Machine embroidery, mixed media
214 x 61 x 60 cms
One of my earlier pieces, featured in Embroidery Magazine.
In 2001 the exhibition of embroidery at Ramster House in Sussex included a competition sponsored by the National Trust entitled 'The Spirit of the Place'. I was inspired by the Westbury Court oak, one of the oldest oak trees on National Trust property and I made a trip there to explore. After making detailed measurements, photographing and sketching the oak I was determined to recreated this magnificent tree in stitch.
A piece of plywood cut to scale formed the base and then chicken wire was stapled to this to form the trunk and branches. I also used expanded foam as a modelling material. To this I added snippets of fabric, leather, suede, wool and threads and all of these were machine stitched onto lightweight fabric and chiffon. Machine threads in green, grey, brown and blue secured everything inplace. I then built up small areas at a time and blended these together to avoid any demarcation lines.
The piece took me six months to complete
