"Canyon Wall"

Inspired by the red rock canyons of the southwestern deserts this piece has been growing over the past month or so.  A canyon wall shows the history of a place - much like the rings inside a tree.  Layer upon layer of sediment and rock form over eons.  Shaped by wind, rain, snow and ice -- pretty much all of the elements -- these canyons form over time in ways that we can't really witness.

This piece is 8-1/2" x 9".  Because of the size I made up three panels, stitching them together.  Stitching punchneedle together is pretty easy since the loops tend to disguise the seams. I used regular embroidery floss - plus Caron's Watercolours, Wildflowers and Waterlilies. Waterlilies being very fine silk thread I wanted to use it as a 'filament' between sections. 

This wasn't the easiest piece I've ever done but I did enjoy seeing it all come together in my own version of a "Canyon Wall".

"I speak now of that Grand Canyon which lies within each of us.  There are pre-Cambrian rocks at the center, the core, and talus from yesterday's fall; marble and granite grown hard from the pressure and heat of heartbreak and passion; crumbling sandstone, layer on layer of sediment, sentiment piled on over a lifetime's experience..." - Amil Quayle

Texture, texture!

A big focus in my work for this year will be texture, texture, texture.  As I work each section of a piece I hope to incorporate as many levels of stitch as possible...

...as many 'new to me' stitches as possible.

Go ahead, ask me if I'm having fun!!! 

"Little moments can have a feeling and a texture that is very real." - Ralph Fiennes 

Front or Back?

Using reverse punchneedle stitches can make it difficult (at first glance) to see which side is the front and which side is the back.

But then a section of punchneedle made into chenille tells the tale, as do the mixed needle level stitches in the center.

"What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you." - Ralph Waldo Emerson