Working on plans for my largest embroidery/painting yet. First I decided on the size, 40" x 60", took more photos of the pond, did some sketches (and even some small studies, to your right) and created a layout sheet out of brown paper. Then I just started drawing ideas with charcoal because I can rub it out easily. After I decided on how I wanted the tree, I cut out a bunch of paper leaves so they'd all be uniform and started sticking them on until it became full. Here's how it looked after I put leaves:
And then I was curious to see colors on the pond, and how different shapes alter the composition, so I painted in some blue and yellow and crudely drew in some clover at the base of the tree.
So now I can trace the whole thing and get it ready to transfer on to my fabric. I'm not sure if I'm gonna use jute burlap or coarse belgian linen. Some burlaps have too wide a thread count. That's what I used for all my other embroideries, so I'm really comfortable with it, but I'm really curious to see what it'll look like on the coarse belgian linen. I guess I'll have to do a little sample or something. The most recent studies I did with grey-blue burlap. I kinda like the blue 'cause it a little like sky, but I'm not sure I want to do the big one with it. hmmm... all things to work out before even starting the embroidery. I just ordered this baby from a place in Canada:
I'm an outsider in the world of needlework. It took me a lot of different google searches to find what I was looking for, and I had to poke and prod the needlework shops to clue me in to how to do a big piece. I was just going to build my own stretcher, and got deterred really quick - I'd have to use hard wood, which, after all the rigging and manipulating, I'd wind up in the same place financially. The good thing with this one is that i can make my own scrollbars out of dowels and use it for any size project.
