Gregory Wilkins: Varanasi, India: Portrait Number 1, 2017, Colour photography, acrylic paint, ink, graphite, embroidery thread, sewing thread, yarn, collage on canvas
https://www.textileartist.org/gregory-wilkins-finding-purpose-through-embroidered-collage Viewed 25 July 2020
Gregory Wilkins is an American artist who uses photographs, paint and stitch to create his works. I am lucky enough to be part of Textile artist.org stitch club which brings me mini workshops led by new textile artists three times per month. Last week was Gregory Wilkins.
It’s inspiring for me to see an artist working with photography to guide the work but with added texture and formal elements from both paint and stitch.
Starting with a photograph printed on fabric and building up from there is something I’ve done in the past and it gives me structure to work from and avoids jarring misproportions if that was not my intention. Starting with a blank page is very difficult for me and I enjoy the tweaking rather than the blocking in of the foundation.
I will definitely look at trying something with a fabric photo as base in the future.
I would like to try it with my current image but I need a male body to photograph on the bed and my partner just can’t be convinced. There are dogs next door I could ask to borrow for a photo. I don’t like to use stock photos. I was considering trying to manipulate the image I’ve been given to create a prone figure but not sure how well that would work. Still another thing to try.
Sue Lacey 