By Beth Maiden
We are halfway through the Old Mistress project and Penny is busy making her embroideries.
She is asking for feedback from other artists. They are helping her and giving her ideas for how to make the work better.
Summer’s Day, painted by Berthe Morisot
It has not been easy so far. Penny was ill so she needed extra time for the project. Some of the materials are not right, so she has to look for new ideas. And she does not always feel confident that she can do all the work. But things are getting easier now.
Penny’s embroideries are made up of lots of tiny stitches.
Penny uses special stitches to make her embroideries look like paintings. They are called ‘short stitch’ and ‘long stitch’. She also uses one called ‘satin stitch’, and she has learned a new stitch called ‘couching’.
The Scream, painted by Edvard Munch.
In some pieces Penny has used bits of old plastic rope instead of thread. They are nice and thick and bendy, just right for the swirly sky in this painting.
Madame Victoire, painted by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard.
In this piece, the woman looks like she has had an electric shock! So Penny is going to try using a different material to make her hair.
A painted face.
Faces are very difficult to embroider so Penny paints them on. She thinks it’s nice to have a mixture of both painting and stitching in the pieces.
Penny has also been filmed for a video about the Old Mistress project. The video is about her home and her life as an artist with disabilities.
Don’t forget to follow Penny on Instagram and TikTok @pennytristram for more project updates!