On The Art Needlepoint Facebook page, Lani asked :
"How do you decide what stitched to use in any given area?"
This is a great question... and we invite your comments.
TBC
"Imagine starting your life's work at seventy-two".
This is the first sentence in the Paper Garden by Molly Peacock - a marvelously written book about the artist Mary Delaney. When you finish the book you may feel that a best friend has recently left.
Mary Delaney composed "an astonishing 985 botanically correct, breathtaking cut-paper flowers, now housed in the British Museum and referred to as the Flora Delanica". She began what was then a new art form - the art of paper collage - at the age of seventy-two.
A number of her paper-cut flower mosaics (remember these were all handmade tissue thin papers in the 1700's) mix painting and cutting of dried plant parts with papers to create completely satisfying works of art.
"Thin as a billowing white cotton nightgown, Mrs. Delany's Grand Magnolia lies back in the balmy darkness of the summer night of its background. Perhaps her most blowsy bloom, plumped with the musk of maturity, it evokes the 18th century's gardener's word for a fully opened Magnolia grandiflora "blown" (magnolia's were imported to England in the 1700's and commanded a price per plant equivalent to many person's year salary).
Like Redoute's Roses, Mary Delany's flowers are a treat for needlepoint. Careful study, concentration, availability of different hues and tones, shall I use a thread that I separate in some areas or all, how to shade (layer) the colors?
What you ask do New Year's resolutions have to do with Needlepoint...
Resolution Solution
1. Stop smoking Pick up a needle and thread. Stitch until the urge to smoke goes away ... or for the rest of the day!
2. Lose weight Stop snacking and start stitching!
3. Reduce stress Enjoy the zen of needlepoint at the end of every day.
4. Stop procrastinating Every time you think "I really should be __________"
remember the concentration you give to needlepoint
and empower yourself!
5. Be with my friends more often. Start a needlepoint group - like a book club;
meet regularly and laugh and stitch.
Through the tactile understanding of stitching
one long stitch, then a short stitch
or a french knot here and a cushion stitch there,
we learn about the depth of our commitment to ourselves and to our creativity!
Happy New Year Resolutions and Happy Stitching!
Comments
I make up my own stitch to fit the area.