Gwen Hedley.

Gwen Hedley is very much a embroidery and stitch based artist. She has a book out called 'Drawn to Stitch' which I found very interesting to look through. Gwen is also part of the Embroiders Guild and Textile Study group.

Her working materials:
- Old natural fibred fabrics (cotton, linen, wool)
  She likes to use second hand fabrics which have a history. They feel warn or can be patched
  or darned. Most of her fabrics are found in Charity Shops.
- Cotton machine thread and stranded cottons
  She likes to create her own colour palette, blending different coloured threads to create her
  own subtle colours. The threads she uses can also vary in thickness to create a different feel
  and weight to her work.
About Gwen's work:
Her older work was a lot more machine stitched and she would use the sewing machine needle as her drawing tool. In recent days, Gwen has begun hand stitching and couching in order to make the strong marks from her drawings.

I love the quality of Gwen's work and the textural feel it gives with the layers that she builds up. I think her work becomes very interesting and in her book I found the transitions from her drawings to textiles and how she translated drawings very interesting.

Text reference:
www.gwen-hedley.co.uk
Image references:
http://embroidery.embroiderersguild.com/2001-1/hedley.htm
Hedley, G. (2010) Drawn to stitch : line, drawing and mark-making in textile art. London: Batsford.