MARIE GODFREY ONLINE DIARY

Tag: painting

  • FEATHERS

    Another area that I am thinking about researching and using as inspiration for my work is feathers.

    This particular feather found on a walk was a mixture of neutral colours and hues. On first sight it looked very ordinary but on closer inspection there were some very interesting markings especially the river of translucent cream that ran vertically on one side.

    There are many textile artists who have taken inspiration from feathers. Here are a few examples of artists who have worked with the concept of feathers.

    Janaina Milheiro

    According to the webpage homofaber.com Janaïna creates textiles and sculptures from feathers. She actually creates her work using feathers.

    She has developed a very personal, innovative approach

    She mainly creates work for luxury goods, fashion and interior design

    Janaïna Milheiro stumbled upon featherwork quite by chance. At textile design school she was encouraged to collect materials. When the moment came to start her end of year diploma work, she delved into her collection and picked out feathers, using them to create a series of small fabrics. Her journey with feathers then unfolded very organically, through experimentation. “I started to work the feathers by weaving and embroidering them,” she says. “Weaving helped me discover this material.” Following her studies, she presented these pieces at a Paris exhibition dedicated to exceptional textiles, kick-starting her career.

    Deborah Kruger

    This textile artist uses feathers from endangered birds as her inspiration – not the actual feathers but feathers made from recycled plastic bags. Kruger’s work is extremely colourful and she creates pieces of all scales. I particularly like this red and blue vessel shape that she has created.

    Image Credits
    Carlos Diaz Corona

    Kate MccGwire

    Kate MccGwire works with actual feathers to create large scale bulbous, flowing sculptures. She often uses pidgeon feathers sourced from pidgeon racers who gather up dropped feathers. Apparently Kate likes the fact that initially viewers to her work are astounded by it but then when they find out what the work is made from are repulsed by it.

    ”But are often perturbed and revolted when they understand what the material is,” which is exactly her intention. By juxtaposing the raw materials with the finished artwork, she asks viewers to consider the everyday beauty that’s often overlooked. Www.thisiscolossal.com

    Joana Vasconcelos

    Why Feathers Inspire Textile Artists

    • Delicate texture & movement – softness, lightness, and motion.

    • Symbolism – freedom, spirituality, transformation, nature.

    • Textural contrast – airy fragility vs. structural textiles.

    • Material innovation – natural feathers or reconstructed alternatives open creative pathway

    When thinking about using feathers as a source of inspiration I am not thinking about using the actual feathers. It is the delicacy, softness, airy fragility, transparency which inspires me. Whilst taking the top images I was taken aback by how delicate the feather was.

  • In the beginning…..

    Cornwall August 2025

    Not usually one to start preparing for anything early but here I am trying to master WordPress. It’s not my first rodeo with WordPress and I do not find it intuitive but I’ll give it another go. Let’s start off the first module of the OCA Textile degree with a very positive attitude. I can do it –

    My name is Marie Godfrey and I am spending the summer at our house in Cornwall – well why not – but soon it will be time to go back to the suburbs of London. I have spent my time here walking our dog and taking in the serenity and astounding beauty of the Cornish coastline.

    Being surrounded by a palette of coastal colours, blues, greens, earthy neutrals is calming to the soul. Of course the colours change dramatically depending on the time of day, the sunlight and the weather. The colours of Cornwall are not without their splashes of zingy bold colours – little boats on the sea painted in red and white, windbreaks in their merry stripes and bold jaunty swimming costumes of the people brave enough to venture into the cold waters. Sometimes the seascape becomes shimmering liquid silver when a watery sunlight is shining through grey clouds onto the sea and sometimes the water is a deep turquoise The myriad of different colours and hues are of course inspirational. Many contemporary artists find inspiration for their beautiful work from our coastline as have generations of artists throughout time. This genuinely concerns me. I seriously wonder how it is possible to make unique work when so many talented crafts people have already used coastal features, seaside artefacts, coastal colour pallets in their work.

    Louise Day is a visual artist living and working in Argyll on the West coast of Scotland. According to her website http://www.louiseday.co.uk Louise uses “drawing, textile and watercolour to create works inspired by the natural forms of my beautiful local environment.”

    The above images are textiles created by Louise Day using the Sea as inspiration. She doesn’t give the textiles names or not that I can see anyway. The colours that she uses are beautiful – water like and painterly. The textiles appear to be prints some with surface embroidery. Sadly I haven’t see these textiles in person so am just making assumptions based on the images that Louise has shown on her website.

    Why is my first chosen artist in my online diary Louise Day?

    It’s definitely something to do with the depth of colour she has used and the small details of neutrals or whites that serve as a contrast to lift the deeper colours and also to highlight them.