Textile inspirations

I saw a lot of woven African textiles on a recent visit to an exhibition at the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool. They were so beautiful! I have since been looking at lots more African textiles.

- I love colours, and the balance of colours between bright and poppy, and darker or more muted/sensitive

- The patterns are actually remarkably simple - it seems to me they all exist on a grid-system. Simplicity/shape based work is effective.
- The shape based pattern makes replication simple and achievable.

I think I can learn a lot from this type of textile, both things that I can incorporate into my weavings (pattern structure etc) end, and things about colour and how to create colour palettes that I can use in my paintings. 

Gunta Stolzl

Stolzl's weavings from the Bauhaus archives are so playful and courageous, to me they really speak of a joyousness taken in humanity. This work uses colour and shape and pattern very boldly.

What I can learn:

- Be braver with colour and shape. 

- Don't always worry about being uniform in my use of pattern. Embrace the slope.

- Consider scale.