Working in a Series
It seems I’m working in a series again. This might be a generous interpretation of what working in a series is. However, when I feel compelled to return to the same subject matter and/or technique I call that working in a series. This series could be titled thread painted fauna.
With Something Borrowed
I was introduced to thread painting through the work of Ellen Anne Eddy. I was so blown away by her work, that when I had the opportunity to hire guest lecturers and teachers as Program Director for my guild, I knew I had to invite her. That must have been 20 years ago. Since then I’ve dabbled with thread painting, but really never took advantage of the technique until 2022. Now I’m on fire. I can’t get enough of it. Could this be the start of a new series?
Each of my thread painted images begin with a photograph. The highland steer comes for our vacation photo archives. This handsome gent was in the pasture across from a B & B we overnighted in while hiking across Scotland.
And Something New
The first step is to extract the image to be thread painted from its background. I used to use Photoshop Elements to do so. However, when my old version of Photoshop Elements and my new iMac proved to be incompatible I sought an alternative. A web designer recommended I try Photopea.com. If all you want to do is edit and not store photos on your editing program it is a perfect solution, especially since it is free! The learning curve, if you know Photoshop, is slight.
After I loosely extracted the highland steer, I printed it on a printable fabric sheet. The borders surrounding the fabric sheet are there to give me something to hold onto while I work. Eventually, the thread painted highland steer will be carefully cut out and attached to a background.
What do you think? Am I working in a series?
The Rainbow Scrap Challenge is another form of working in a series. In this case I am using the same two blocks, but interpreting them in a variety of colors using scraps.
I’m linking up to the following posts:
