Talk by Vicky Coull, “Fabric and Paintings Do Go Together

Work in progress

Today we had an interesting talk by Vicky, who showed us her mixed media paintings.

Vicky's schoolgirl ambition was for a career in drawing, and she took an apprenticeship in technical drawing and illustration rather than going to art college. She worked for many years producing intricate and precise drawings for manufacturing, architecture and engineering, spending weeks over pen and ink diagrams before the days of computers took the drudgery out of it. It was when she retired and joined an art club that imagination was given free rein, and she has been experimenting with paint and fabric ever since.

Vicky started with watercolours and used natural materials like leaves to produce impressions in the paint. She then moved on to acrylics, and was able to add fabrics, threads and beads to the paint as they will stick in acrylics. Gold threads and lace add sparkle. Glued tissue paper makes a background, with the additions making an fairly abstract mixed media painting.

It is so interesting to see the diverse path that textiles can go down, and Vicky certainly gives us ideas for imaginations and experimentation.