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| Melissa Shirley's Red Geisha Underway |
When I first sat and studied Red Geisha before I started stitching her, I knew that there needed to be a ton of tent stitches on this canvas. First of all, nothing does faces like basketweave, and secondly, because this will be a purse, it needs the durability of tent stitches. So how did I introduce interest into a piece that has to be mostly basketweave?
I scattered fancy stitches among the tent stitches, of course! Look at the right side of the canvas in the photo above. Naturally the flower petals are stitched in embroidery-type stitches. The petals are all small and the stitches not very long. Hopefully they will be hard to snag when the purse is carried. I then added cashmere stitches over the pink blocks in the background and then added a few more in the same color as the tent stitches to fancy up the area some. The bulk of the upper left corner of the design is in basketweave but there are fancier elements mixed in so that the design isn't all Boring Basketweave.
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| Closeup of the first row of flower stitch |
You can see how I continued adding fancier elements among the basketweave in the lower left corner of the design. I did two rows of a fancy floral stitch, then basketweaved inside and around the flowers. For this effect I used a slightly raspberry shade of red floss for the flowers and a more red shade of a silk/wool mix for the basketweave. Look again at the larger photograph. Bet you missed the two rows of flowers between the cheek and apple blossoms when you first looked! The colors are very close but as the canvas is tilted the flowers become more or less visible. Since a purse is carried, I am hoping the same "now you see flowers, now you don't" effect will make this an interesting canvas to watch without totally sacrificing durability.
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
12 comments:
Beautiful Jane, very clever. And yes, I missed the red flowers when I first looked at the first picture. Great contrast between the reds. But my eyes were dazed by the green area - what is it? Kreinik? Beautiful thread and effect.
Palma, do you mean the gold and green hair sticks? That as you guessed is three shades of Kreinik metallic. Because of what I plan for her hair, those hair sticks need to be really prominent.
Stay tuned for a few more glimpses as I stitch Red Geisha.
The tone-on-tone patterning looks really terrific. It looks like embroidered silk, which I'm sure was your intention.
Your creativity with stitches and threads just goes on and on! Interspersing those flowers of a slightly different color into the basketweave is so clever. Thanks for always providing new ideas to try.
And the face is simply beautiful.
Nancy
Can't claim any credit for the face--that's Melissa Shirley's art. She tells me she worked really hard to get it just right so I made sure I stitched it in such a way that the design shone, not the stitches.
As for the "embroidered silk" look, that was what I was going for. I decided the background for this piece was at least three embroidered fabrics and some arranged flowers and twigs. Red Geisha is seen against that backdrop. She really is wonderful in person. Wish cameras captured that!
I'm still studying the geisha's face: are the gray lines at the neck stitched independently or overstitched over white stitches? I can't see to tell in the photo.
Thanks,
Nancy
Nancy, I stitched most of the face including the gray lines with white thread. What you see is the paint showing because I picked a thin and slightly transparent white.
Yes Jane, I was talking about the sticks. WOw, 3 colors of Kreinik. I learn something new every day. Great job, you never cease to amaze me
SharonG says we should use metallics to shade and there are enough colors in the Kreinik line to do that. I have to find the right piece to do that with and try it.
This is an amazing piece! You never fail to inspire with the ideas!
Thanks, Pat. Of course I am hoping folks will be intrigued enough to buy the stitch guide but I also want to inspire people to try painted canvases or do more with the ones they have. It's not rocket science. You just have to be brave enough to try and be willing to fail, then try again.
As you well know, since your stitching is adventurous too!
LOL, I am just an adventuresome gal!
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