<![CDATA[Bright Seed Textiles

<![CDATA[Bright Seed Textiles - Blog]]>Fri, 10 Apr 2026 07:52:58 +0100Weebly<![CDATA["Winter Angel" & the 21 Years of an Angel Exhibition]]>Sat, 19 Jan 2019 12:23:56 GMThttps://www.brightseedtextiles.com/blog/winter-angel-the-21-years-of-an-angel-exhibition

WINTER ANGEL

Last year I was asked to participate in a 2019 exhibition of work by local artists called “21 Years of an Angel”, celebrating the 21st birthday of the Angel of the North and Winter Angel is the result.

The Angel of the North sculpture, created by artist Antony Gormley, stands at 20 metres tall with wings measuring 54 metres across, and can be seen from miles around its home in Gateshead, which overlooks the A1 and A167 roads and the East Coast Main Line..

As I had already created two pictures of the Angel prior to this (shown above), I wanted to try and do something a bit different this time.

To me the Angel of the North stands as a guardian of the North East and also as a welcome marker that I am back home when driving back to Northumberland. I wanted to try and depict the majesty and celestial nature of the Angel as a guardian. In order to do this I decided that the focus of attention should be looking upwards at the Angel against an almost monochrome pale landscape and dramatic sky.

For the first time ever I used a piece of Harris Tweed cut on the bias as the background to the piece, in order to suggest the clouds and sky soaring ever upwards into the heavens. I was a bit worried about doing this, as fabric cut on the bias is quite unstable and I wasn’t sure how it would stand up to being felted. But fortunately there were no problems and it didn’t distort too much during the process of making.

Normally I just use the technique of needle felting to create my work. But this time I decided to enhance the clouds with a bit of free style embroidery using unpicked threads/yarn from several Harris Tweeds. I’m pretty pleased with the results and with myself for trying something new, as it’s SO easy to get stuck in a rut with technique.

The exhibition of unique works of art will include paintings, drawings, Chinese art, embroidery, textile art and photographs; all created by local artists and portraying the Angel in a variety of different ways. It also marks the end of the Angel20 programme, a year-long celebration running from the sculpture’s 20th anniversary in February 2018 to the Angel’s 21st birthday celebration in February 2019.

21 Years of an Angel is being held at The Gallery at Gateshead Library from Thursday 31st January to Saturday 30th March 2019. The image is currently available as a print in 2 sizes and will soon be available as a greetings card from my online shop.

]]><![CDATA[The story behind "Low Newton II"]]>Thu, 23 Aug 2018 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.brightseedtextiles.com/blog/the-story-behind-low-newton-ii

I'm doing a series of blogs with a little bit of background information about some of the Harris Tweed "paintings" in my exhibition. at the Bakehouse Gallery in Alnwick this summer.

This one of my favourite views in Northumberland, looking down the hill above the village of Low Newton across the beaches of Newton Haven and Embleton Bay to the ruined Dunstanburgh Castle.
In Northumberland the sky always seems massive and I wanted the sky to be a real feature in this picture. I used three different shades of blue Harris Tweed for the sky to represent the way the colour of the sky deepens from the horizon upwards.

The building on the right of the picture is known as the Rocket House, now a holiday home, but previously used by the coastguard used to store his boat and rockets. In the middle distance on the right of the picture you can see Newton Pool, a freshwater lake, now a nature reserve for wild birds.

My line drawing for Dunstanburgh Castle III Being "helped" by Marilyn to needle felt.

The line drawing above was cut up and used as you would a dressmaker's paper pattern to cut out all the pieces of Harris Tweed for the picture. These pieces of tweed are then pinned and needle felted onto the background piece of Harris Tweed (the darker blue tweed in the above right hand photo.) All the details are then needle felted into place using wool yarns. As you can see on in the photo on the right, I have quite a lot of blue wool yarns in my stash!

"Low Newton II" has now sold but the image is still available as a greetings card or a giclee print in 2 sizes (£25 & £75) from the Bakehouse Gallery or our online shop.

]]><![CDATA[The story behind "Alnmouth II"]]>Tue, 21 Aug 2018 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.brightseedtextiles.com/blog/the-story-behind-alnmouth-ii

I'm doing a series of blogs with a little bit of background information about some of the Harris Tweed "paintings" in my exhibition. at the Bakehouse Gallery in Alnwick this summer.

