I was thinking for much of 2021 about the relationship between my drawing practice and my textile practice. I don’t feel they need to be the same but I’m interested in their different aspects and how they relate.

This series has been influenced by my attempts to increase my range of mark-making in drawing, through taking some online courses, and the range with which I feel confident and comfortable.

One of the differences between the two parts of my practice is the materiality of felt, in particular the potential for embedding elements within the fibre and concealing and revealing them, by design or by chance.

The considered mark-making and the happy chance combine to create different atmospheres, often related to landscapes I have been studying.

Another aspect of my approach to felt is starting by using bits and bobs left from previous projects. It satisfies the ‘waste not, want not’ mentality I absorbed from my mother and grandmother. And it often reveals connections between aspects of my work which I wouldn’t otherwise have seen, again reflecting a balance of consideration and chance.

It’s the difference between what we look for and what we find.

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