I was a bit quite last week as I went to the dentist, to sort out my wisdom tooth, & ended up on antibiotics. I’m ok with antibiotics, but they make me feel very tired & a bit nauseous. So progress has been slow. I’ve managed to get the basics of the Blackwork stitches in. I think the next job will be the outline, followed by lots of fiddling about with the shading.
I’m not sure how many people know I am dyslexic, I didn’t find out until I was part way through my physics degree, when a tutor looked over my shoulder at my lab book & stated; “ sorry I didn’t know you’re dyslexic”. Follow by a brief conversation about my lab book looking just like his. I am thankful for him pointing it out. I thought I was just bad a spelling & hated reading out loud.
Forward on to the Blackwork castle, some of the visual distortions came back. I found it very difficult to count & get the shading correct.
Blackwork embroidery of Cooling Castle in Kent UK
I happened to mention to one of the embroidery tutors about how difficult I had found it , compared to the Whitework, & that I happened to be dyslexic, & would normally work on lilac paper. We had a conversation about coloured fabric & my ability to to shade correctly. I found lilac linen & l’ve framed up my small slate frame. I found a photo of my Lilly I grew in the summer.
Blackwork design tracing
To transfer the design on to the linen we tend to use the tacking method. The design in drawn on to tissue paper, & then tacked on normally with a pale blue machine thread, but I have lilac linen instead on white.
Tacking through the tissue paperAfter the tissue paper is revived.
Continuing with my woodland animal theme, I finished my Fox.
For my next painting, I have two photos I really like a squirrel or a stag. The stag is within a landscape, & the squirrel is standing on a fence post. Both involve painting the whole body, so a different challenge, that will push me forwards, as I regain my practice.
The lower half is finished 😊. On to the top half, just a couple of bits to fill in. Lastly I have the sea pinks around the feet to complete ( these still need to be worked out & samples)
It’s been a while since I took part in a CAL, I’ve completed attic 24’s cals before. This time I’ve managed to finish the first part before Friday, when part 2 is released.
I do love the colours & the pattern is really easy.
Progress has been slow over the Christmas & new year holidays, I did finished my puffin’s feet. I like the iridescent gold leather & the over stretched purls, I added a coral stranded cotton core, using the same colour used in the beak.
Slowly progressing , I’ve finished working on the wing for now. It’s time to work on the area under the wing & the feet. I need to start thinking about giving him something to stand on, in the original photo I took my design from he’s standing on a rocky outcrop with sea pinks. Time to think about that too
I have a new paint box, & I thought it was time to test it out properly. I really enjoyed painting over the last couple of days, although I’ve realised a finer brush would be nice for adding details such as whiskers.