Living This Creative Life

I have two favorite quotes. The first one is by Emile Zola, "If you asked me what I came into this world to do, I would tell you that I came to live out loud". I don't know who the second one is by, but it goes like this, "If you're not living on the edge then you might as well jump". Both of these sentiments sum up my personal philosophy of this experience we call life on earth. Enjoy!

Tuesday, July 16, 2013


Art Every Day, Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Good Afternoon,
Here is today's new piece.  It is a far cry from the past few days.  I am again killing multiple birds with one stone.  This is a technique that I will be doing on an instructional DVD tomorrow; free lace on dye painted Lutradur.  
I began with dye painted Lutradur in a dark rose, a dark violet and a medium green.  For the red flowers I stitched the outline then stitched tight little, overlapping circles to fill in the petals then I added centers and veins in contrasting thread.  The violet flowers are made from one smaller flower layered on top of a larger flower and they are stitched just like the other flowers. The leaves were outlined then stitched with veins from a center vein to the outer edge of the leaf and back again.  
After the stitching was complete on all of the leaves and flowers I cut them out of the Lutradur and zapped each one with the heat gun to dissolve most of the Lutradur which allows the stitch to become lacy.
The background was stitched in a wonky cross hatch in pale yellow and the stem is a twisted strip of fabric that is stitched on right down the middle. Each of the leaves and flowers were tacked down loosely by machine.
If I had more time, I would add some more interest in the background, but time is of the essence right now, so it is what it is. I will add more later to bring the piece a better sense of balance.
Now I'm off to teach color & design in Golden.
Till tomorrow,
Heather

1 comment:

me said...

Now this is a cool technique! There is just so much to love about Lutradur!

I love how the pale yellow stitching in the white background softens it and gives it a bit of a glow. It also seems to pull some of the lighter color forth out of the violet batting.

Using a wavy stitch back there also is more of a repetition of the lines in the rest of the piece and gives more cohesion overall.

I always like when some elements extend past the batting- breaking out of the confines of the set limits, I guess. It makes the possibilities seem more endless.

This is a technique I want to play with!