included the folds in the snow banks and roe deer prints.
The Boat of Garten woods are ever beautiful and an inspiration for my work.
