The Textile Cuisine

Another Hildegard's from Bingen vision made in stitches. This is the biggest one (so far) - 65 cm in diameter. Don't know about you, but for me there's definitely the calming effect of looking at her 12th century model of the world and realising it is pretty much the same as today. As long as the earth revolves it is all same old. It is not clear what is in the centre because it keeps changing through the centuries but it doesn't matter that much. If I was asked for the one thing that could make our life better it would be respect. And I mean it in the broad sense - respect for life, nature, our planet as well as respect for yourself and the others. Respect for the past and respect for the future. We are guests here and there's enough space for all of us. We don't have to like each other, we don't have to like animals or plants. It is enough to give them some respect - let them live their lives and remember we are nothing more or less. Hope that with...

Some years ago I read an essay by Olga Tokarczuk on her relationship with trees. She was dreaming about the machine that would be able to recreate stories witnessed by old trees through their life. I immediately "saw" this kind of gramophone and the songs it could play. The many different small worlds rising and falling around the same tree for 200 or 600 years. It was fun to create all the variety of small landscapes, with little details here and there. I love to create landscapes in small formats and they are always more about emotions than the real views. Here are the most recent ones - "Golden fields" This one is framed and available HERE . And "Beyond my garden" - ready to frame, heavy embroidered beauty in tones of pink.

The longer I live the more cycles of life are clear to me. And I find them very uplifting, especially when things look bad at the moment. It is like, you know, watching bare trees in winter with the awarness of spring coming sooner or later. So who is surprised that playing with a new circle of trees inspired by Hildegard's von Bingen vision will be the best choice for some mindful and meditative artwork? Not me. Working on this piece connects so many elements and ties them all in a wholeness, just like mandala. Of course the most mysterious and intriguing is the centre: But each seson has its reason too. And the small pleasures it brings. Earlier this year I made a smaller and slightly different version of the same subject: The change of seasons is less visible but I guess I was so desperately looking for green trees that I had to stitch some at least. It is interesting to look through the archives and compare all my Hildegard's visions done so far: And I...

Welcome to the New Year and to my new work. I told you in the previous post that I'm bad with resolutions and prefer to go with the flow. Little did I know where this will take me right from the beginning of a year. It started innocently with a picture: Witam w Nowym Roku i z nową pracą. Mówiłam ostatnio, że nie jestem dobra w postanowieniach i raczej będę płynąć z prądem. Ale nie miałam pojęcia dokąd może mnie on zaprowadzići to od razu na wstępie nowego roku. A zaczęło się niewinnie, od zdjęcia: photo by Luke Hemmings   I was exposed to this picture by my friend, poet and writer Louis Hemmings who knows my interests quite well. The picture was taken by his son Luke and, as you may guessed, I loved it from the first sight.  Coincidentally it has happened that I was reminded of a well known Medieval embroidered dragon:  Pokazał mi je przyjaciel, irlandzki pisarz i poeta Louis Hemmings , który dobrze wie, co mnie może zainteresować. Zdjęcie zrobił jego syn, ...

You didn't like it that I started Autumn so early but I can't help - it is in the air and on my mind. And here you see the proof - "Autumn in the orchard" :) Nie podobało Wam się, że tak wcześnie zaczęłam mówić o jesieni, ale cóż poradzę - czuję ją w powietrzu i w sobie. Najlepszym dowodem moje świeżutka "Jesień  w sadzie" :) Maybe working on this piece made me so positive for Autumn? Może to praca nad nią tak pozytywnie nastroiła mnie na jesień? Frankly speaking we have wonderful weather now - it is still hot in the sun but the air has its autumnal crisp already, which feels very fresh. Zresztą pogoda też całkiem całkiem - słonecznie, gorąco, ale powietrze miłe, chłodne i odświeżające. And the colors are shining - leaves are still green but the fruit and autumnal flowers burst with color. A kolory wprost świecą - liście jeszcze zielone i na ich tle feeria barw owocowo - kwiatowych. So don't blame me, it's not my fought, it is... Se...

It depends. While beading red raspberries I wanted something different to relax my eyes. Little did I know how much different. I had a deep need to stitch something dark and shiny. That's how this "Lake in the forest" came to life. To zależy. Podczas szycia malin potrzebowałam jakiejś odmiany dla zrelaksowania oczu. Nie przypuszczałam, że aż takiej odmiany. Miałam głęboką potrzebę szycia czegoś ciemnego i z błyskiem. Tak powstało "Jezioro w lesie" And yes, my eyes were resting during the process. Why? Because it was almost impossible to see anything so I was sewing "from memory". I naprawdę moje oczy przy nim odpoczywały. Dlaczego? Bo trudno tu było zobaczyć cokolwiek, więc szyłam "z pamięci".  I used this rich silk jacquard for the background, dupioni silk for the lake and simple black shapes of trees. So when it came to quilting I was just going through imaginary branches. Tłem jest cudowny jedwabny żakard, jezioro to jedwab typu...

 If you remember my old interpretation of Hildegard's vision of the world you won't be surprised that I revisited it recently. But this time the result is a bit more dramatic - "Trees in purple" :) Jeżeli pamiętacie moją dawną interpretację wizji świata św. Hildegardy nie zdziwicie się, że znowu do niej wróciłam. Tylko teraz efekt jest nieco bardziej dramatyczny - "Fioletowe drzewa":) And this time I documented some steps from the process. So, here is the beginning: I nawet  udało mi się zrobić kilka zdjęć w trakcie tworzenia. No to tak to się zaczęło: My biggest challenge was to keep the circle circle (you know what I mean). More or less but it really looks like a circle and lies flat. Then came the branches: Największym wyzwaniem było zachowanie okrągłości kółka (wiecie co mam na myśli). No i raczej wygląda jak koło i to całkiem płaskie. Czyli czas na gałęzie:  I'm not a big fan of variegated threads but sometimes they are quite u...