Beads and Cotton Thread for Painted Canvas

I never thought I would say I'm tired of beads - but tonight I am. When a deadline for finishing a project approaches, it's kind of not fun any more. However, I recover quickly from this malady.

Showing pictures of this canvas has been a "before, during, and after" thing, as I want to demonstrate what a great effect it is to just use clear beads instead of a lot of textured stitches (which would clutter up the design anyway), and just plain fine cotton floss - DMC.

In this shot you can see the flower fairly well filled in, but the leaf and some of the surrounding squares are not finished - just filled with skipped basketweave. So far, it is behaving like I wanted it to, with the beaded pattern area standing out from the very plain background.
In the close-up, where the top arrow points, you can see the great contrast of the white DMC perle cotton against the beaded peony. I used the perle instead of floss here, as I wanted a different texture from the floss of the background, but not as textured as the beads. It's an element of the design itself - and not background, as is the dark dark green. The lower arrow points to a great effect achieved by using the beads on the veining of the flower, but leaving the base and the outline plain with floss only.

Remember as you look at this, that the ONLY beads I used throughout are the clear ones (Sundance #250). I did use green beads on that one line around the border and for the little green spots on the tiny tiles in the background of the canvas.

The next picture shows a great area of the peony beaded "solid" as well as the leaf across the top.


This canvas, in the Art Nouveau style (from Mindy) is beautiful in pattern and color, and would have been fine stitched in just basketweave all over. However, I felt it needed a bit of excitement both in the stitching and for the look - so I used beads. They shine more than they sparkle, so it looks good, and not overwhelming.

The little squares on the background of the canvas also now have beads on them in a regular, geometric placement - very subtle.


The last picture is another close-up showing the effect of the beading of the flower and the leaf across the top of it. I think on this one you can see the difference in the white of the flower and the white of the perle cotton around it. The paint on the peony is just slightly "off white," so I used DMC floss #3865, which is not ivory as the 712, but is different from the white white of the perle cotton. It makes a lovely and noticeable contrast.

Tomorrow I'll get back to the Oriental jewel toned piece of Mindy's, and am looking forward to the change of colors! After watching Anne working on the water around the fishes, I've had underwater images on the brain all day when my mind needs to be elsewhere.

I am a great lover of the undersea flora and fauna, and pictures of sea fans have been running around in my head. I can see them now - with Kreinik blending filament for a bit of sparkle. More on that later, along with an ancient canvas I've had for almost 25 years.