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I’m currently in week eight of a six‑month mentoring program called Make Exceptional Work with Amy Kennedy. I entered the program with the goal to develop a cohesive body of work that could eventually be exhibited. Over the past four weeks, our focus has been on the idea of creative constraints. Rather than seeing limitations as restrictive, the focus has been on using them to slow down, look more closely at my current body of work, and understand what constraints might teach me about the way I make things. For this period, I set myself two simple constraints. Using quilting as my method, I decided to use only one colour, and to work with materials that had already lived a life, such as discarded clothing, domestic textiles, and second‑hand fabrics. Working with a single colour has been surprising. Without the distraction of multiple hues, my attention has been drawn to texture, shadow, and the relationship between stitched and unstitched surfaces. Using only pre‑used materials has added another layer of meaning. These fabrics are marked by their use. They carry creases, thinning fibres, stains, and existing stitched sections. Rather than hiding these elements, I am working with them, allowing the previous life of the material to remain present in the finished work. It feels good to keep these materials out of landfill and to respect the lives they’ve lived.
What has surprised me most is the connection I’m experiencing between quilting stitches and drawing. It feels as though the cloth has become a blank page and the needle a pen. This has led me to question what my constraints are teaching me about the way I make things, and what is it that I want to say through my work? This last question is a strange one for me to be asking. I’ve usually had a clear sense of intention in my making. But if stitching is functioning as a form of drawing, I’m unsure how to proceed, and that uncertainty feels both unfamiliar and quietly significant.  WIP and working title - 'The Landscape of my Heart' Materials: damask serviette, backing material not in view is a damask tablecloth
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