Contrast

My weekly FiberWorks group has a new challenge for the year. Each member was asked to bring in several words that could be an inspiration for a work of art. We then voted on them and narrowed them down to 12 words. Members are to make a 4" x 6" each month inspired by that word and then at the end of the year when we have our big show at the Newtown Library we are to pick one of those small studies and make it into a bigger piece.
 The first word is CONTRAST. I looked through my garden pictures and found one that I thought would be perfect.

This was taken in my garden a few years ago, This wonderful shrub blooms in the late summer and into Sept. I just loved it, but alas it bit the dust last year. I forget the name (something like charioptis) but if you know please let me know. Anyway I loved the contrast between the flowers and the background, a striking black, so I printed it onto fabric.

The black background came out a wishy-washy dark gray. I went over it all with a black permanent marker and it looked better, but a little splotchy. Then I remembered India Ink, so I put that on with a small brush and voila---very black black. If you look carefully on the right hand side you can see where I tried it out. There is a definite line about half way up, the lower half is the India Ink and the rest marker.

On this one I stitched over all the flowers and leaves with the sewing machine, OK, but I thought I could do better.

This one was embroidered by hand and I like it so much better. I mounted it onto a white canvas.

I do enjoy making French Knots and although this took a few evenings of TV work, I think it was well worth the effort. What do you think?

I am going to my Florida home this week and will be three months without a sewing machine, so I am bringing hand work. I already have my next two words, CURVES and ILLUMINATION, printed onto fabric and I will do the embroidery while I am there. Since I am taking my laptop I will be able to blog, so look out for them.

Remember that you can click on any picture to see a closeup.