Tuesday, June 24, 2014

A Project Completed.....

Okay, I'm hanging my head.....on June 11, 2013 I posted a blog about a landscape I was working on telling you to stay tuned for what I had planned.
How on earth did this piece take me over a year to finish?  Even taking into account that I did make some other pieces in between....this piece took longer than most I have tackled in the last few years.  I am "big" enough to admit that I have WIP's (Works in Progress) in my closet that are much older than this one, but most as much larger than this one.....anyway....

All along I knew I was going to turn this landscape into a triptych, but initially the thought process was equal sections, until a friend suggested graduated sizes.  Hmmmmm! The more I mulled this over the more I liked the idea, so when I finished the needle felting and embroidery out came the rotary cutter...I have to admit I did pause.....what if I didn't like it or made a miss cut? 
It hung in the booth at International Quilt Festival-Chicago last week for the first time in it's FINISHED form and I must say I am pleased with how it turned out.  Sometimes I guess we worry about how something will turn out for just a bit too long....
The sky is done using our hand-dyed cheesecloth.  As I began this piece the cheesecloth when laid out had these folds in it and I knew I wanted to retain them....after a bit of thought I decided that if I worked on a muslin base with a layer of Mistyfuse© on it, that would hold things in place as I worked.  That muslin base gave the sky the right amount of depth.
 Because the needle felting "suggests" different aspects found in a landscape the piece didn't require and over abundance of embroidery to enhance it. 

Sometimes it pays to listen to constructive input when working....if my friend hadn't made the suggestion for cutting it in graduated sizes I would have cut them into equal portions and it wouldn't have the impact it does now.  Don't be afraid to listen to ideas/critiques of your work, someone with a fresh outlook may have a wonderful idea that will strengthen your work.

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