This is a really well known view of the lovely coloured houses of Lovaine Terrace in the seaside village of Alnmouth, Northumberland, as seen from across the river Aln.

My first version of this scene won the Alnmouth Arts Festival poster competition in 2013. Winning this competition was quite a milestone for me as it gave me the confidence to become a full-time professional artist. But I have never been entirely happy with the first version as it didn't include all of the houses and this is why I did a second version.

However, the technique I use to create my pictures, needle felting a Harris Tweed collage with the details added in needle felted wool yarns, means that there are limitations as to how small a very detailed picture can be. So as a result the picture had to be pretty large (19.5" square unframed) in order to fit in all the houses. I'd like to think my needle felting has improved over the years and I think that the houses in the latest version are definitely a bit neater.

All my pictures start with a line drawing, which I cut up and use as you would a dressmaker's paper pattern to cut out all the pieces of Harris Tweed for the picture.

Gradually building up the collage onto a large background piece of Harris Tweed the size of the entire picture. Here the background tweed is the light blue herringbone tweed I've used for the sky.

All the pieces of Harris Tweed are pinned and ready to be needle felted into place. Once they are needle felted into place I then needle felt all the details onto the picture using wool yarns. Each picture takes between 35 and 45 hours to make depending on size and the level of complexity and detail involved.

"Alnmouth II" has been professionally framed in a plain wooden frame with an opaque white finish. It measures 21.25 inches square (inc. frame) and costs £750. It is also available as a greetings card or a giclee print in 2 sizes (£25 & £75) from the Bakehouse Gallery or our online shop.

]]><![CDATA[The Story behind Flying Terns]]>Sun, 19 Aug 2018 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.brightseedtextiles.com/blog/the-story-behind-flying-terns

I'm doing a series of blogs with a little bit of background information about some of the Harris Tweed "paintings" in my exhibition at the Bakehouse Gallery in Alnwick this summer.

Northumberland is a very special place for terns. Every year in May, June & July the beach by Long Nanny (a quaintly named stream near Beadnell) becomes the largest nesting ground for Arctic Terns in the UK. Arctic Terns migrate here all the way from the Antarctic, a journey of at least 12,000 miles. The much rarer Little Tern and Roseate Tern also come to Northumberland to breed in the summer.

Terns are smaller than Herring Gulls and these agile little birds can be seen flying up and down the coastline of Northumberland,scanning for fish below, and when they see one, they dive into the sea in a most spectacular manner. In this picture I have tried to capture this behaviour on a clear summer's morning and you can take it from me that there is a calm and sparkling blue sea down below.

There are a few special Harris Tweeds used in this picture. Firstly a very, very rare white Harris Tweed, which I am so lucky to have.

I bought this white tweed quite a few years ago and as far as I'm aware it was specially made for a wedding dress (shown right) for a Harris Tweed fashion show back in 2011.

The show was staged to celebrate the centenary year of the ‘orb’ trademark and showcased cutting edge designed pieces from some of Scotland and the UK’s most talented and celebrated designers including Vivienne Westwood.

I use this white tweed a lot and I don't know what I'd do without it!

Secondly, most of the clouds are made out of a gorgeous and herringbone Harris Tweed woven by Margaret Rowantree of the Adabrock Weaving Company.

I ordered some of this tweed from Margaret and not only did she send me some lovely and very tempting samples, but she also sent me some scraps of the same tweed that I'd ordered but the herringbone pattern in varying different widths. These scraps were what I ended up using for most of the clouds.

I think that the different widths of herringbone just add a little bit more interest and texture.

"Flying Terns" has now sold, but there is a new slightly different version for sale in the exhibition. But this image is still available as a greetings card or a giclee print in 2 sizes (£25 & £75) from the Bakehouse Gallery or our online shop.

]]><![CDATA[The story behind "Anemones"]]>Wed, 15 Aug 2018 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.brightseedtextiles.com/blog/the-story-behind-anemones

I'm doing a series of blogs with a little bit of background information about some of the Harris Tweed "paintings" in my exhibition. at the Bakehouse Gallery in Alnwick this summer.

This is "Anemones", created primarily because they are my Mam's favourite flower and also one of my favourites too. I love the velvet-like texture and really intense colour of the petals, especially the blue flowers. You don't get many flowers that are such a true blue. The inky purple, black stamens provide a great contrast with the bright colour of the petals too. They are also a spring flower and spring is my favourite time of year. The starting point for this picture was the background Harris Tweed as I knew it would provide a really good contrast with the flower colours.

