This is the original drawing that I did. I decided to go with my early memories of the barbed wire on the beaches after WWII but I wanted to keep it simple.
I decided to dye a piece of fabric in the colours I wanted rather than sew strips of fabric together. I was quite pleased with the way this came out. Of course blue and yellow make green so there is a greenish element at the edge of the sea but that is, of course, seaweed!
I had kept the dyeing to a basic minimum so I added all the other elements of the design by painting them onto the fabric. I played up the 'seaweed' aspects and made shadows on the sand. I put the sun in and decided it would be early evening when shadows are lengthening. Also this would cast a sparkle on the water. I decided to leave waves alone as I felt that adding white would be a bad move and too distracting. I wanted the post to be the focal point with the wire reaching off on either side.
This is the piece bagged out and edge stitched before doing the final stitchery.
A close up of the stitching for the post and the shadow. I thought a bit of maram grass round the base of the post would be good. Just that added touch of green to go with the clump of green in the lower right hand corner where the dyes pooled a bit.
And this is the finished article. I have enjoyed doing this. It is very simple but I think effective. I could have done more stitching but I didn't want to burden it with over kill so I kept most of the machining to the lower half apart from the sun and it's sparkle on the sea. I'm glad I persevered and got it done. There is a great sense of achievement in not having let it lapse into a UFO!
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I'm not going to do March's TIF as neither the subject matter nor the colours inspire me and also next week is April! Hopefully I can finish April's TIF in April!
I decided to dye a piece of fabric in the colours I wanted rather than sew strips of fabric together. I was quite pleased with the way this came out. Of course blue and yellow make green so there is a greenish element at the edge of the sea but that is, of course, seaweed!
I had kept the dyeing to a basic minimum so I added all the other elements of the design by painting them onto the fabric. I played up the 'seaweed' aspects and made shadows on the sand. I put the sun in and decided it would be early evening when shadows are lengthening. Also this would cast a sparkle on the water. I decided to leave waves alone as I felt that adding white would be a bad move and too distracting. I wanted the post to be the focal point with the wire reaching off on either side.
This is the piece bagged out and edge stitched before doing the final stitchery.
A close up of the stitching for the post and the shadow. I thought a bit of maram grass round the base of the post would be good. Just that added touch of green to go with the clump of green in the lower right hand corner where the dyes pooled a bit.
And this is the finished article. I have enjoyed doing this. It is very simple but I think effective. I could have done more stitching but I didn't want to burden it with over kill so I kept most of the machining to the lower half apart from the sun and it's sparkle on the sea. I'm glad I persevered and got it done. There is a great sense of achievement in not having let it lapse into a UFO!
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I'm not going to do March's TIF as neither the subject matter nor the colours inspire me and also next week is April! Hopefully I can finish April's TIF in April!
Your piece turned out lovely. The dyed fabric is beautiful
ReplyDeleteHi Valeri, I really like this piece too. Very strong composition and lovely colours :D
ReplyDeleteSimple, yet it very effectively makes the statement you intended.
ReplyDeleteGlad to know that I'm not the only one uninspired by the theme and colors of this month's challenge. Maybe I'll follow your lead and opt out also! :>)
Well done, Val! Getting something done makes you want to do more...April's TIF is bound to be even more fun.
ReplyDeleteYou did an excellent piece of work for the TIF. I think keeping it simple is sometimes the best thing to do. The single fence post with the wire in either direction told the story.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your comments. You are right Gabrielle. Getting something finished is a reward in itself. And Meg and Beverley thank you for agreeing with me that simple can be just right. Thank you Helen for the Very Kind Comment! I'm glad you liked it. And Tanguera I'm glad you liked the fabric. It was fun to do. A lot of gladness there!
ReplyDeleteLove your piece! Most enjoyable to see the steps you took, thanks fo sharing that.
ReplyDeleteExcellent piece, the restraint makes is much more effective, well done!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat work Val. I love the simplicity and the stitching of that post is just perfect IMO.
ReplyDeletewonder ful creation , as dyer for me it is really amazing. i have also created my pages on dyeing , to see please log on to http://sekhonns.googlepages.com
ReplyDeleteThis is a marvellous piece - the dyeing and painting and stitching all give a tremendous feel
ReplyDelete