Stitching Winter

Finally painted the stitched canvases...

Sticking to soft gentle colours of winter.

I've been couching every day.

Well actually one day I unpicked most of it....

....It had started bulging outwards.

Going round and round in circles can have that effect on cloth!

I nearly gave up.

But spiralling round and round in greys and soft blues

is speaking volumes to me at the moment.

So I persevered and am now more able to control any bulging.

In the beginning the cotton strips

rolled themselves into tubes.

Then in my mind I thought pebbles on the Fundy shore....

....and I started creating lumpy bumpy couching....

....then I decided to make the strips lay flat and wider.

Working in cloth takes time

time which allows the mind to relax and wander.

In it's wanderings thoughts turn to 'what ifs'

and your hands simply follow.

This is why I choose cloth to work with.

I need time and reflection.

Oh, and this is going to be a large piece

so I will have a lot of time with it.

Now I need to go back to the dye pots

and create more greys.