Building Landscapes

Fall shows are coming up and I'm working away at getting some new work done before deadlines loom too ominously! Right now I'm working on stitched landscapes, including this one with a lacy tree.

I took a few types of lace and painted them with acrylic paint, then cut out motifs and pinned them in place - a long process. I'll run over all of the lace pieces with a loose machine stitch in a color which I hope will more or less disappear. You can see a bit of the trunk in the next photo and the fact that it is made from many strips of different colored fabrics. All in all, this is a very labor intensive piece and, so far, I'm not in love with it. Hopefully, adding more contrasting colors will make it come alive.

I usually set up my landscapes by pinning fabrics to a piece of foam core. The fabrics are culled from the numerous disorganized boxes of fabric which are piled in my studio, which is right now more of a storage room.  My dream is an organized, peaceful studio - will it ever happen? Not at the moment, that's for sure, as I have too much on my plate to attack it. Maybe I'll give myself a Christmas gift of hiring a helper/organizer to do it with me in the winter months. Anyone interested?

The above piece is shaping up. I'm picturing some strong tree shapes in silhouette. I'll cut some out and see how they look. Hanging below the landscape is some great wool embroidery thread I'll probably incorporate also.

And, of course, as I work on the porch, Rosie is curled up near my feet. When we had our porch rebuilt years ago, we actually chose extra windows near the floor for our cats' viewing pleasure.  The things we do for our furry friends!

And, if you should remember the new blog header I was so excited about making awhile ago - it's still in process. I'm just a little bit scattered lately but it will get done eventually.

I hope that everyone who reads this is having a fabulous week. 

Enjoy these last days of August!