One of my artist friends used to be an interior designer and some time ago I asked her what sort of designs would be most popular as "wall art" for someone decorating their home in a modern style. After some thought she said that simple, bold works in neutral colours would probably work well. Well, that hardly describes most of the things that I do! But I thought I might give "simple and neutral" a try, and dug out some old shell designs that I'd done some time ago. I arranged these into a simple panel shape and started stitching. Before I started, I thought that it would be a quick and easy job, because the shell shapes are very simple and they don't have a lot of stitched detailing. But I soon realised that the colours of each background and each patch of applique fabric would have to be carefully thought out and then painted, so although the stitching went quickly, the fabric took a LONG time to prepare
The unfinished shell panel
Here is the panel at the moment. It's about 2 feet long and 18 inches wide, and as you can see it needs finishing off, and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do next. Maybe stitch on a fabric backing and make it into a tapestry-like hanging? Or maybe frame or mount it as an ordinary painting? I'm not sure yet, but I'm going to put it aside for a while before I decide, because to be honest I'm fed up with looking at it! I need to move on to something new, at least for a while
This would be hard for me to do because I love the bright, bold color scheme. But every time you show us something new, I love it. The colors are striking in their muted array!
Jane
Posted by: Jane | 07/06/2019 at 08:15 PM
I agree with your friend: that's a great wall hanging.
Posted by: Barbara Clemmensen | 07/07/2019 at 03:22 PM
From what I can see, these were worth the work. Even not finished, I absolutely love this. The shading on the shells make them seem so real I could touch them. WOW
Posted by: Roberta L Lloyd | 07/07/2019 at 09:09 PM
Hi Mia, Your wall hanging is beautiful with the muted neutral colors that you used to stitch out the shells. As always, your hand painted fabric enhances and brings out the natural realistic beauty of the shells.
Posted by: Gail Beam | 07/08/2019 at 09:07 AM
Hi , thank you for the free designs, i9 just love this shells
Posted by: Hester | 07/12/2019 at 08:52 AM
Beautiful! As usual.
:-)
You add so much with your hand painted fabric. I vote for framing like a painting.
I can understand a project you just need a break from. It's hard to stay in love with something when you're working on it for days and days.
Posted by: Lisa Cox | 07/14/2019 at 12:01 AM