Intuitive artmaking

I love to use intuitive processes to create my art. They require little or no planning ahead so are good to employ when I am short on time. I can sometimes get bogged down in preparing art materials and composing designs so these, more impulsive, processes help to get me making art when I need to get something done quickly to feel like I am making progress. Examples of intuitive processes I use include blind contour drawings, collage and slow stitching.

Blind contour drawing

This is so simple and quick and requires very few materials; just something to draw with and something to draw on.

Blind contour drawings in handmade journal

Collage

Collage is another favourite technique of mine. I don’t make pictures with collage but rather I enjoy playing with shapes and colours in different compositions. I use pages from magazines as well as vintage papers and book pages to create, usually small, compositions in a sketchbook. Sometimes I can make a collage quite quickly and other times I will spend a long time considering the placement of each of the papers.

Collage of magazine, vintage and eco-dyed papers

Slow Stitching

I often start my slow stitching process by creating a collage of fabrics to work into. This can be either a fast or slow process depending on how considered I want the piece to be. Once I have the background complete, I will start to stitch into it using a variety of hand embroidery stitches.

Slow stitched book cover