A Grey Day at Sea: Finding Creative Focus Beyond the Horizon

Today the sea is still, the sky is low, and everything is cloaked in a soft drizzle. There’s little to see outside the window — just misted greys, blurred edges, and the gentle sway of the ship. But for me, this kind of quiet is exactly what I need.

When there’s nothing to distract me visually out there, I turn inward — and to the glowing screen in front of me, full of the photographs I’ve taken on this journey.

📸 From Photo Roll to Creative Goldmine

As a textile artist, my phone’s camera roll is a treasure chest of future ideas. It’s filled with texture, light, movement, and unexpected moments. Today, I’m scrolling through all the images I’ve captured so far — rusted boats, misty fjords, cracked volcanic earth, still water, and even weathered signage and shadows on buildings.

With each photo, I ask myself:

• Is this a complete piece?

• Could I abstract just one element — like the texture of moss or the line of a bridge?

• Is this destined for art, or could it become something wearable?

Some images clearly belong in a textile wall piece. Others feel perfect for a garment, maybe embroidered panels on a coat or embellishment on a textured scarf. And some… they’re calling out to become something experimental and abstract, a stitched response rather than a direct representation.

🧵 Planning Workshop Content: Experimental Ideas Take Shape

Grey days are also perfect for stepping back and thinking about how I teach. As I review my images, I’m sketching out new workshop ideas — especially for sessions focused on experimental techniques.

Some thoughts floating around today:

• Layering sheer fabrics to mimic the fog and soft edges in my sea photos

• Using burn-away fabrics or dissolvables to recreate the feeling of broken surfaces and crumbling rust

• Creating stitched maps or textures inspired by rock formations or geothermal patterns

• Designing sampler-style panels that pull together several photos into one cohesive abstract story

It’s exciting to imagine workshops where students can bring their own images and learn how to turn them into art — not through copying, but through interpreting with texture, colour, and stitch.

🧠 Stitching with Tech: Creative Play with My Stand-Alone Embroidery Machine

Another avenue I’ve been exploring today is how to integrate these images into my stand-alone embroidery machine work. The possibilities here are endless — and the grey weather has given me time to research and plan:

• Do I digitise full photographs for stitch, or just extract shapes and lines?

• Could I create repeat patterns from one photo detail and use that on textiles or clothing?

• What happens if I combine several elements — a rust patch, a cloud line, and some wave texture — into one abstract piece?

This is the kind of creative questioning I love: technical meets intuitive. Digital meets hand-made. Design meets exploration.

🎨 Turning Inspiration into Art: Combining Photos for Abstract Textile Design

Sometimes the best ideas don’t come from a single photograph — they come from blending several. Below is an example of what’s possible when you extract elements from three different images: a dramatic cloudscape, a peaceful fjord, and a stone-filled shoreline.

This piece draws from:

• The clouds and sun peeking through the sky

• The mountains with snow-topped ridges and open water

• The underwater stones, glimmering in shallow light

Together, they create a richly layered scene that translates beautifully into fabric and stitch.

How to achieve this effect in textile work:

• Sky section: Use layered sheers and soft free-motion embroidery to recreate the movement of clouds. Add subtle stitched radiance around a sun made from painted or padded silk.

• Mountain and sea section: Raw-edge appliqué can define the ridgeline. Painted or dyed cottons in blues and greens set the tone for the water, with quilting lines adding ripple texture.

• Shoreline section: Use felted pebbles, stitched outlines, and overlays of organza to mimic the look of underwater stones. Beads or metallic threads can capture the sparkle of light hitting the surface.

This kind of composition allows for:

• Abstract expression of mood and memory

• Standalone art or wearable panels

• Modular workshop ideas — where students create layered pieces from personal photographs

💭 Final Thoughts

While the sky outside is grey and closed in, my creative world feels wide open. A day at sea with little to distract me has become a day of reviewing, dreaming, planning, and plotting new ideas for both personal artwork and future workshops.

It’s a reminder that even on the quietest days, inspiration doesn’t stop. Sometimes, it simply shifts inward — waiting for you to notice it, photograph it, and stitch it into something meaningful.