Chloe Redfern’s joyful and serene artwork consists of decorations, quilts, small embroideries and mixed media paintings. The work celebrates the tranquility and delicacy of nature with gentle colours and simplified forms. Chloe is not represented by any gallery but instead uses the internet – notably Facebook, Etsy and her blog pages to show and sell her work. We asked Chloe Redfern how she found 2013.
‘Blue Tit’ decoration by Chloe Redfern, hand painted and stitched fabric, 9.5x4cm
Lisa: What has been your favourite exhibition of 2013?
Chloe: It would have to be the Festival of Quilts which I attended in August. There is always such a diverse range of textile art on show there and I always return feeling very inspired. I particularly enjoyed the Art Quilt Masters category gallery which was new at the show this year.
‘Nesting’ by Chloe Redfern, mixed media collage on Khadi paper with machine stitch, 21x14cm
Lisa: What highlights have you experienced in your own art studio in 2013?
Chloe: I’ve been enjoying exploring the possibilities of digital art more this year, or rather adding digital work to pieces created using traditional media; I did some digital collage work when I did my photography A level and had always intended to re visit it and I’m really enjoying it, it’s so versatile. I’ve mostly been making some Photoshop brushes from my drawings and working with those and have also explored scanning in hand made collage elements and arranging them digitally, it’s nice to never have the problem of gluing something down then wishing I’d placed it elsewhere!
I’ve also been enjoying building up my Etsy shop. I’m very grateful to all of my customers and it’s always exciting to send decorations and paintings off to new homes.
‘Blackbird with Snowdrops’ by Chloe Redfern, mixed media collage on Khadi paper, 28x19cm
Lisa: What art related new year’s resolutions will you make?
Chloe: I made a small zig zag book a while ago and have been meaning to revisit artist books so this is something I’m definitely going to try to make time to do in 2014. I’m also planning to make more time to work in my sketchbooks on new ideas and exploration/ development of techniques.
‘Bottle with Tulips’ by Chloe Redfern, painted and printed fabric with hand stitch, approximately 35x24cm
Lisa: What valuable lesson did you learn about making art in 2013?
Chloe: I learnt that I shouldn’t restrict myself to one medium or way of working. Some of my ideas suit being brought to life as mixed media paintings/ collages, and others as textile pieces, and some will be explored using both mediums.
‘Dappled grey horse in costume’ decoration by Chloe Redfern, hand painted and stitched fabric, 16x18cm
Lisa: What art materials are on your wishlist?
Chloe: Ooh, this is a difficult one! I love acrylic inks and am always needing to stock up on those, I’ve enjoyed using FW Ink for some time and plan to try some more Liquitex ink soon, I have some of the metallics from that range and they’re really nice. I’d also like some more colours in the Liquitex soft body range as this has become my paint of choice. Apart from those things, the ‘basics’ which I use all of the time are always useful, things like Liquitex soft body titanium white (I get through rather a lot of this!) HP Fabriano Artistico paper, and my most recent discovery, Daler Rowney Graduate 1/2 angle shaders which I’m finding to be a super useful brush.
Chloe Redfern in her Workspace
More of Chloe Redfern’s work can be viewed online at the following:
