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!

Oystercatchers

Finally my stylised pen and ink rendering of oystercatchers in the estuary.

This is my oystercatcher wool needlepoint which I am quite proud of. It took an extremely long time to complete and has lots of shades of blue and green.

This is part of my original oystercatcher drawing. It has a striped border which isn't shown here.

My sketch and my present unfinished painting. Not too sure about it now that I have seen it again.

I think I may have mentioned before that I love birds and I love drawing and painting them, probably more than anything else except trees and leaves....oh and not forgetting angels of course.

Oystercatchers are some of my favourites because they are very pretty with their black and white plumage and orange legs and beaks. I have watched them in real life, if a good distance away, poking and prodding on the beach for cockles and mussels but probably not a lot of oysters. They are all being eaten in the posh restaurants.

I have drawn and painted and crafted a number of oystercatchers over the years and I never tire of them. I am in the process of painting another oystercatcher picture at the moment. It is still in the "not quite sure what to do with it" stage but I am hoping to have a bolt of inspiration sometime soon. The picture above is my sketch and the actual original which is incomplete. The oystercatchers are easy as I just copied them from another picture that I did four years ago but the background is stumping me a little. I have got as far as a few wavy lines so far.

I also produced a pen and ink stylised drawing of oystercatchers in the estuary some years ago which I really like. I love stylised work, almost more than completely naturalistic.

The other oystercatcher artwork I have included is a three panel wool needlepoint which took me forever to finish. It shows three different pictures of oystercatchers and if you look closely you will see my present oystercatchers reversed. When I create a nice image I often use it many time with different backgrounds and in different media. It is a bit like ringing the changes with the same outfit with different accessories. If you do it cleverly enough sometimes people don't even realise it is the same outfit.....!!! Hope you enjoy the artwork anyway.

Unfinished Symphony in Needlepoint

The title says it all. My needlepoint is unfinished and has been languishing in a drawer for the past 18 months. It must be familiar to all artists and craftspeople the world over. You start off with a wonderful idea: be it a painting, mosaic or a piece of textile artwork, and after the initial idea has been recorded, you run out of ideas for finishing the piece. That is exactly what has happened here. I started off with an interesting sketch which worked beautifully in needlepoint but I didn't have a clue where to take it to completion. I have racked my brains to come up with an amazing border or something to finish it off, to no avail. So, back it goes in the drawer, until suddenly one day I will be hit with a bolt of inspiration from the universe and within a couple of days it will be completed and framed. I am ashamed to say that this is far from being the only piece of art in my collection that is awaiting a completion date....!!!