At the conclusion of the degree course, the exhibition allowed us to show the three most recent pieces of work.

The pieces I exhibited are the three main characters from the story (more about that, later).

Initial pieces of work demonstrating different emotions.

I took inspiration for the papermache figurines from visiting ‘The Creature Show’ exhibition at the Touchstones gallery in Rochdale, in March this year. I loved the quirkiness and humour that Julie Arkell incorporates within her little characters. In both of mine, I am expressing ‘happy’ and ‘angry’ emotions. I spent quite a bit of time creating these figurines, and still, I felt that there was something missing. On reflection, I feel they are missing the small but significant details we perceive when looking at someone’s facial expressions.

For my next portraits, I took photos of my boyfriend, who happily modelled a variety of different types of emotions for me. These are the black linear, stitched studies. I concentrated on exaggerating particular features and embroidered these portraits, as if the needle was a pencil.

I used applique when producing the most recent poses, incorporating pattern and colour.