Following the groove of fundamental influences:
The mosaics at the Alhambra in Grenada, Hokusai,
The Bauhaus artists: Paul Klee, Johannes Itten, Wassily Kandinsky, Josef Albers, and de Stiel:
Piet Mondrian and Theo Van Doesburg
Op Art and Victor Vasarely
And the timeless techniques used in popular crafts: ancient quilts, molas by the Guna: my textile scores draw on these basic compositions.
My own patterns gradually took shape in my imagination, finding freedom in self- expression

I collect art drawings; I drew inspiration from a body of work that I had gradually put together. Years later I realised that most of the drawings I had gathered were by artists from one and the same school, Bauhaus, founded in Weimar in 1919 by architect Walter Gropius.

Throughout the design stage, Bauhaus painters’ research shapes my own in five dimensions:

• Colour and its intrinsic vibrations
  
• Repetition and geometric structure, seeking a new pace with a series of shapes that are similar, or invite interaction
  
• Texture, because textiles encompass a wide range of different materials, with an infinity of variations, much like wood.
• Light, with the interplay of effects produced by colour and texture, as in stained glass.
• Simplification to achieve strength, a sense of mystery and timeless appeal, in an approach rather like that of a designer.

Further to discovering these fundamental artists, I have been influenced by other great artists:

• Vieira da Silva’s work with perspective, which I sketched at the Musée des Beaux-arts in Lyon before finding out who she was; 
• Fabienne Verdier who I discovered at the Alice Pauli gallery in Lausanne (Switzerland), and her output resulting from protracted meditation;
• Abdoulaye Konate at the Biennale textile FITE then the Manifestra gallery in Lyon (France), for his use of bazins with a colour range tapping into tapestry;
• El Anatsui in Avignon at the exhibition Les Eclaireurs then at the Haus der Kunst in Munich (Germany) for his draping and pared-down colour range;
• Robert Wogensky at the bookshop of the Cité Internationale de la Tapisserie in Aubusson (France) for the sheer force of his drawings and his minimalist colour schemes;
• Koichi Kiruta for his daily collection of soil samples and corresponding meditative approach. 

Regularly practising Tai chi chuan and yoga affords insights into percepts of energy, breath and impermanence. These practices nourish my artistic approach and breathe a unique vibration into my works.

Geometry helped to shape my initial experimentations with colour. Using my first textile collections, I explored the most sophisticated of patterns.

I gradually built up my textile collections, taking my time, opening up to a wide variety of fabrics. I streamlined the basic shapes. Using squares as a base leaves more room for an extended colour range, granting greater prominence for the material.

I apply the principles of universal harmony, using odd symmetry, prime numbers, the golden ratio and geometric sequences. 

These mathematical rules which govern nature, the cosmos, antique and medieval architecture, help to build a harmonious work in interaction with its environment. 

The onlooker feels the pull of the work, prompting much pondering: they seek out inexistant symmetry, thus deepening their spirit’s understanding of form.

Working as an architect nurtured my fascination for changes in scale. They wreak considerable changes in depth and how the work is perceived. A unique dynamic emerges between two works sparked by the same inspiration but on different scales. Renaissance painters produced modelos as guidelines for their studio assistants.

Inversely, El Greco produced replicas as a means of distribution, which were easier to sell to private collectors, and as business cards to promote his style in non-religious circles

All artists keep their samples, remnants and scraps. But rather than letting them lie dormant in a drawer, they spark the imagination anew., Seeing the short strips of fabric left over from the building of my log cabin (very thin concentric strips the drawings of which recall log cabins), Amish stars and colour prints of finished works, I felt the urge to assemble and weave them into a heritage work.

Eau vive 2 – Running Water 2

210 x 441 cm, 9.3 sq.m
4400 g

WIP Magma 5

308 x 485 cm 14.9 sq.m

Neige 263 –Snow 263

15 x 15 cm, 0.02 sq.m

8 g 

Top and bottom sheathes sewn at the back tauten the work using aluminium tubes assembled on an elastic band. The sheaths are broken up in order to slip separate nylon threads through them.

The work hangs on these nylon threads, around 10 cm away from the wall. Alternatively, S-shaped hooks hanging from a rail can also be used to hang them against the wall.

Store textile works away from direct sunlight. 

Once or twice a year, remove dust by vacuuming them on low, either from the back or through a piece of cotton muslin.

I gradually achieved a better balance between the time I spent on design and on actual production. And I leveraged software t develop the design phases: imagining and composing several variants and choices of colours.

These explorations revealed the full importance of the tool used to shape my musings and artistic explorations.

I started out on the classic Quilt Pro, for traditional quilting, but needed something that would better handle colour and texture. Illustrator helped me make headway with this, and especially improved my command of the basics of geometry for an Alhambra mosaic. I also dipped into Ragtime, which was easy to use and could handle my many photos. Then I chose Photoshop / The Gimp which helped me hone my use of the material and fabric textures to obtain a result as close as possible to reality. 

I then circled back to a vectorial application, Inkscape, to handle tracing, easy dimensioning and item counting.

And a simple layout tool helped me study compositions using studio photos.

I feel that changing software is important to freshen up my thought processes.

The “Inspiration” photo

I take very few photos; I prefer to absorb moods without reducing them to a visual aspect. However, with particularly strong visual emotions, I do decide to make a record. 

Later, a set of photos depicting different times and places may inspire a composition, once I have thought its scale through.

“Studio tales” photos

I use photos in my studio to keep records of the design and to prepare for the next steps, the quilting design for example.
My Semagrams were designed based on specific details in photos from the Moments series. The lines of force for the composition were based on these details.

I may also use photos of blocks at pinning or sewing stage to explore all sorts of compositions and choose the one with the greatest impact. 

“Archetype” photos

Lastly, when the schedule is not too tight, I ask a professional to take photos of the pinned blocks. 

My studio tales also feature the moment when I choose the colour scheme for all the pinned textile squares. The photograph puts forward a new surface combining the weave and the direction of the pins. They help me imagine the transformation from 2D composition to object, joining everything up to produce a 3D work. 

This raw material may be printed on tracing paper and exhibited floating to recreate the archetype of a work.