Community Stitch Challenge week three: Emily Tull

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Can you believe we’re already on week three of the TextileArtist.org community stitch challenge?! We hope you’ve been enjoying the challenges so far and that they’ve provided you with some much needed creative stimulation during the long days of social isolation that we are all experiencing at the moment.

In difficult times, it’s important to be able to turn to others for support and find ways to have shared experiences. These weekly stitch challenges are completely free. It’s our way of giving back to our wonderful community here on TextileArtist.org, bringing together stitchers from all over the world.

Keep calm and carry on stitching

We’re thrilled with the response to the first two weeks of stitch challenges and mini-workshops. The textile artists that have contributed so far – Sue Stone in the first week, and Cas Holmes last week – have been amazed at the creativity you have shown and the diversity of the pieces of textile art that can come out of a simple prompt or creative question.

Last week, one of the UK’s best-loved textile artists, Cas Holmes, asked you to ‘stay home’ and use fabric scraps from your stash and any type of household objects to create a stitched collage.

When you shared your work on the Stitch Challenge Facebook group, Cas said “It is a reminder of how global the textile community is and heartwarming to be reminded of the friendships I have struck up over the years.”

You can check out Cas’ challenge from week two here

And Sue’s mini-workshop from week one here

Now, on to this week’s practitioner Emily Tull, and your third stitch challenge.

Who is Emily Tull?

Kent-based artist Emily Tull originally specialised as a painter in her Fine Art degree and has since built a prestigious career as a painter and textile artist over more than 20 years.

She exhibits her work regularly across Kent and London and has picked up several awards along the way. In 2017 she won the Kent Creative Award – Visual Arts (Non-Digital). Her artworks have been displayed in the Mall Galleries Royal Academy Summer Show and she was also a contestant in the 2014 series of Sky Arts Portrait Artist Of The Year competition.

Emily’s style is contemporary and constantly evolving, often inspired by lyrics from a song or a line of poetry. She uses vintage and recycled materials with torn and frayed edges to hand stitch delicate portraits and fragile images of wildlife that tell haunting stories.

What is this week’s challenge?

The challenge that Emily has created is about tapping into your observational skills as much as it is about stitching.

For Emily, whether it’s a portrait of a person or an image of an animal, the eye is the starting point from which the rest of her artwork is built. And to capture the depth and delicate nature of her subjects, Emily really observes and studies her subjects before making her first marks on the fabric.

So her challenge for you is to study and stitch an eye, taking the time to explore the different parts of the eye, the shapes, the light and shadow, before you start to stitch your mini study.

You can check out the stitch challenge video now. Don’t forget to download the accompanying workbook which includes a handy step by step guide and Emily’s special running stitch technique that helps to highlight the delicate details of the eye.

What to do next

• Download the workbook for Emily’s challenge here
• Join the Community Stitch Challenge Facebook Group now
• Discover more about Emily’s textile art here
• And if you have questions for Emily but don’t want to join the Facebook group? No worries! Leave a comment below.