My first experiment started with a photo of two white pelicans that I took below the Keokuk, Iowa dam last year. Since the great flood of '93, white pelicans have been stopping here in the spring and fall as they migrate. I may be slightly obsessed with them.
The photo I cropped and manipulated in Photoshop Elements, and then printed it on cotton organza. It's a very evocative picture, kind of foggy, vague, very low key. I then fused it a piece of multicolored commercial fabric that is mostly greens and violets. Then I started stitching.
Ok, but not quite what I was thinking of. A little too coarse maybe? So I stitched some more.
This is more like it. Maybe it doesn't show up online, but the stitching closer together is more calm looking, more of a flow and not as jarring. But the pelicans aren't quite showing up. So I touched them up with some white pearl Jacquard Luminere paint.
To buy this piece, click here.
I also trimmed the piece and overstitched the edge. As a sketch, it's pretty much done. Can't figure out any way to improve this particular piece. Did I learn anything? Yes, I think I did--subtle can work, a piece can be too low key. Contradictory things? Not really. In person, the piece works better than it does in these scans. But it's still just a sketch. And that's ok, it's the kind of thing I need to do more. I had an art workshop instructor tell me the secret to good painting, which I summarize as 'think, think, think, plan, plan, plan, paint'. Substitute sketch for one of the plan steps, and that's all I am doing. Learning to make art.
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1 comment:
Hi BJ! Stopped by on a random hop around the ring. Great looking work!! Looking forward to stopping by again.
teri
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