I continue to stitch on my Cromwell Narrative Cloth, and it continues to make slow but steady progress. On Thursday last, I finished stitching what Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell describes as his second life, which covers 1500 - 29 December 1503. It’s ridiculously heavy and is now approximately 15 feet long. Now I need to decide whether to join the third life to the second life - or leave them as separate pieces. Decisions, decisions. So far, I have gathered 26 pages of typed notes about the overall chronology that underpins this work, so if it is to be one piece, it will end up being very long and extremely heavy. While the Cloth develops, I am posting reflections about my earlier Cromwell Trilogy stitchery. This is the sixth in a series of posts about my first Wolf Hall Quilt, made between 2020 and 2021. It’s a textile piece that comes with a very strong sense of time and place, and the restrictive circumstances in which it was made had a significant impact on the finished work, which only became apparent after it was complete. This piece follows on from the last
It can be baffling for those not in creative fields, to know that we will spend so long working on something that isn’t utilitarian or made for money. They don't seem to understand the joy of merely creating something, and I feel a little sorry for them.
Different priorities I suppose, but I can’t get my head around it either. I struggle with the idea that I should be upset that I don’t like the piece I spent months working on - people get very upset on my behalf. I’m fine with it - it was an experiment and it didn’t quite work- that’s the creative process!
I love that your response to this epic piece of literature is to create multiple monumental textile art pieces. As a new fan of the Cromwell Trilogy, and a person who is obsessed with books and art, I find this incredibly exciting and I'm so grateful you're publishing a Substack about it. This week I'm binge reading your Stack. What a treat!
I think our culture is so result-oriented that sometimes people don't understand that it's really about the process and letting go of the outcome. It will be what it will be, but what was gained along the way in knowledge and skill was the purpose all along. Just my thoughts... 🤓
Hi Susannah - thank you for your kind message. The result was definitely in the process for this particular piece; and I am happy with that. I hope you enjoy my Stack, but more importantly I hope you enjoy the Cromwell Trilogy. I’m envious of anyone reading for the first time!
It can be baffling for those not in creative fields, to know that we will spend so long working on something that isn’t utilitarian or made for money. They don't seem to understand the joy of merely creating something, and I feel a little sorry for them.
Different priorities I suppose, but I can’t get my head around it either. I struggle with the idea that I should be upset that I don’t like the piece I spent months working on - people get very upset on my behalf. I’m fine with it - it was an experiment and it didn’t quite work- that’s the creative process!
I love that your response to this epic piece of literature is to create multiple monumental textile art pieces. As a new fan of the Cromwell Trilogy, and a person who is obsessed with books and art, I find this incredibly exciting and I'm so grateful you're publishing a Substack about it. This week I'm binge reading your Stack. What a treat!
I think our culture is so result-oriented that sometimes people don't understand that it's really about the process and letting go of the outcome. It will be what it will be, but what was gained along the way in knowledge and skill was the purpose all along. Just my thoughts... 🤓
Hi Susannah - thank you for your kind message. The result was definitely in the process for this particular piece; and I am happy with that. I hope you enjoy my Stack, but more importantly I hope you enjoy the Cromwell Trilogy. I’m envious of anyone reading for the first time!