Back in May, I registered for an online course hosted by Bobby Britnell, (in the UK.)

The course was inspired by Tone & Line, and it focused on drawing with tone and line, and creating designs to develop into your work, both with paper and textiles. It was very thought provoking, and made me think about stitch in a whole new way.

Here are some examples of the work I generated from following along with the course:

We worked through a series of exercises over the four weeks, progressing from simple graphite lines, on to tones, and then colour; gradually adding more complexity as we went.

I really loved the course and having it presented to you in nice ‘bite sized’ pieces was really doable for me.

At the time I was in the middle of creating five pieces for a show, called “Shifting Landscapes,” and it gave me an opportunity to add line to my compositions, with hand- and machine-stitch, to create more interest than just the marks I already had on my linen canvases.

Here are some examples of those:

I discovered several new artists via Bobby’s recommendations, and several for myself, digging a little deeper by doing more research. I think my favourite newly-discovered artist was Wilhelmina Barnes Graham, a British artist, born in 1912, died in 2004.

Here are some inspiring examples of Graham's work:

Graham's use of line was spectacular in my opinion. Some of her work has been featured and documented by the Imperial Charity in the UK.

I was so inspired by what I had learned with Bobby and her course, that I've signed up again for another class of hers, called ”Inspired by Grids,” which I started this week. I'll post some of my images from the class at a later date.

Here's a link to Bobby and her courses: https://www.bobbybritnell.co.uk/courses/on-line-courses

Stay safe, stay well informed!

-Anni