It's Finished.

Yes, today I put the final stitches into my big work today and have stretched it ready for framing.  It's final dimensions are 72 cm wide x 52 cm high.  That might not sound all that big, but when you are covering the surface with tiny stitches, believe me, it's daunting.

This is the finished work in its entirety.

I was trying to photograph the final bottom section in one go and decided to opt for a couple of angled views.  (The white stuff on the floor is a couple of kilos of samoyed hair waiting to be carded and sent to the spinner.  Don't know when that will get done!).

The areas of red french knots are how settled areas of the Turpan Depression appear on a satellite image.  

I'm thinking of calling this piece "New World Order", a commentary on the ascendancy of China as a super economic power and how the people (mostly Uighur Muslims)who live in this and other similarly remote locations are not only not benefitting from the Chinese pseudo-capitalist miracle, but are actually experiencing a decline in living standards and basic human rights.

Here in close up you can see the directionality in the stitching and the colour changes that help to define the topography.

And finally, here's how it looks sitting on my easel.

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More Work in Progress

Today I finished the middle section depicting the river delta in the Turpan Depression.  This was a really difficult section to complete because it interlinks with the section below.  Whichever section I worked first was going to present difficulties as there are important landmarks in each section that help to proportion the work (I hope that makes sense!).

Here's how the whole thing is looking (more or less).  It's a very large piece and I am having difficult fitting all of it into one photograph.

Here's another attempt to capture the whole thing.  Click on the picture and you'll see a larger version.

Photographed from the right edge you can see a bit more detail and how the middle section fits with the top sections.

Detail of the right side of the work.  It was surprisingly difficult to work those meandering lines so that they looked random and natural.  Some worked better than others!

Interest is maintained by using various shades of relatively neutral colours.

This photo details the left one third of the work.  The brown sections will make more sense when the bottom portion is completed.

This photo shows the open weave texture of the whisper silk.

The line of black stitching near the top will be removed.  It was stitched to hold the whisper silk in place.  Even so, this fine, open weave silk fabric just wanted to fray at the slightest touch!

I probably won't have much time for stitching over the next two weeks leading up to my first solo show as my time will be taken up with distributing invitations and other organisational matters.  I'll post more about that as happenings arise.

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New Work in Progress

This week I started on a new work and it is large and ambitious!  The dimensions are 70 cm x 48 cm.  That might not sound all that large, but when nearly the entire surface needs to be covered in stitches it starts to seem very daunting.  My source image is a satellite photograph of the Turpan Depression, a mountainous region spanning from Tadjikistan to China.  The image inspired me because of the fabulous textures and contrasts.

(Remember to click on the photos if you want to see larger images).

Dyeing the ground fabric was a challenge.  I usually have no trouble matching my dye colours to my original conception, but somehow, every colour I mixed came out brighter than what I wanted.  In the end I decided to go with what I had.  I figured if these are the colours that my brain wants to use, then I should just go with it. When it came to dyeing my threads I was able to achieve colours closer to my original conception.  I think the contrast of the muted colours of the threads against the brighter colours of the ground fabric will make the work more vibrant.

The central area is crucial to the cohesion of the whole piece so I began by laying down the whisper silk.  I then embroidered a couple of small areas just to mark out the proportions I would be working with later.

I then started stitching the area representing the highest mountain peaks that lie above the snow line.  I knew that if I could make this work then I was going to be able to pull the work off as a whole.  I started by stitching in the mountain ridges using long armed palestrina stitch.  I then defined the valleys with lines of stem stitch.  The intervening areas were worked in fern stitch and oriented so as to give the impression of a descent into a valley.

This is a close up of the palestrina stitch showing the lovely ridge of knots that is characteristic of this stitch.

Yesterday I added the snow capped mountain regions.  I wanted it to be well contrasted with the areas surrounding it, so I worked it in short sections of closed feather stitch.  The bold geometry of the white stitching works well against the more organic red area.

Today I will finish the white area by stitching in brown thread between the white sections.  This will make it a little less stark and link it to the next section

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