Finished: Purple Finch Embroidery
I’m pleased with this embroidery. I used Paternayan wool thread and a little Appletons with some sewing thread here and there. Late summer is shifting into early fall, so this will be my reminder of August.
Tag: bird
Female Purple Finch Embroidery
Purple finch and cone flowers on a hot, late summer afternoon. My struggle will be to add background details that tone down the flowers yet draw your eye to the bird. It’s a fun puzzle to solve.
Can you spot the bee?
New Embroidery, Female Purple Finch
If it wasn’t for the texture created by stitching wool on fabric, I’d be happy with a drawing or painting, but there’s something about a certain scene that makes me think “wool!” Embroidery is a little like carving or sculpting, I imagine, where you can see an image emerging that has dimension.
Lately my process is something like this: my husband and I venture out of doors to take photos, I find something interesting—usually a critter or plant— and take many pictures, go through a period of forgetting about it, then open up my photos, find one out of the many that appeals to me, do a few sketches, and start planning a project. I usually add in details, plants, and other important pieces from other photos.
Will it be an embroidery or a drawing or simply stay a photo? Time will tell.
Great Blue Heron Crewel Embroidery, cont.
When did I learn how to be patient? For some reason, I’m not rushing this project, planning the next one, or getting a little bit bored like I’ve done with nearly all my art with, perhaps, the exception of some colored pencil projects. I’m content to stitch for an hour, set it aside for a day or two or three, and settle back down and stitch again, all the time considering what should come next.
As the water filled in the bottom half, I had time to reflect on why I wanted to embroider a water scene with wool. I think it’s the textured, layered feeling created by physically stitching layers over layers. I don’t think I would have done it justice with pencil or paint.
I’m sticking with my goal of avoiding freestyle stitching. Stitches I’ve used lately include, the feather stitch, satin, stem, and long-and-short.