This image comes from Madonna's Free Range Stitcher blog. She's just finished her version of Anne Jerlow's Five Geishas, an outlined (with painted areas only on the geishas' black hair and hair ornaments) canvas that sadly is no longer available since Ms. Jerlow's death. Notice anything familiar about it?If not, you might want to look at the header photo if you are visiting with me via Blogspot or look at the background design if you are over at Yahoo 360.
Yes, I stitched this design myself along with a sixth geisha in a separate canvas for ANG's Auction in Baltimore in 2007. Mine are framed together and live with Barbara who placed the winning bid. (Thanks, Barbara!)
This canvas has also been stitched by Susan Portra who sells a stitch guide for them. You can read about Madonna's stitching at her blog here.
http://frontrangestitches.blogspot.com/2008/09/5-geisha-standing-in-tray_25.html
Susan Porta's version of the same five geishas can be seen on her website.
http://www.bringyourcanvastolife.com/catalog/item/2232567/1662442.htm
Madonna told me her canvas came from a knitting/needlepoint shop in Phoenix, not one she ordinarily visits since it doesn't carry the latest and greatest items. Just remember that stores which are a bit behind the times in trends may have hidden treasures you don't want to miss. Madonna has had the canvas about a year and stitched it over the last six months. Read her blog to hear more about her stitching adventure with Anne Jerlow's Five Geishas.
It is fascinating to me to see how three folks did the same canvas in similar and also very different ways. Let me number the geishas from left to right so you know which ones I'm talking about. All three of us dressed No. 5 in purple and we also put No. 3 the middle geisha in a shade of red. My No. 3 was pink, Madonna's was rusty red, and Susan's was bright red. Madonna and I also dressed No. 1 and No. 2 in greens and blues respectively. Madonna used wools for her hair while I used Soy Fiber. We both added quite a few beads in No. 3's elaborate hair do. I can't tell what Susan did with her hair dressing as the photo isn't detailed enough. I did notice that both Madonna and Susan turned the fan shape on the top of No.4's head into hair instead of the fan-shaped ornament I put there. Two of us used two different stitches in shades of off-white for the floor and walls while I used one stitch in two shades to show where the floor and walls were. It's interesting that all three of us felt the need to "ground" our geishas with an environment instead of letting them float on a pretty background stitch.
Hope you enjoy picking out the details you particularly like on each stitcher's version. Here's one last photo, my sixth geisha who is a singleton on her own canvas but obviously taken from one of the geishas in the main design as she was painted exactly as No. 5 is. I just dressed her differently to give myself six geishas.
I'm just sorry this canvas is no longer available for more stitchers to enjoy.
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
4 comments:
Hi Jane,
Nice accounting of the three different versions of the same canvas design. I wish more stitchers would come forward with their own versions. That would realy be fun especially on a canvas with lots of room for customizing. I always enjoy your informative and fun blog and thank you for plugging mine today. Love how the snowman is shaping up.
Madonna
I love seeing how different folks approach a canvas. Susan Portra's floor slanted / and \ to meet in the middle. Yours all slants one way. Mine has no slant at all because it is the same as the vertical wall stitch only in a different color. All these differences help us "see" the possibilities in other painted canvases and how each choice is person, not "right" or "wrong."
I do wish this canvas wasn't unavailable now. It's a great example of customizing your own canvas to your own tastes, which is easier to do with an outlined canvas. There are no built-in prejudices.
But how come all three of us so far dressed the geisha on the far right in purple?
Jane, studying all three examples hard in CH
This is one canvas that I didn't scan before beginning to stitch, so I am wondering if the purple geisha was painted purple, or had a purple hair ribbon? Which would have drawn all three of us to stitch her in purple?
Madonna
The geisha we all did in purple had a purple ribbon in her hair. Actually from left to right, their hair ornaments were pink, red, red with purple flowers, blue and purple.
So maybe we all noticed the purple ribbon unconsciously. I certainly didn't remember how any of them haid their hair dressed when it came to the original colors.
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