Saturday, March 21, 2009

Beads and The Painted Canvas (again)

There are some canvases that would be ruined visually by the use of textured stitches and "fancy" threads, but that do need a bit of subtle enhancement.

I bought this gorgeous piece about ten years ago at a trunk show by MINDY, one of my most favorite of designers - I have three of them, and have not given myself the pleasure of stitching them, as they are termed "personal" stitching for me, and other things have had to come first. Now I have found a purpose and can justify the time, and am thrilled to be able to go ahead and start.
As I have used my stash threads diligently in the last year, I am almost out of silks, and have decided instead of pricey "refills," I will use DMC cotton floss with a bit of perle cotton here and there for emphasis. The beads are the kind that don't sparkle, but just add a bit of texture and gleam in a subtle way (Sundance, of course) I think many would be tempted to use the squares as a patchwork sampler of decorative stitches, which would destroy the visual impact of the beautiful art nouveau flower.

I'll get on this project tomorrow, hopefully, and can make posts of progress as I go. If you aren't familiar with Mindy's work, do go see her HERE - her shop and web page are fabulous. The canvases are stitch painted, and quite sophisticated in the areas I like - the Asian and Art Nouveau. Her colors are superb!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just stumbled upon your blog, but it is interesting. The artwork is beautiful.

--C. Taylor Brown

http://chriswasbrown.blogspot.com

Jane said...

I love the colours on this canvas, can't wait to see it stitched. It must be so lovely to be able to stitch something for yourself after all this time

The Chilly Hollow Needlepoint Adventure said...

I love Mindy designs, especially the Asian and Art Nouveau ones. This is going to be lovely!

Judy, the new shop in my area has some Sundance beads and can order more for me. Woulld you tell us the specifics for the sparkly clear and non-sparkly clear ones you like to use? I need to know what to order.

You know I NEED those beads.... LOL

Thanks, Judy. I asked here because I am sure I'm not the only one curious.

Jane, waving from CH

LIZ said...

Lovely canvas! OK, so I understand that you don't want to make it a stitch sampler, but what are you going to do? You're not going to do all those squares in basketweave?! I'll be waiting eagerly to see what you do!!

Nina said...

Wow! This is just so classy. A lovely example of art nouveau. Beautiful colours.

Seryna said...

I also just followed a link (from Beadlust) and I have to agree with you, that is a lovely piece. I like the natural, nature themed colors for the package. Will you share pictures as you go?
~Seryna

http://serynascreations.blogspot.com/

Possibilities, Etc. said...

This was the subject of my November/December article in Needlepoint Now, so I won't be doing any more on these - the entire process is done in a number of posts on this blog - close together. There are three canvases. Thanks for your interest!