Linda Crooks

My first foray into textiles didn’t really begin until I took early retirement from my Headship in London. I think I went ‘slap happy’ and enrolled onto every textiles course offered by the local education authority! Having tried them all I finally settled on machine embroidery and completed C&G Levels 1& 2 over the next couple of years.

Castle Textiles Exhibition
2017

My house move to York prevented me continuing onto Level 3 but I went to the Castle Textiles end of year exhibition and promptly signed up having never done any hand stitch before. The next two years were a very steep learning curve but very enjoyable. Over the following two years I completed Level 3 Diploma with support in the form of a bursary from City of York Branch Embroiderers Guild.

Along the way I have found myself leaning towards recycling, use of metals and metallic thread and indigo-dyeing, all of which are reflected in my work and in the frequent burns and cuts on my hands!  

'Distortion IV'

I cannot be called traditional; I love the abstract and tend to go off-piste, changing my mind frequently as I go along. I am drawn to strong colours and tactile materials and tend to work ‘big’.

'Distortion I'

I am now looking forward to developing the skills I have learnt in a less prescribed way, trying to work out of my comfort zone whilst continuing to use Picasso as my inspiration.

'Distortion III'

Here are a couple of  images from my September 2018 exhibition pieces.

I can be contacted on lindacrooks43@yahoo.com