I’ve been neglecting my blog for some time now, and wanted to start writing again about my Contemporary Art Cross-stitch practice, as I prepare to begin work on several new projects.

Contemporary Art Cross-stitch is a name I created to differentiate between cross-stitch as a form of contemporary fine art, and other forms of cross-stitch.

I have been cross-stitching since the age of 12, but it was only when I was around 28 that I started to think about using it in my fine art practice. I was stitching for a hobby and had become bored with the patterns that were available. It suddenly dawned on me that, as an artist, I could create my own patterns, making conceptual pieces of artwork in cross-stitch. Although this may sound obvious now, cross-stitch as a quiet hobby was so much a part of my domestic life that I just hadn’t thought about it.

My first cross-stitch artwork was an adaptation of one of my paintings, The Heart of  Heartless World.

I wasn’t entirely happy with just adapting any picture to be a cross-stitch pattern. Now my cross-stitch works need to have a sound conceptual basis for me to be interested enough to see ideas through to completion.

I’ll be writing more about my work with Contemporary Art Cross-stitch in the coming months.