Today we’d like to introduce you to Fiona Gill.
Fiona, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
All my life I’ve loved crafts and making ‘stuff’, it’s almost like breathing. I just have to do it, I have to be creating something. I’ve always had my fingers in way too many pies, embroidery, sewing, drawing, sculpture, pottery, knitting, crochet and more…you name it I’ve probably had a go at it! I think if you’re creative you can turn your hand to most things but finding your direction…your ‘thing’, something that’s unique to you is often the difficult part.
I realized that the only way to find my direction, my path, was to be creative every day whether I felt like it or not. I had to make and make and make to find out what I enjoyed, what I was good at, to find that special creativity that comes from within, to hone my skills…find my unique style. To encourage this process, I began blogging about my creative journey, hence the name I work under today…Marmaladerose…originally the name of my blog.
The success of my blog and the amazing support of the online craft community gave me confidence in my work. People began asking to buy the items I had made, one of them being a large floral, felted-wool, wall hanging heavily embellished with free motion, machine embroidery. A friend saw the wall hanging and asked if I would make one for her but could I include a pair of boxing hares? Now I’m a girl who likes a challenge so I said yes even though I had never drawn an animal before never mind creating one in wool fibres! The finished piece was a success and turned out to be the start of my ‘thing’. A few searches online and the overwhelming response to this and my next few pieces showed me that no one else was making anything like it in wet felted wool and stitch.
Although I no longer blog, I do use Facebook and Instagram to promote my work and this has brought me customers and opportunities from around the world. I’ve had invitations to teach in Australia, exhibit in Hong Kong and guest present on a TV craft channel. My work hangs in homes as far a field as Canada and the US to Australia and New Zealand.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I think my artwork is not unusual in subject matter, but it is unusual in the materials and technique I use to depict that subject. I make realistic wildlife portraits from wool fibres using a technique called wet felting. In other words instead of using paint to make a picture, I use fine, loose wool fibres to create my design and fix the fibres in place by felting them with soapy water.
My pictures are gentle and colorful, a celebration of nature and her simple beauty that we often take for granted. I love the overlooked corners of a summer meadow or the forgotten clump of grasses and wildflowers at the bottom of the garden. Within these stylized flower scenes, I embrace the challenge of creating realistic animals… a snapshot in time…a heartbeat in fibre and thread.
Felting is the term used when wool fibres are wetted and then agitated (I roll them back and forth in a bamboo mat) to cause the fibres to mesh together forming a fabric we call felt. This fabric is strong and durable and makes a wonderful base to stitch on to.
Of course it’s not quite as straight forward as it sounds. Each piece take about a week to make. My design is basically a pile of loose fibres until I felt it. Care has to take that it doesn’t get caught on the cuff of a sleeve or blown away by the draft from an open door. Once I’m happy with my delicate ‘fluff’ picture the next step risks destroying it completely, as it has to be soaked with soapy water and rolled back and forth in an old bamboo mat. The agitation of the rolling action causes the wool fibres to move and mesh together creating a piece of fabric. Of course, this process also causes the fibres to move and the design to distort. The more the piece is rolled, the more it shrinks. Too much shrinkage in any one direction also distorts the image. This distortion isn’t a problem when depicting landscapes or flowers, in fact it’s rather helpful, creating wonderful and unexpected blending and shaping to hills and petals and no one knows that it didn’t look like that to start with. On the other hand, we don’t want a distorted, hunched up hare or mouse! If this happens, the piece is ruined and several days’ work will have been lost.
I often think there must be straighter forward ways to create artwork…surely for the most part, pencil and paint stay where you put them! But… I think it’s the challenge that I like. The challenge of trying to control a natural material, yet… I also like the element of the unknown, you never know what the exact results will be when you finally unroll the soggy wool.
Once the felt has been rinsed of soap and dried, I take it to the sewing machine and enjoy the high-speed freedom of free-motion machine embroidering. This gives the wool a wonderful undulating texture almost irresistible to touch!
What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
Hmmm…There is no rulebook for what we (artists) do. Each artist is different and has their own path to follow. I think you should make what you love… and if you love it, others will see how much love and care goes into each piece… and they will love it too! There is no room for lack of passion… the public are not fools, they can tell what comes from the heart.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Everyone can see my work online, just search for Marmaladerose. Artwork can be found on my website or Facebook page but ideally the textures come alive when you see them in the flesh. For the first half of the year I exhibit at a very busy gallery in Keswick in Cumbria called Cherrydidi and the second half of the year is a little more relaxed.
I attend art fairs and festivals such as the Staithes Festival of Art which takes place in a tiny cobbled fishing village on the East Coast of Yorkshire. Artists take over the entire village setting up pop-up galleries in all the cottages for the whole weekend. It a lovely friendly event and one I look forward to each year.
I’ll also be exhibiting at ‘Art&’ at the Racecourse in the beautiful and historic city of York in October. Working this way gives me structure in the first half of the year and freedom in the second to try new events and new opportunities.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.marmaladerose.com
- Email: fiona@marmaladerose.co.uk
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/marmaladerose.art
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/marmaladerose.art
- Twitter: twitter.com/Marmaladerose
- Other: www.marmaladerose.blogspot.co.uk
Image Credit:
Marmaladerose.com
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