February was a cold month. Visits to Paine’s Mill at Chatsworth in particular were cold and wet. I was drawn back to the mill frequently. Something to do with the marks left by people over time, the light on the building according to the time of day and the impact of the weather and storms over time and at the times of my visits.

Charcoal and graphite drawing started on site but it got too cold.

Experimenting with lino cut above

Experimenting with stitch on calico and felt above

Researching the 12 Dukes and the millers. There is so much to learn about the Dukes. So much documented history of their influence on the local economy, the landscape and many aspects of the British way of life. Politics played a major part in securing their position throughout generations. Clever moves and shifts to maintain allegiances with the monarchy whatever their religious or political persuasion. The millers don’t share this historical archive. My enquiries show that they are barely recorded even though their role in feeding the estate’s people and cattle was, I expect great. I decided to meld the Dukes and Millers together in my final piece through stitches and cloth in the hope that sometime soon the archivists will look beyond the House and find out who the millers were, what they were called, where they lived with their families and why they are so particularly left out of the records when others of similar standing are so visible.

I have continued my experiments with stitching. I like the idea of representing succession, repetition, over and over again, some disruption but as long as there’s a man in the family all will continue along the male line but each time it will be different. The Dukes were all individuals as of course were the unknown millers but I can’t stitch them as there is little to know. I ma relying on the solidity and strength of the millers wheel and the circular mark on the left by the mill door. I fancy a bell there to ring the miller to warn of visitors so they can enter safely. I might be wrong.

I envisage twelve stitched squares for each Duke and Miller. The 12th Duke lives on of course so how I will end the piece is open at this stage.

Rubbings from the mill inspire stitches.

What to do with the Chatsworth colours – especially the blue

Chatsworth blue seems important to the marketing strategy. But it is an impossible task I think. Even though the colour is what it says on the tin there are so many variations from the past to re-cover. My experiments with a paint sample show that the colour alters according to the number of coats so unless it has the full amount of coats the blue alters as it does also over time, given the light and weather and so on. My view is that there is too much Chatsworth Blue! It is starting to make the place look too corporate and without soul. I will use the blue sparingly in my work.

Fun experimenting with colour

Visit to Sheffield Millennium Gallery. Leonardo Da Vinci drawings are being shown all over Britain and we have a selection showing here in Sheffield. They are gorgeous together with his timeline, the explanation of materials and his interests in everything in the world, the human body, anatomy, water, sculpture design and so on. A wonderful intellectual force of a man.  These photos show an accompanying exhibition along the corridor. I hope its OK to put these here. A connection to Leonardo’s explorations of the movement of water and blood and the interruptions met on the way. Fabulously and mesmerisingly done. Check this out.

               The vehicle of nature by Universal Everything. An immersive installation by this digital art and design collective.

Millenium Gallery Sheffield

 

Alongside the Dukes and Millers I have decided to make two handkerchiefs since all classes needed something to wipe their nose on if they had a sniffle, especially when snuff became popular. Through my research into handkerchiefs I discovered that Lady Georgiana Spencer and Queen Marie Antoinette were friends. Story has it that Queen Marie  complained to King Louis one day (oh how bored and spoiled he and she must have been) that her handkerchiefs were not consistently the right size for her. So, the dutiful husband decreed that handkerchiefs should be nine and a half inches and ten and a half inches square. Thus the size of handkerchiefs was set for the rest of the world! Men of course have a bigger nose! The fossil print from earlier would be good for this. I developed it for the Duke and also a plain cloth handkerchief for the miller.

Preparing my collagraph printing block for the Duke’s handkerchief

The fossils are based on a table top I saw in Chatsworth House and local fossil limestone such as that found at the “Once a week”  quarry on Chatsworth Estate. They date back 365 million years to the carboniferous period.

“Caught in time” – I like that – it works on several levels.

Spent time off from sewing Dukes and Millers and went to look for a selection of fabrics to print the handkerchiefs on. I included old bolster pillow fabric, old cotton pillowcases, cotton lawn, linen old and new. In the end I chose new cotton lawn for its softness and acceptance of the printing ink. Though if the current Duke was to test it out he’d get a blue nose! The ink is as close to Chatsworth blue as possible.

The Dukes

I turned the edge with a tiny stitch and gave the Duke some bling to match his house with gold thread couched into place. I like it. Definitely catches the moment. Is it catching a sneeze, a response to snuff, a tear, a lost era, a fossil of time…

The Miller

What of the Miller’s handkerchief – if he had one other than his sleeve. I decided on calico left over from making aprons or pillows or rough clothing. I didn’t finish the edges but I did give the miller 12 pieces of gold thread, one for each Duke, one for each month of the year, each representing golden corn growing on the estate.

 The Dukes and the Millers emerging at my workspace

Each square was planned to represent aspects of life on or off the estate relating to the Dukes’ activities. There is little information about the millers and after looking at other local mills such as Cauldwell’s Mill at Rowsley,  I decided to focus on Paine’s Mill as much as it was a working mill over the centuries and as it gradually became dilapidated and regarded as a folly as it is today in contrast with the Golden House overlooking it. The view point and working mill planned by capability Brown and Paine is reduced to looking quaint.

Hours of stitching brought me nearer to the history of the place. I used wool felt, fine scrim, embroidery threads and worked each design according to the story of the place.

Earlier marks found on the mill inspired collage and painting and now stitching.Taken in haste this photograph is difficult to see however each square tells a different story culminating in the ruin of the mill and its gradual absorption back into the Derbyshire lands unless it is given a new life.

Here the Dukes and Millers rest in two books,  1 – 6 and 7 – 12. The current and 12th Duke is Peregrine Andrew Morney Cavendish (DOB 27th April 1944). His father was Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire and mother was Deborah Mitford. Andrew Cavendish died 3rd May 2004. The estate is said to be worth around £800m. I have left a golden thread hanging for him in the second book and as a nod to future Dukes, or Duchesses, should a woman succeed in the future or to the nation should it ever inherit the estate. The last miller was Mr Wilfred Johnson (up to 1950) and previous to that George Hogkin (his initials are believed to be inscribed on the building). Other millers, back through the centuries to the medieval mill are lost in the archives if they were ever there.

A new lease of life might spoil something good. Pity if it means losing the graffiti old and modern which gives it a bit of an edge! I wonder what went on up there in the loft?

Who were Mark and Twiggy, who owned the bike and what were they up to in 1980?