We caught a glimpse recently of Rina Whyte’s artist notebooks where she explored ideas for her newest works, “I am Peacock I” and “I am Peacock II”. These notebooks are exquisite artworks in their own right, full of colour and texture. Rina uses watercolours, colour pencils, collage, tissue and scraps of fabric to work through her ideas for these glorious peacocks, refining shapes and colours tones, exploring minute details to the fullest.

Inspiration is not difficult to find for Rina as peacocks are kept in her local area and when she sees them in her garden she runs for a camera and sketchpad to capture their elegance and beauty. Rina’s work incorporates both hand and machine stitch and sometimes uses existing decorative fabrics which she embellishes with stitch, beads and applique.

Rina also uses tea dyeing and bleach to distress the ground fabric before incorporating paint, found fabrics, metallic threads, sequins and beads to create the design. Double layers of yarn are used to create texture and depth of colour whilst still retaining the delicate stitch drawing.

Rina has quoted a poem, The Peacock, by WB Yeats as further inspiration for her work:

What’s riches to him

That has made a great peacock

With the pride of his eye?

The wind-beaten, stone-grey,

and desolate Three-rock

Would nourish his whim.

Live he or die

Amid wet rocks and heather,

His ghost will be gay

adding feather to feather

for the pride of his eye