Friday, October 19, 2012

Connor # 3

I finally have time to work in my studio.  I have only spent small amounts of time, doing really mundane things, since getting my class at Campbell ready to teach in Aug.  That is two months folks and I have really missed working.

I have a new piece started but I'm only going to show small pieces in this post.

The entire piece will be 45" x 45" or there about.  Because it is a big piece and I really don't want to do a lot of picking out stitches I decided that I would work on a study first.   This is another of my creations in PhotoShop and is printed on linen cotton canvas.  I'm very happy with the color and texture that I get with this fabric.  It will be the first time I've used it so I  that is another reason for the sample.

I've spent the last two days stitching this piece, and am so glad that I decided to do a study before starting on the larger piece.

I am not exactly a patient person and I hate to waste time.  Often I tell myself that I am wasting time doing the same thing twice.  That I'm going to be bored working on the same thing again.  And sometimes I do get bored but I learn something each time I work so that, hopefully, I will improve the next time.

I almost decided yesterday that I had done enough to this study to see how the fabric reacted to quilting.  How much quilting I wanted to do and which threads to use.  But as I look at the piece this morning I've decided that I will finish the piece because there are other issues that I need to get solved before I tackle the larger piece. 

If anyone who reads this has a good collection of thread for portraits that they like I sure would love to hear from you.  If you look closely at Connor's face and neck you will note that I used brown tone threads on his neck and red tone threads on his face.  Which do you like best?
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3 comments:

  1. deborah lynOctober 21, 2012 at 3:40 PM

    I love this piece too Marilyn! You've done a terrific job! I like to use YLI silk and Bottom Line threads for my portraits but those may be too thin for what you want. best,
    deborah

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  2. Marilyn WallOctober 22, 2012 at 9:10 AM

    Thanks Deborah, I love Y L I silk thread. It is thin but the colors and texture look beautiful in portraits.

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  3. Sarah Ann SmithOctober 27, 2012 at 3:24 PM

    Marilyn: I think the red looks a bit too red for the cloth... like he has a sunburn. I use the 40wt Superior Threads, but I've got ALL of them, not just the Living Colors, and the other tans/beiges help fill out the spectrum. Even with that I tend to "nest" the lines of thread so that the colors overlap a bit to create a visual blending of color to get those intermediate tones. The red threads might be fine if they were used on his neck as well...not sure if it is the juxtaposition of the two color tones, or what. In the photo his face is definitely more pink than his neck.... For my portraits I also use batiks (tone on tone, low contrast) instead of solids, so that also helps blend the colors visually. HTH! Cheers, Sarah

    PS... don't reply to the google email. The wretched spam thingie won't allow me to post without using it, no option to enter the email that I use or my website

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