Interview with Geninne

Q. Geninne, when did you know you wanted to become an artist?

A. My parents say that coloring and drawing was my favorite thing to do since I was two years old. A big box of Crayola crayons was paradise! I guess I've known that arts & crafts was my thing since I was very little. Art/Craft class was always my favorite at school.

Q. How long have you been embroidering and how did you get started?

A. I inherited my grandma's love for embroidery since I was a kid, she worked professionally in New York embroidering fancy cocktail dresses. I started embroidering in school when I was about 11 years old. I was in a British all girls school in Chile at the time. My classmates and I were very much into sewing and knitting our own sweaters for the winter. We had a wonderful teacher that showed us how to make lots of things for our dolls. I wish I still had all the beautiful things we embroidered at school.

Q. What is your primary medium of work? Do you feel that embroidery is another medium of art for you?

A. I definitely think that embroidery is just another way to express myself. I love to embroider my own designs as much as I enjoy doing my watercolors. I'm always doing something with my hands like painting,sewing, cooking, etc...

Q. What inspires you to create?

A. My inspiration comes from all sorts of places, primarily from nature. I live in a beautiful wooded area so I'm surrounded by all sorts of cute little birds, flowers, and trees. My kids are my everyday inspiration as well.

Q. So tell me anything about your embroidered totes, they are great and admired by many. You have made a few but one can never have too many totes, right?

A. Lots of people have asked me what I use all those totes for... The truth is I only have a couple of them because I always end up giving them as gifts to friends and family. I love them because they're just so darn easy to make and so useful. Function and beauty are great partners in my book. I keep one in kitchen for my baked whole wheat bread and I have another one with my current knitting project.

Q. You have beautiful pictures of your home on flickr; your home is as wonderful as your artwork, they seem to reflect each other. Do you try to surround yourself with art or objects that make you feel creative?

A. Thank you so much. Creating a comfortable and beautiful nest is very important to us. Decorating is just another way of expressing our design sensibility. I like to keep things clean and simple and let all the surrounding natural elements inspire my work.

Q. What is an average day like for you?

A. My average day involves home-schooling my two boys, cooking, organizing, going for walks, and spending every spare time I have doing the things that I love, like painting, doing crafts and freelance illustration work. I spend a lot of time at home.

Q. Do you read any crafty blogs or view any crafty web sights? If so, would you share some of your favorite spots to visit?

A. Hoo boy, there is so much inspiration on the web! One of my favorite craft blogs is The Purl Bee and Feeling Stitchy, of course :). I mostly visit illustration and decoration sites but my crafty fix comes from Flickr, there are so many crafty girls out there doing wonderful stuff.

This is something I designed for one of my totes. I love using chain stitch because it makes nice neat lines. The flowers were made using lazy daisy stitch and a little french knot for the center.

This is a tree I made for a pillow case using chain stitch again. I used cotton DMC floss on a wool blend fabric. I can't wait to get my hands on some linen embroidery thread and work on natural linen fabric.

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To see more of Geninne, visit her blog, Geninne's Art Blog, and her view her photos at Flickr.

A big thanks goes out to Geninne! We appreciate getting a glimpse of your life as a stitcher and artist.