acrylic paints – Dreaming In Stitches

Nearly there…

Thank you to everyone who came up with their thoughts on a name for the current piece. I’m very close to finishing it now, so failing any unforeseen events (holds fingers crossed while typing this), it should be finished next week and then I’ll reveal it with the name I’ve chosen.

In the meantime, this is what I’ve been playing at when I probably had better things to do…

The thing I find about spending most of my time slowly stitching, is that every so often I have to release the valve on the images swirling around in my brain and do a bit of faster art. I think perhaps the obsession with stained glass might be evident here…

Right, I’d better get on. Happy Spring and happy stitching!

❤

This, that and the other…

slow stitching

Well, THIS is where I am with the current piece…

Would anyone care to suggest a title? Usually something pops up in my mind, but I think my creative impulse is taking a spring break…

Here it is a bit closer up…

)O(

While THAT – below– is what happens when you finally get your old easel out and play with paint all afternoon.

Although I always felt most at home with oil paint, the practical difficulties of using it in a house where there’s no space to leave your kit set up and where you have to snatch opportunities ‘as and when’, has prevented me from painting for years. But lately Number One Daughter and I have been dabbling in gouache and acrylics, which although not the same as oil, do give you the chance to use similar techniques, and can be tidied up fairly painlessly – (the kitchen gallantly doubles as a studio, but sooner or later it has to revert to primary function).

So as it was SO MUCH FUN, I shall probably do it again…

)O(

And THE OTHER news…

I’ve been going all soft and gooey over the delicious yarns from Eleanor at Solstice Yarns (be warned, a visit to her Etsy shop will have you dribbling and/or grasping for your credit card)

This little bundle of silky joy is my latest acquisition.

And on a more mundane front, I have just bought these little chaps…

I’ve had so much trouble with very sore fingers over the last year or so, sometimes I wondered if I was allergic to the yarn or scrim, but then I read something recently about nickel allergy and a penny dropped. Of course it might not be anything to do with it, but I’m going gold-plated for now to see if things improve.

Happy stitching!

)O(

Over in the sidebar, are my Instagram pics of the Daily Tree Project, with the occasional stitchy update and other random snaps from daily life around here.

Do feel free to explore, or follow on Instagram or Twitter.

Gothic window…

slow stitching

The stitching has been especially slow for the last few days – isn’t it unfair how much life sometimes intrudes on stitching time…

But here is the current piece of work-in-progress, Gothic Window.

I’m struggling with the light (or more accurately, lack of light), but you get the idea.

I wanted to try adding some gothic structure to the piece, I know I’m obsessed with stained glass, but I thought I’d see if I could contain it in a semi-gothic frame.

Of course, my hopes for anything to stay straight while I stitch it have been dashed. I know I could go back to using interlock, but I’m still having too much fun with the scrim, despite the way it laughs contemptuously at my lines.

I’ve painted some of the canvas with acrylic inks to give it a tiny bit more bite and stability – it also stops me getting snow-blindness, sewing on the white scrim.

I had a mixture of twinkly blue threads that called out to be used in this window, although you can’t really tell from the pictures – it does look quite sparkly in real life.

If I can keep all the spinning plates in the air this week, I’ll hope to show you some progress next week – no promises mind, we all know where plans get us.

Happy stitching.

Doing Dunstanburgh.

heritage hunting, slow stitching

On my mission to draw/paint daily – today it’s been Dunstanburgh Castle.

I started off with pastels. It’s so easy to get the basic structure with pastels. But I just couldn’t get the effect I felt I wanted, so after a while, I added some acrylics. It helped, but then I lost some of the texture that I was enjoying, so I was a real devil and added some more pastels – I’m having a bit of a ball combining media.

Anyway, just to be entirely rash, I then painted in the castle in, wait for it…watercolour.

Have you been to Dunstanburgh Castle? It’s a gem. There’s a bit of a walk to get there, along the coast. The castle is there, tempting you forward, with it’s imposing gate towers and slightly wonky angles. I love it.