Wednesday 30 March 2011

The Stitch & Craft Show - Stitchy Goodness!

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I just wanted to share a few photos of the Stitch & Craft show, specifically the Mr X Stitch Contemporary Embroidery Exhibition with my pieces in it!

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I am so honoured that Jamie chose three of my pieces to be in his exhibit to promote embroidery and show people that you don’t just have to sew pictures of houses and kittens – you can do anything!

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This is my second exhibition this year. It is very exciting for me to have my artwork on display for the world to see. I haven’t had pieces in exhibitions since college so I feel like I am a legitimate artist once again.

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Thanks Jamie! You rock!!! Everyone go over to
Mr X Stitch and tell Jamie that he is awesome, and Bridget too :-)

Also, some of these photos were blatantly stolen from
Jamie's Flickr so go check that out too here

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Saturday 26 March 2011

Hope for Japan

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On the Hand Embroidery Network, we have been trying to get people to stitch the Japanese flag to show our support to Japan in their time of need.

I have finished stitching my flag but I think I want to create a whole art piece out of it. Its a work in progress :-) I filled the circle with little crosses and then outlined the piece with split stitch.

If you want to read the thread in the
HEN forum about this check it out here

If you would like to donate money to the
Red Cross to help Japan go here

Saturday 19 March 2011

Be My Valentine...


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Ok, I know it's march and really this should be a St. Patrick's Day something, but I'm English so he's not my patron saint anyway and my Valentine piece wasn't finished for Valentines day because I was so busy... So here it is!

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This piece was inspired by a mural I saw in Nassau, Bahamas. I had a bad love experience there (that's a whole other blog post I can tell you... maybe even a series!) and the red colouring of the mural made me think of the intensity of my feelings. It also made me think of the technical drawings of Da Vinci. This got me thinking about anatomical diagrams and hearts.... and so my Valentine was born!

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The text is sewn in back stitch with blended thread (you can't see it very well in the photo unfortunately). I used three different colours of pink and red, mixing one strand of each together before sewing. I got this technique from Jenny Hart at
Sublime Stitching, so go check out her tutorials in her website.

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I used satin stitch and a very tiny brick stitch for the heart itself. The brick stitch took quite a long time but was very therapeutic!

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The background of this piece is ochre silk dupion with an overlaid white crayon tint. I ironed this off several times a reapplied it get a ghosted effect. I added torn pieces of red satin along the bottom edge to show the damage done to my heart.

This piece is very emotive for me and it was like therapy stitching it. I think it's good to get our emotions out through art sometimes, just for catharsis!

Saturday 12 March 2011

Child of the 80's


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Originally I designed this piece for the STITCH Magazine Glimpse of Childhood competition, but I had to use Madeira threads in it. I couldn't find any Madeira threads in the stores that are open in New York on Sundays so couldn't enter, but stitched it up anyway.

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The theme
Glimpse Of Childhood made me think of toys I liked when I was a child, and characters I liked. I decided to combine the popular toy the Fashion Wheel with three of my favourite cartoon characters. My favourite characters also happen to be three strong women!

Jem from Jem and the Holograms

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I used different colours of fabric behind each section like the different texture sections on the Fashion Wheel. I used Jem for the top section as she has the most recognisable face.

She-Ra

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I used She-Ra's torso as she has the most interesting outfit. I actually stitched this section first. Originally I was going to just stitch the outline, but when I finished this section I realised it needed more colour so I coloured each section with coloured pencils to add more definition.

Rainbow Bright

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I chose Rainbow Bright for the bottom section as her shoes are just so fabulous! Plus the 80s was all about bright colours.

This piece did make it to the
Stitch & Craft show eventually as part of the Mr X Stitch Urban Cross Stitch Exhibition from 17th-20th March at Olympia 2 in London! If you're going to the show please do go check it out in real life :-)

Saturday 5 March 2011

Exhibition Report: The Sketchbook Project 2011!

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I managed to get to the opening of the Sketchbook Project 2011 opening at the Brooklyn Art Library the other week. I was very excited to see my sketchbook in amongst the thousands of others contributed by artists from all over the world!

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The Brooklyn Art Library

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Checking in with your library card

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The check out desk where you select the sketchbooks you want to see

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People enjoying our sketchbooks


I didn't find my sketchbook right away as I had apparently forgotten what the spine looked like (I thought it was orange but it was actually grey and red!) but after a thorough search I found it proudly in the Jackets, Blankets and Sheets section.

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Right in the middle of the shelf!


I looked through a few other sketchbooks while I was there. I was particularly taken with Rachel Smith's and Jennifer McBrien's books. Rachel's was all sketches of people as she wants to be a fashion illustrator. I connected with Jennifer through her sketchbook, half way through she wrote about how she is in a creative job but is trying to make herself be more artistic and the sketchbook was a way of doing that. I used the Sketchbook Project for a similar reason and found her work very relatable and beautiful. I have found her on Etsy and am going to message her. Please check out her wares as they are as beautiful as her sketchbook
here: JennyJen42

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Left: Jennifer McBrien's Sketchbook Right: Rachel Smith's Sketchbook


I am very proud to have my work in the Sketchbook Project 2011 and would love it if you, my readers could go see it. The tour takes it to the following venues:

March 12th: Austin Museum of Art, Austin TX (during the SXSW festival)
March 30th: April 2nd: SPACE Gallery, Portland ME
April 8th-9th: The Granite Room, Atlanta GA
April 11th - 30th: Transformer Gallery, Washington DC
June 10th-12: Form/Space Atelier, Seattle WA
June 18th: 111Minna Gallery, San Francisco CA
July 14th-17th: Hyde Park Arts Center, Chicago IL
July 29th - 31st: Full Sall University, Winter Park FL

Just ask for Joanne Donn's Sketchbook and they'll find it for you!

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Tuesday 1 March 2011

Nick N-Nick Nick N-Nick Nick Nick.... Nickelodeon!

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I know, I know, I've been missing for a whole week, well it's because we had a Nickelodeon All Access cruise last week on my ship. That means there were costume characters everywhere and slime.... lots and lots of slime!! Here are a few photos I managed to nab while running around after Sponge Bob:

Character Meet & Greets:

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Oh! It's Dora!

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Fanboy and Chum Chum

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Cosmo and Wanda

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Geo and Millie

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I got my picture with Squidward!

The Sponge Bob Show with Tom Kenny

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Patchy The Pirate getting ready for the show

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The voices of Patrick and Sponge Bob, Bill & Tom and Andy Pally who writes the music


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The cast of the Sponge Bob Show

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Tom Kenny, the voice of Sponge Bob - what a lovely man!

Well, those are my Nickelodeon adventures for now, more soon!