Tuesday, March 23, 2010

4seeds-thistles




The illustration is coming along. It is the biggest I have ever done, not by choice, but because I had to have it that big to have any chance of dealing with the hands. That is the biggest issue with fabric-I can only cut and stitch fabric that is so big-smaller and it literally falls apart. Am finding that the more realistic I want to go the bigger I have to in faces and hands.
If you can see it-the stitch I am using on the face and hands is not a basic whip stitch-have done that and it looks like I have made Frankenstein people. I stitch it at an angle and cover the whole edge- kind of what a surger might do. It can take some time, but have found the whole edge of skin, needs to be covered.
Have been intrigued with thistles and crows for that matter-been watching both along the country roads-Purple and black- being cool colors by nature hopefully will really pop out from the warmness of the wheat field- another way to contrast and bring attention- throw a cool into a palette of warms- or vice versa. I will be finishing the guy last because want to get the crows done before make a decision about his shirt-might have to take the whole illustration to the fabric shop to find the perfect fabric.
I'd say I am about half way done with laying down- don't know how long the crows will take- maybe longer, probably longer than I think- needs to do another row of thistles, this is not going to be enough and then weave stocks of wheat into them- then do the layer of stones and more struggling wheat and then the road-ahhhhh maybe I am not half way done.
I am not working on this all the time- have writing projects am doing as well.

scroll down to other posts to see the progression of  "4seeds"

8 comments:

  1. You are amazing! I love this, and I love seeing the beginnings of your work. I think you can go as big as you want and still retain your fantastic vision.

    I also like it when a painting is in this stage, sort of half finished and waiting for the rest to come to life. There is such an air of mystery about it. This is going to be fantastic, please show us when it is finished.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love seeing your process--it's amazing!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is beautiful! Looking forward to seeing the completed piece. Your work is wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Julia, this looks like a beaut. Can't wait to see the finish. I hope you post it. Also, it would be fun to see do Frankenstein.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow..this is going to be stunning! Thank you for sharing your process. I'm excited to see it once completed. Your colors are fabulous! Love the birds..the sky..the flowers..I LOVE IT ALL!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is so beautiful and I'm enjoying watching it progress. It's a very intriguing process :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a gorgeous work of art! Thanks for showing us your progress!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh, this is going to be a stunner!

    ReplyDelete