Perseverance Pays Off
Creating a Great Foundation
Once again my stubbornness towards giving up has paid off, but this time it came as a complete surprise to me.
I really struggled with the making of this piece. It was started in a class on improvisational piecing, and there were many aspects of the piece I was very unhappy with. I didn’t like the color, or the composition, and it was lacking in other ways as well. But I toughed it out, finished the piece, and now I am so glad I did.
The thing that bothered me the most was the piece looked cold and hard. The red was a very cool red, and we were only supposed to use 2 colors for this exercise. So, in an attempt to vary the palette a bit and add subtle interest I added in 3 more colors: a creamy beige in the background along with gray and black in the foreground. This gave me a gradation of 5 colors which I found much more acceptable.
The point I wanted to share with you was the fact that in combining that beige with the white in the background it added an element to the background that helped pull everything else together. I loved this!
Now I am in the process of starting 3 new class samples, so I decided to try the same idea used in the background with my hand stitched mixed media textiles. I am calling these backgrounds my "Foundations" because I will use them to build my stitched images on.
I am using mostly vintage linens with some silks in neutral colors thrown in. The first piece below is 14" x 18".
Some of the linens have been rust dyed. I basically just baste the strips down to the silk organza. The fabric overlaps about 3/8". Then I hand stitch them down with an overcast stitch.
The most valuable lesson I have learned when it comes to creativity is to just step back, get out of my own way, and let the ideas flow.