RAIN, RAIN and more RAIN

You should be looking at a picture of zingy lime green hazelnut catkins in the sunshine but things didn’t quite work in my favour photography wise this month. I took Jackson to the woods several times to see how wet underfoot it was and I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest! Suffice to say that short of swimming past the ducks in their new woodland pond it was going to be a while before I reached the catkins. I resolved to return with my camera but for the last few weeks we have lived under a cloud of perpetual rain and by now I fear the catkins will be past their best for this year.

The Hellebores in the garden have not disappointed in the slightest but as I have posted  close ups of the flowers last year I thought I would cut a selection for a vase to photograph. That didn’t work out according to plan either. I selected a vase and set off with the secateurs but couldn’t bring myself to cut the stems; what am I like?!  So here is something a little different in style for me. Still featuring flowers, albeit not Hellebores but I do have a vase!

I am pleased to report that my 'work in progress'  is now finished and ready to share with you all. Taking photos of my work as it progresses has proven to be a very useful tool over the last months. When I really can't work out if I have the placed the pieces in the most pleasing fashion I simply take a photo before moving them around and compare. If I still can't decide I just leave the room and make a drink before returning and deciding. Sometimes this can take a while until I am completely happy.

Having two completely different methods of working on the go at the same time has been quite a novel experience. I was able to pick up and put down the hand stitching as and when time allowed. This left the machine stitching, printing and everything else for after walking Jackson. The mathematical formula for this seems to be relatively quite simple - The longer he walks and runs the longer he sleeps which means I can give my work my undivided attention. We are usually out each day for a couple of hours but this has benefits for both body and mind as I find when walking that I am thinking and planning my time very carefully so when I am home and working I am very focused and able to stitch with intention.

 

I find it much easier to imagine and construct a pleasing design on a larger scale so I was pleasantly surprised and pleased with the results. The format is essentially the same with variations of shape and of the colour palette I chose. The background layer of each one includes silhouettes from my own hand cut stencils of which I am happily building up quite a collection.

My original intention was to mount the work over box canvases but unfortunately the ones I ordered had quite rough corners. I returned them intending to look at other ranges but unable to wait I went ahead and finished the pieces without stitching far enough to the edges to give a seamless wraparound. So, I own up to enjoying myself so much so that in this case I didn’t leave myself many options. I firmly believe the finishing of a piece of work the chosen method of framing is as important as the work itself and always endeavour to pay attention to the overall look of the finished piece. All is not lost as a mount and a sympathetic frame will finish the pieces beautifully.

 

As for the hand stitching, it was never my intention to make two separate works but I realised when looking at the original piece of felt and stitching that I really didn’t like what I had in front of me. I considered what to do for some time before having one of those ‘light bulb moments’ and then it was a simple solution really, out with the scissors and cut it in half!

The idea was loosely based on an old photo of tree bark wearing some rather lovely mosses and lichens which I gave quite a liberal colour interpretation to.  From my last entry you will know that I made a lot of the threads with ‘bobbles’ on the sewing machine along with wrapped wires. These were attached when I added an assortment of hand stitches and beads. With hindsight I would have made one much longer piece more like a tree trunk but that will have to be a story for another day.

With March just hours away and the arrival of meteorological spring imminent we should be looking forward to some brighter warmer days ahead but looking at the forecast it looks like rain, rain and more rain! Back to where I started really.