Tag: inspired by nature

Posted in embellishing, hand embroidery

Friday Finish: Dragonfly panel stitching

Posted on by Laura Kate

For this week, I made a promise to myself that I would complete the hand embroidery on one of the Here Be Dragons art quilt panels. By New Year’s Day, I had finished.

The goal was to emphasize the painted lines while quilting the fabric layers together. I used DMC stranded floss in colors compatible with the fabric paint.

Here is the panel before stitching the background. The dragonfly is already stitched.

Using primarily stem stitch I outlined the botanical shapes of leaf and flower. With rice stitch, I worked the blank areas of the panel to secure the batting and backing.

Here is the panel completed.

I feel pretty good about my work. To me, the piece has variety but also cohesion, achieved by using repetition and a limited color palette.

I now have only one panel of this quilt left to stitch. My goal is to have the work finished and framed in time for an exhibition sponsored by my local art association. It will open in early February.

There’s nothing like a deadline to keep an artist motivated.

Posted in painting

Chasing the Sunset, Iowa

Posted on by Laura Kate

Returning home, yesterday, this is my quick warm-up painting. I wanted to try out a new pad of watercolor paper and my new imitation Kolinsky brush.

I did have a reference photo. It was taken by Bill, not this trip, but in a previous one. We were driving west on Interstate 80, east of Des Moines. Just after the sun went behind the clouds, we pulled off the road and stopped in front of a furrowed field.

Thanks for viewing.

Posted in painting

Watercolor Wednesday in October

Posted on by Laura Kate

“She offered me a hummingbird” again

Finally finished this last 6 x 6 for our local art association fundraiser. This one was important for me to get right because it faithfully reproduces the layout, colors and feel of the actual event.

When the visitor offered me the bird, it was in her hand extended forward to me. The bird was in this posture – wings stretched back into a V and head slightly raised.

I used two reference photos. The hummingbird came from Unsplash, it was taken by B Hong. I rotated his image until it had the posture I remembered in the live bird.

The hand model was me again. I chose a bright sunny day and held a button in my palm to try to recreate the shadows.

It was enough for me to get the idea. When I needed help, I took the painting to Open Studio today for advice on attaining better shadows. Cheryl Bryan was there. She advised me that I should not try to match the photograph. Softening the shadows and allowing a little space between the palm and the bird made for a better painting. Then I kept darkening and tweaking everything until a good range of values was present. I finished the details with white gouache and a few colors of Micron pens.

For those interested, my pigments are raw sienna, transparent orange, Winsor green blue shade, Winsor green yellow shade, carbazole violet, Paynes gray and white gouache.

Posted in colorwork, knitting

Autumn Blooms

Posted on by Laura Kate
LOOK UP!

This past week I cast on a project that has been in my queue most of the summer. It is a pullover sweater for Mandy, using some Malabrigo Rios yarn as the main color.

I was thunderstruck to see that my palette is a near match for the colors I see outside right now. The gold color is 035 Frank Ochre and I purchased it online from Jimmie Beans. The two contrasting colors are from Knitpicks: Hawthorne dk in Foster Powell Multi and Swish dk in Moss.

My daughter chose the pattern from three or four options I gave her out of my Ravelry favorites. She liked Autumn Bloom by Olga Putano.

It is knit top down starting with a very beautiful and somewhat complex yoke.

In this photo I have worked to the point where the main color is joined. When that happens, the knitter is faced with working three yarns at the same time for about four rounds – slow and tricky work involving a lot of catching the long floats of unused strands under the working yarn.

Here is my progress with the yoke chart completed.

In the bright sunlight, the colors almost glow. That gold will definitely brighten up a dark winter day when sunshine is rare.

The project is almost to the point where a fitting is required. I have some doubts and fears about sizing and whether my stranded knitting will block out smoothly. Since I won’t have access to the recipient for another four weeks or so, I would be wise to cool my needles and put the project aside until the next time we are together.