Sunday, February 14, 2010

The leaves and you did what?

I finished all the leaves and sepals!! Put the green fiber all away! Then I did the silver on the left loop--top and bottom and started down the streamer on the left side.
And then, Jane asked me to talk about the painting, how and why, I changed my canvas. So I will blather on a bit. When I saw this canvas, I was drawn to the roses and the tassel, which I told you before. However, it sat in my stash as I was really unsure about how to stitch it. So, I took it to the Carole Lake class and when I put mine on the wall to discuss it, I explained that. Everyone said the yellow rose (now gone) popped as the focal point and it was very busy, which I did not want (maybe that is why I kept avoiding it!)l. I think it was Carole that said "paint it out". . I had acrylic paint and I mixed it up . I started with white, added some black and made a nice gray color and then I added in the navy blue. I mixed it about four shades up from the color I wanted the actual background to be. I grabbed one of my brushes and, with small amounts on the brush, started carefully covering what I did not like, once going horizontally and once going vertically to cover. You remember I took out not only the rose, but the shading behind everything, and the tile design in the background. Since it was acrylic paint, it does not take long to dry at all! I let it all dry about 4 hours and then went back over any areas that needed a little more coverage-the rose and the tiles. After waiting a couple more hours, I checked for holes that were filled and took an awl and carefully reopened them. I have also very lightly drawn in a rose and bud on the right side that I will stitch in when I start the roses, following Mom the artist's advice. I resumed my stitching at this point.
Since I am a mathematical personality along with career, I tend to work a lot of counted and/or geometric designs and am (according to my friends and family) an organized person! LOL, Anyway, as I kept looking at this, I still did not like the balance in the borders. I took it with me on Friday when I visited my LNS and we decided that it would look more balanced if I made the border uniform on all sides. So I grabbed the paints and mixed up another batch. It is a little bit different in color, but it will all be covered by stitching later on.
I doubt that I will do this with any of my other canvas, but I now know that I can . It wasn't too scary and I am pleased with the results. I know that I will not be sitting around painting canvas as drawing and painting are my Mom's talent, not mine, but I know I can tweak something that is painted if I want to. I appreciate the time and talent the designers spend on these pieces and I applaud them. This makes this canvas mine and it will also now blend with other pieces in my home as this one is for me.

4 comments:

The Chilly Hollow Needlepoint Adventure said...

Thank you for explaining, Pat. No wonder this looks so nice, you had expert advice from Squiggee.

I love the silver touch you are adding. It makes the ribbon prettier somehow. Thanks for telling us how you customized this. I appreciate it.

Possibilities, Etc. said...

You have vastly improved the design of this canvas - and did a great job painting out what you didn't want. It's awfully pretty now. One can actually focus on the roses and tassel.

Cyn said...

Hi Pat,

I do like how you have painted out the background. Much improved and I think it does better reflect your taste. Not so fussy and the focal point is now the pink roses and the tassel! :-)

Cynthia
Windy Meadow

Unknown said...

thanks and you are welcome!