Cate Hadley's Studio Plog
Cate Hadley's Website

20 July 2010

I have completed the “Spawn” piece which is waiting to be framed. The textile that I refer to was mentioned in my last Green Pebble plog.  It has been built further, embellished and resolved after what seems like an age of indecision.  It’s like that sometimes…

The accompanying image is a page from my sketchbook.  I have been drawing in the garden of the Manor at Hemmingford Grey, Cambridgeshire.  This glorious house and garden are inspirational. The Manor was built in the 1130’s and is reputedly the oldest continuously inhabited house in Britain.  The children’s stories of Green Knowe are inspired by it

The Irises and Lupins in the ancient gardens were absolutely majestic. I was intoxicated by the sunshine, the peace and that curious feeling of sitting where many centuries of artists may have sat and sketched before me. 

One of my many distractions recently has been looking at Scandinavian textile design.  I find the simplicity and purity of pattern based on organic forms very interesting and somehow this hardwired into my Hemmingford garden drawings.  The Lupins will form the basis for my next mixed media piece.

20 May 2010


My pond is awakening.  Out of dark, murky soup, the frogs have become active, providing a chorus of evensong and a surfeit of spawn, upon which, the sleepy, winter-hungry fish have been feasting.   They nibble  the edges of the spawn and some unfortunates became entangled in the sago-like goo.  A dilemma then; should I free them?  I reluctantly decided that the fragile eco -structure of this small pond should be left to its own devices.

I made colour sketches last year, fascinated by the transparent cell-like forms that contain the emerging wriggling pinheads.   This year’s spawn was made visually dramatic by the onset of brilliant emerald algae defining the curve of each cell. The organism colonises the pond’s every fold and crevice; even outlining fallen leaves on the water’s surface with a fluorescent halo.  It has become my very own, natural Andy Goldsworthy installation!

My sketches and the resulting textile works are in warm tones, significant of the approaching summer.   My palette has changed to represent my emotional responses to the forms, textures and sounds of this little oasis.

The pond is situated to the front of my studio. On sunny days with the doors flung open, the air redolent with honeysuckle and the sleepy droning of bumble bees; there can be no better or joyous place to work that here. 

As the inevitable, inescapable annual micro drama of pond life unfolds, so, my next creative project in textiles and mixed media takes shape.

The image is entitled spawn  and is work in progress.

20 March 2010

I have been working on a series of paintings and textiles inspired by recent visits to Herefordshire.  The colours are more muted than in recent work and reflect the colours of the winter landscape such as damp rainy woodlands and muddy paths.

The accompanying image is entitled Dead Woman’s Thorn, an area of woodland near to Ledbury.  It is a watercolour resist sketch, which has informed a textile work, currently in progress.

I have delivered a series of lectures and demonstrations to Art and Textile enthusiasts over the last three months.  The prominent subject being “Synaesthesia” (seeing colours and shapes to music and sound), but also my other favourite themes:  jazz music and the use of colour. I am fortunate that my work appeals to Art groups such as U3A and also textile artists and embroiderers.  I have always regarded myself as an artist using mixed media, (Including textiles) to convey thoughts.  I have tried to inspire others to use their skills to convey their personal ideas. 

It seems that many people (particularly those who stitch), try techniques which ultimately become an end in themselves. I have witnessed people purchasing new equipment and media to manipulate the surface of their fabrics. Quite often the pieces produced are interesting, skilled and textural in their own right.

However, for me, this process can only carry the currency of surface decoration. I am interested in art making atmosphere, comment or opinion, however controversial it may be.

Several of my jazz pieces are currently being exhibited in Liz Gash’s designer knitwear shop in Bury St Edmunds.  They look very much at home among the beautiful clothes on sale with such a rich backdrop of colours and textures.

November 20, 2009

Lately, I have been creating reflective and experimental works. My students and I have been trying out new materials during my summer studio workshops. This experimentation is important in ones artistic life. I like to explore the limits of the media to create and enable spontaneous work with new techniques. Experimentation pushes my own artwork forwards and out of “The comfort zone”.

The results of my mixed media studies are abstract combinations of materials such as silk scrim, gesso, metallic applications and processes such as, burning, burnishing and distressing textiles. *On this experimental note there was a rather extraordinary occurrence, where a small quantity of procion dye, left forgotten for a month, formed itself into the most exquisite coloured crystals. I am using them in a current art piece. It confirms my belief that everything is useful and that there are endless possibilities for transformation.

I am continuing to pursue the unlikely combination of painted and textile surfaces on canvas.

My drawing at jazz gigs has slowed down, due to poor lighting in venues and tired winter eyes. However I did some synaesthetic drawing a few weeks ago at a great gig at Stoke By Nayland which has informed a new piece for the Suffolk Open Studios Winter exhibition in Beccles.

Those who know me will confirm my dedication to art education and I have been very flattered at the interest shown from local art students in schools, colleges and local groups. I hope that I have been able to inspire you to new ways of working through sharing my techniques, methods and idealogy. Keep asking the questions.....keep booking the talks and support the workshops.

September 20, 2009

Born in Birmingham and later moving to East Anglia, my early influences came from the Cornish school of painters and I was and am still inspired by the sea and the landscape. Earlier paintings although figurative, gradually moved towards abstraction.

I experienced a wonderful art education at one of the country’s most extraordinary art schools in the sixties. I learnt stitch, dye, print fashion design drawing and painting techniques from now eminent artists and art educationalists. I am an artist who uses both paint and textiles equally, according to subject appropriacy, quite often one piece leads to another. For instance a painting could inspire the next textile piece and vice versa.

The mood of my recent work is that of intense colour and vibrancy. Being a synaesthete, I experience colour and shape through sound and music. This phenomena is similar to the sensory transfer one experiences with taste and smell.

Currently my initial inspiration is drawn from my responses to modern jazz. I draw the shapes and colours I see at jazz gigs working in my sketch book alongside the musicians to their improvisations. The process continues by returning to the studio to make textiles and painted artworks from the sketch book drawings. I love working with colour and my dynamic use of a bright palette began when I travelled and stayed in the hot countries of the Far East.

I embellish and overlay sheer fabrics to create rich colour, appliqué, quilt and use crochet and knit techniques. I incorporate a diverse range of techniques, media and ideas.

My influences include medieval stain glass windows, Hundertwasser, Howard Hodgkin, Giles Deacon fashion designs, Klimt, Klee, and the 1950’s design work of Melina Copass,. I love the V&A’s collections of beautiful and breathtaking ancient textile embroideries to be discovered in Victorian wooden pull out display cabinets. My favourites being the beautiful silk work of 19th century Turkestan and the craftsmanship of the early Chinese embroiderers.

I love colour and enjoy the work of others who use it exuberantly.

My aim is to be as eco friendly as possible in the art process re-using cast-off textiles and other materials such as everyday plastic items. I want to draw attention to the sheer mountains of waste textiles and potential resources that we throw away. It gives me great pleasure to make something beautiful from this detritus. Pushing the boundaries is an important feature of my work. I refuse to be categorised. I like to use thrown away materials with sumptuous textiles such as silk and velvet and sometimes even pierce a painted canvas with stitch or incisions.