I can see it from here! I have been very slowly stitching away on this small portrait of the St. Nicholas Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia. Now it's a question of how much is too much and how much is not enough?
This started as a wool sweater that I pounded, ahem, felted into submission, to make it as flat as possible without loosing texture and pattern. I then strategically sprinkled thread clippings and tiny swatches for an indication of color and machine stitched the outline of the cathedral. All that went fairly quickly. The next part, the hand stitching part, is the slow part. I want the portrait to have a loose sketchy quality to it, almost like a quick watercolor sketch.
Here are a few close ups to show you where I am:
What do you think? Am I achieving the sketchy quality?
This started as a wool sweater that I pounded, ahem, felted into submission, to make it as flat as possible without loosing texture and pattern. I then strategically sprinkled thread clippings and tiny swatches for an indication of color and machine stitched the outline of the cathedral. All that went fairly quickly. The next part, the hand stitching part, is the slow part. I want the portrait to have a loose sketchy quality to it, almost like a quick watercolor sketch.
Here are a few close ups to show you where I am:
5 comments:
Absolutely stunning.
What intrigues me most about this work is how you have created layers upon layers of texture, with a final portrait in mind all the way along. Your process and vision is amazing. Gorgeous, Natalya!
Looks lovely and sketchy to me. I think this, like much of your work, is a case of more is more and this looks pretty much there! Do you have felting needles? It might be nice to see the sky area poked into the sweater more so that the blue is stronger in the building and softer in the sky.
I love the whole deal! Very cool. And the sweater idea~ really love that.
You've got sketchy! It is so hard, in any artistic process, to be controlled and achieve that loose, sketchy quality in the final piece. You do that so well.
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