The background tweed is an amazing turquoise blue herringbone woven by Heather Macleod of Handmade by Heather. Heather is one of a growing number of female weavers of Harris Tweed, a fabric traditionally woven by men. I think it's fantastic that women are weaving now. They also seem to be quite a creative lot who like experimenting with new patterns and produce some very interesting and unusual Harris Tweeds.

Heather is one of several weavers I follow who post about their latest Harris Tweeds on facebook. I think this is really great as it makes it so easy to pick up new exciting tweeds for my work. But you do have to be on the ball as they can sell out really quickly. Sometimes a tweed can sell out before it's even woven, just based on a photo of the yarns they'll be using!

"Anemones" has been professionally framed in a plain wooden frame with an opaque white finish. It measures 19.5 inches square (inc. frame) and costs £625. It is also available as a greetings card or a giclee print in 2 sizes (£25 & £75) from the Bakehouse Gallery or our online shop.

]]><![CDATA[The story behind "Winter Fields"]]>Mon, 13 Aug 2018 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.brightseedtextiles.com/blog/the-story-behind-winter-fields

I'm doing a series of blogs with a little bit of background information about some of the Harris Tweed "paintings" in my exhibition. at the Bakehouse Gallery in Alnwick this summer.
"Winter Fields is an imaginary winter landscape with a hare running across the snow under a full moon. There are lots of legends from around the world linking hares to the full moon. For example the Celts believed that the goddess Eostre changed into a hare at the full moon.

This picture is all about blue and blue is my favourite colour, especially teal. Therefore I do love doing winter scenes and pictures that involve sea and sky. The background Harris Tweed in this picture is one of my all time favourites. But sadly I didn't buy very much and I've only got enough left to do a couple more pictures.

Harris Tweed is quite hard to photograph as the yarn its made from is usually blended from several colours. This is a close up of the background tweed I used in "Winter Fields". It is a dark teal made from a yarn that has a small amount of black blended into it.

I have been in contact with the weaver who wove this particular Harris Tweed and asked if they will be making anymore. But sadly they say they haven't seen the yarn again since.

I have a lot of blue tweeds and I really enjoyed using a mix of patterns and colours to make up the trees in this particular picture. Shown in close-up detail in the photo on the right.

"Winter Fields" has been professionally framed in a plain wooden frame with an opaque white finish. It measures 18 inches square (inc. frame) and costs £600. It is also available as a greetings card or a giclee print in 2 sizes (£25 & £75) from the Bakehouse Gallery or our online shop.

]]><![CDATA[The story behind "Lindisfarne Castle II"]]>Wed, 08 Aug 2018 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.brightseedtextiles.com/blog/the-story-behind-lindisfarne-castle-ii

I'm doing a series of blogs with a little bit of background information about some of the Harris Tweed "paintings" in my exhibition. at the Bakehouse Gallery in Alnwick this summer.

This blog isn't so much a story, it's more of a series of photos showing how my pictures progress from being a line drawing to the finished object as shown in the photo above.

My line drawing, which is then cut up and used a pattern to cut out all the pieces of Harris Tweed

The background piece of Harris Tweed, which is the same size as the whole picture. All the smaller pieces of Harris tweed will be needle felted onto this background tweed. In this case the background is a subtle pale grey blue Harris Tweed woven by Annie Mackay of Crotal Harris Tweed.

Cutting out the castle buildings.

Gradually pinning the pieces of Harris Tweed into place.

Everything pinned and ready to be needle felted into place.

A truly terrible photo (sorry!) of everything needle felted into place.

The final stage and most time consuming stage is to needle felt all the details into place using wool yarns. In the picture above most of the details have been added, but the final version has a bit more detail on the sea.

"Lindisfarne Castle II" has been professionally framed in a plain wooden frame with an opaque white finish. It measures 18 inches square (inc. frame) and costs £600. It is also available as a greetings card or a giclee print in 2 sizes (£25 & £75) from the Bakehouse Gallery or our online shop.

]]><![CDATA[The Story behind Coquet Island]]>Mon, 06 Aug 2018 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.brightseedtextiles.com/blog/the-story-behind-coquet-island

I'm doing a series of blogs with a little bit of background information about some of the Harris Tweed "paintings" in my exhibition at the Bakehouse Gallery in Alnwick this summer.

