life

Behind the Scenes of Pet Portrait Commissions

| janethaigh

Once in a blue moon, one really good thing leads to another and another; so here is Max, the second good thing to flow from The Dog Quilt I was commissioned to stitch him when his owner saw the big quilt and the portrait of Dougal as shown in the previous post.

Starting any new commissions, regardless of subject is always exciting, for me and hopefully my clients. Sometimes it is a leap and sometimes a swim into the unknown for both of us. I always ask for any information that the client thinks is important for me to hear, plus lots of their favourite pictures of the subject even if I am visiting to photograph things for myself. Now I am learning that those favourite pictures often span years…

So looking at these 4 images above, which version of Max am I going to portray? they make me feel that Max is somewhat vulnerable and very wary, then I learnt that he is a rescue-dog from a far flung country in the Indian Ocean.

I started by actually drawing into the photoshopped images in order to edit Max into a middle aged dog after some discussion with the owner. I sent these first images to him for comment and hopefully approval.

Here are some of my drawings with samples of materials and stitching technique, based on one of the dogs in the Dog Quilt.

The Dog Quilt portraits now serve me as a sampler for a myriad stitching and embroidery techniques. Below is the pencil drawing I eventually used as the scaled up working drawing for the hand embroidered portrait. It has very precise broken lines to describe stitch directions but most importantly it depicts his gaze.

I sent these images to my client for feedback and he said to go ahead, with no time deadline and no extra requests. What follows are a just a few of the many stages of building up the portrait. First an outline tracing from the design drawing, then the coloured base drawing using Derwent Ink Tense pigment pencils that act as a guide for the blended colours of the coat and a useful dyed background. From the start of this process Max looked me straight in the eye, it was wonderful to see him emerge.

Using stranded cotton threads I stitched a basic undercoat to give me the directional stitching of the hair

Then the ‘top coat’ stitched in single strands of pure silk following the direction of the coat

Now the contours the face emerge (I have always thought that if I can faithfully describe the surface, what lies beneath will become visible) To get the quality of the blended colours, I ply 2 dark and light strands together – a Japanese technique I learnt years ago on a travel scholarship to study kimono (another story)

Nearing completion and time to tackle the eyes: it is so important to keep the gaze focussed on the observer – who wants a picture of their pet looking away?

Here I compare and contrast the early research samples with the finished and stretched embroidery below

Lately my private commissions have started up again. I always prefer to work like this, in direct contact with the people who have chosen me. This post shows the ways in which I develop my small stitched portraits – not just dogs, but gardens, vases of flowers and even, at the beginning of my career, whole families.

Max

| janethaigh

Once in a blue moon, one really good thing leads to another and another; so here is Max, the second good thing to flow from The Dog Quilt I was commissioned to stitch him when his owner saw the big quilt and the portrait of Dougal as shown in the previous post.

Starting any new commissions, regardless of subject is always exciting, for me and hopefully my clients. Sometimes it is a leap and sometimes a swim into the unknown for both of us. I always ask for any information that the client thinks is important for me to hear, plus lots of their favourite pictures of the subject even if I am visiting to photograph things for myself. Now I am learning that those favourite pictures often span years…

So looking at these 4 images above, which version of Max am I going to portray? they make me feel that Max is somewhat vulnerable and very wary, then I learnt that he is a rescue-dog from a far flung country in the Indian Ocean.

I started by actually drawing into the photoshopped images in order to edit Max into a middle aged dog after some discussion with the owner. I sent these first images to him for comment and hopefully approval.

Here are some of my drawings with samples of materials and stitching technique, based on one of the dogs in the Dog Quilt.

The Dog Quilt portraits now serve me as a sampler for a myriad stitching and embroidery techniques. Below is the pencil drawing I eventually used as the scaled up working drawing for the hand embroidered portrait. It has very precise broken lines to describe stitch directions but most importantly it depicts his gaze.

I sent these images to my client for feedback and he said to go ahead, with no time deadline and no extra requests. What follows are a just a few of the many stages of building up the portrait. First an outline tracing from the design drawing, then the coloured base drawing using Derwent Ink Tense pigment pencils that act as a guide for the blended colours of the coat and a useful dyed background. From the start of this process Max looked me straight in the eye, it was wonderful to see him emerge.

Using stranded cotton threads I stitched a basic undercoat to give me the directional stitching of the hair

Then the ‘top coat’ stitched in single strands of pure silk following the direction of the coat

Now the contours the face emerge (I have always thought that if I can faithfully describe the surface, what lies beneath will become visible) To get the quality of the blended colours, I ply 2 dark and light strands together – a Japanese technique I learnt years ago on a travel scholarship to study kimono (another story)

Nearing completion and time to tackle the eyes: it is so important to keep the gaze focussed on the observer – who wants a picture of their pet looking away?

Here I compare and contrast the early research samples with the finished and stretched embroidery below

Lately my private commissions have started up again. I always prefer to work like this, in direct contact with the people who have chosen me. This post shows the ways in which I develop my small stitched portraits – not just dogs, but gardens, vases of flowers and even, at the beginning of my career, whole families.

More birds in Skirts

| janethaigh

The last week of my exhibition Inspired to Stitch at Hidcote Gardens and this week ,taking stock of the whole experience, I find myself reflecting on, amongst other things, what sells and why. My small prints of the Birds in Skirts are still selling well and in a few weeks will be winging (sorry) their way to their new owners.

But it is often the case that the works I have most affection for (or would like to keep for myself) often do not sell immediately. I am particularly fond of the 2 larger A3 prints with the crazy patchwork skirts. I designed and made these fabrics for my first ever book, Crazy Patchwork, published by Collins and Brown in 1998. These 2 pieces were made into lampshades – yes that’s right, I made crazy lampshades – so I unpicked them from the shade shapes and used the still pristine patchworks for the large skirts.

IF I was buying from this collection, I would choose the lovely old white fabric designs chosen from my collection of vintage fabrics; strips of hand embroidered tape lace, Broderie Anglaise and crochet braids and ribbons that I have lovingly hand stitched together. But not one has been ordered – hey ho! obviously have been overlooked by the more colourful iterations or maybe it is the lack of the pastel skies?

But the Beribboned birds, below, made with the more modern and beautiful coloured ribbons by Renaissance Ribbons are still available….so what do I know?

And my very first versions of designing and stitching the complicated Jacobean embroidery techniques, that took so long to research and develop, have still to find a new home – Hey Ho! But does any designer ever know what will be the most desirable objects of all their creations?

And here is my latest version of the birds, it does not appear in the exhibition but is the result of a swift video made for instagram showing how I made this woven version….maybe there will be more to come as I have recently accepted a commission for one as a special birthday present…..