Stitchery And Yummy Colours

Leaves Needlepoint. You can tell I like leaves can't you?

Autumn Leaves Needlepoint

Needlepoint sample pieces

Embroidery silks or floss

Appleton's wools with sample cards

I have a passion for colours, any sorts and all sorts. I love textiles, silks, wools etc and I love using colours to create texture. I do this with cross stitch, embroidery and needlepoint mostly. I went through a phase a few years ago when everything had to be cross stitched but then I moved on to needlepoint. Now I use the technique called Victorian cross stitch which is basically cross stitch but used for needlepoint. What it really means is the stitch is crossed over which gives the canvas more stability and stops it loping off to one side and having to be realigned later.

My favourite threads are Appleton's 2 ply wool which is lovely because it can be used with two strands to provide more colour combinations. Much easier for shading. I also love embroidery silks but used for needlepoint. The colours are much more vivid than the wool shades. The first two photos above show my stash of Appleton's wool and also of my silks. I buy the Appleton's wool in huge hanks but find it much easier to deal with if I wind it onto cards and colour co-ordinate it in my plastic boxes. That is an enjoyable hobby all in itself...LOL

I have also posted a picture of some sample pieces that never really achieved reality but the wonderful thing is the potential is always there for them to do so. In fact these pieces have been put away for about a year and bringing them back into the light of day has inspired me to create something from them. I will have to put my needlepoint thinking cap on.

The other two illustrations are of needlepoints that did achieve reality. I am particularly proud of the leaves one which really did take me many months to complete. I had finished all the six leaves and then ran out of inspirational steam like you do. Suddenly it came to me to use diagonal lines of colours in the order of the spectrum and it worked.....well, for those who like full on, vivid colours. The other needlepoint is another tree and leaves one but with a much more muted palette.

Of course having access to Adobe Photoshop these days, makes it very easy to decide on each step of the way when creating artwork. At each stage it is simple to colour in the next bit digitally and see if it works. If it doesn't, scrap it and try again. I have done that quite often in my paintings when I have been stumped for a background.

I was going to make this a post about my latest efforts in the linocut technique but unfortunately I have lost my inking up roller so I will have to go to the art shop and get one tomorrow!