Coquet Island is a small island just off the coast of Northumberland from the small town of Amble. It is less well known than the Farne Islands further up the coast, but it is an important nesting site for puffins and terns, especially Roseate terns.

Roseate terns are now endangered and Coquet Island is the only island left in the UK where there is still a significant breeding population. Roseate Terns have distinctive long tail streamers, similar to the tails of swallows.

Coquet Island is uninhabited in winter, but RSPB wardens live on the island throughout the summer to protect the nesting birds. Landing on the island is prohibited for the general public, but local boating companies from Amble sail close up to the island in good weather throughout the summer, allowing visitors to get good views of the puffins and roseate terns.

This is an imagined composite scene based on elements taken from several photos, with a small fishing boat going out to sea and Roseate terns.

"Coquet Island" has been professionally framed in a plain wooden frame with an opaque white finish. It measures 18.75 inches square (inc. frame) and costs £600. It is also available as a greetings card or a giclee print in 2 sizes (£25 & £75) from the Bakehouse Gallery or our online shop.

]]><![CDATA[The story behind "Autumn Fields"]]>Fri, 03 Aug 2018 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.brightseedtextiles.com/blog/the-story-behind-autumn-fields

I'm doing a series of blogs with a little bit of background information about some of the Harris Tweed "paintings" in my exhibition. at the Bakehouse Gallery in Alnwick this summer.

This is an imaginary landscape inspired by the landscape of Northumberland near the Cheviot hills. The idea for this picture came together gradually as a result of doing quite a bit of driving about during last autumn and being inspired by the colours and the patchwork quilt effect of the landscape when viewed from a distance. The field in the foreground has just been harvested, with just straw stubble left in the field and I used two vintage herringbone Harris Tweeds I have had for years to achieve this effect.

I have been collecting Harris Tweed for 12 years and I couldn't tell you how many different colours and patterns I have now. Last year I counted all the larger pieces of different blue Harris Tweeds I had and counted 63. I've bought more since and then of course there's all the blues that I've now only got small pieces of. Anyway... you get the picture. I have lots of different colours to work with! People often ask where I get my Harris Tweed and if I just use scraps. I buy my tweed by the metre and tend to buy most of my tweed online, often direct from the weavers. I have also visited the island of Harris/Lewis a couple of times and last time I spent £800 on tweed! If you want to find out where to buy Harris Tweed the Harris Tweed Authority have a list on their website.

"Autumn Fields" has now sold but the image is still available as a greetings card or a giclee print in 2 sizes (£25 & £75) from the Bakehouse Gallery or our online shop.

]]><![CDATA[The story behind "Snowdrops"]]>Wed, 01 Aug 2018 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.brightseedtextiles.com/blog/the-story-behind-snowdrops

I'm doing a series of blogs with a little bit of background information about some of the Harris Tweed "paintings" in my exhibition. at the Bakehouse Gallery in Alnwick this summer.

Snowdrops was the first picture I did for the exhibition. It is inspired by the carpet of snowdrops that covers the woodlands in the small Northumberland village of Rock where I live every February. It's a breathtaking miracle and it's very special to me for two reasons. Firstly, I find the dark days of winter a bit difficult and the arrival of the snowdrops mean that spring is finally on it's way. Secondly it's just so beautiful!

The picture itself is an imagined composition taken from lots of close-up photos. Some of which were taken lying down on the ground (very carefully) amongst the snowdrops. We don't get many visitors to the village in winter, but typically a couple decided to walk their dog around the pond while I was doing so. Rather embarrassing!

All my pictures start life as a line drawing, which I then cut up and use as you would a dressmakers pattern to cut out all the Harris Tweed pieces. I then pin all the pieces onto the background piece of Harris Tweed and I needle felt everything into place. The final and most time consuming part of the process is needle felting all the details onto the picture with wool yarns. People often think I sew my pictures, but everything is needle felted. Although this picture is small at 9.5 inches square (unframed) it took about 35 hours as it was so complicated and detailed.

"Snowdrops" has been professionally framed in a plain wooden frame with an opaque white finish. It measures 11.75 inches square (inc. frame) and costs £350. It is also available as a greetings card or a giclee print in 2 sizes (£25 & £75) from the Bakehouse Gallery or our online shop.

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