I don’t like it when people criticize needlepoint saying it’s like “painting by numbers.” Being the daughter and granddaughter of very creative women, I have always seen, as have they, needlepoint as a very artistic and creative process.
A blog post last week at The Textile Blog got me thinking about this again.
All art is a conversation. In it there are always two people: the artist and the person seeing the art. The artist has an idea and expresses it in a particular way. It may not be an idea you like and it may be expressed in a way you find ugly. But he began the conversation with his idea and its expression.
The second person in the conversation is the person viewing the art. By seeing the expression of the idea, you, even if it’s just mentally, react to it and comment back.
I never thought much about my part in the conversation since looking at art is almost as much of my life as breathing until I was in my 20’s and invited to a docent-led preview of an important modern art exhibit. I went through it and hated every piece, but I understood them. Without knowing it I took part in the conversation.
But in needlework there is always a third party — that’s you the stitcher. As The Textile Blog points out, often they are unknown. But always, always, we take part in the conversation. We do it through our choices of thread, through our stitches, and through our ideas on what the piece is about.
It may be not obvious at all, as is the case in the tapestries in the blog post. Or it may be very obvious, as is the case in how I personalized the baseball player pictured here. But as the maker we take the artist’s idea, add our own, and express that combination in the finished piece.
So go out, embrace your creativity and stand up to be part of the creative conversation.
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
Needlepoint is comparable to “painting by numbers”? It does not have to be. Sure, some needleworkers will buy a kit, read the directions and precisely put the suggested stitches and color of threads in the “correct spot”. For them, many perhaps do that because they are not confident. Others perhaps like the selection of colors, threads and stitches.
I love stitching Russell House oriental designs which all use a basket weave or continental stitch. For the most part, I often use the colors that are suggested but have evicted at times. Does contribute to the problem when I am unable to locate a specific shade of Paternayan persian yarn.
For other designs, such as a nutcracker canvas I bought years ago, it was fun to pick the threads, stitches and play around with the canvas.
Needlepoint perhaps can be compared to cooking. Where some individuals might follow a recipe and not change anything, others might play around adding some additional ingredients or making substitutions. Have no doubt that most of us as needleworkers or even cooks fall into both camps. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. We look at a project whether it is needlework or cooking and decide how we will proceed.
Paint by number… Fooey!!! lol
Marlene
“Evicted at times”? Egads! I need to proofread my messages before I hit the send button. Sorry, Janet… I meant to say, that I “deviated at times”. Could chalk my error up too an overabundance of egg nog or hot cider but alas, no egg nog or cider in my refrigerator. Both sound awfully good, though…
Happy stitching,
Marlene
Paint by numbers with wool? So what if it is! It’s the end result that counts, right?
There’s art and then there’s craft. Both have merit. Both are beautiful.