Pine Tree - Final, unbound

I spent a lot of time playing with ideas for snow. I didn't want a lot, but I didn't want the tree entirely spared from that indignity either.

I had planned to use my pearl paint. It had been effective in the mountain piece and after trying a bit on some spare "foliage" I thought I could do the entire thing with it. However, when I put it on the base of the bole of the tree, it was too grey and muddy. I wanted to retain some texture and if I applied enough paint to cover the grey/black it would have been solid. After I blotted off as much as I could I tried a few other ideas.

I had the idea of stitching wool yarn together to keep it tactile, but it looked like a braided rug slapped on the side of the tree. Could have been a poor toupee.
Straight white cloth was....plain cloth. So I ended up using the method I used to make water. I wrapped the white cloth with a piece of organza and stitched down the excess into folds.
Much better.

A few passes with "snow" thread blending the edge into the trunk and a little bit of thread applied to a few branches on the windward side, I stopped.

A bit of paint on a few branches was all I applied...today. I'll see how bright it dries tomorrow and decide if I need to add more.
Now I have to decide how to bind this. I tried a few things today and didn't like anything. The sky is altered too much to simply pair it with the original blue fabric. Needs some time and thought.

 

Final with Snow - 21"x34"

 

I removed some of the branches and foliage from the lower left. They made it bottom heavy.

Final without snow

 

The "grass" was given a heavy treatment of gold and brown to soften it's artificial feel. Rolling mounds of snow were made with lines of stitching, primarily, so I could breakup the shadow of the tree. This scene is not bright light, so a pale grey blue was all I used.

 

Bole - snow detail

 

Tofino Bound - Forest Floor

After talking with a few members of this group I discovered we had ( at some Point that I missed) decided not to enter this as a group project. Every man for himself!
So I finished it today.
Cut it down about an inch, bound it and then remounted it on an asymmetrical backing.
I'm rather satisfied with this.

Looks rather dark and damp......, and that's how it is!

December 8 - Mincemeat and Shortbread

8 art quilts in the mail..........
Husband out buying who knows what.................
Christmas cake ready.
Kitchen is MINE

Shortbread with my FAVOURITE Shortbread pan. (I used to do it the way my mother did and roll them out and decorate then, but my husband eats them tooo fast. One stop baking: mix, press into the pan, cook, and eat.

Mincemeat. A pie last for ever, but TARTS .........they're gone in a mouthful.
(Bless Costco for 120 tart shells) (Never thought I'd EVER use the word Bless and Costco together!)

 

This is EXCLUSIVELY Christmas Fare in our household.....I'd be a pumpkin otherwise.

In the Birches

I played today, with some painted fabric and a set of ink pencils.
I took this lovely watercolour and turned it into a piece of quilted art.

I went from this..................

 

to this......

The material for the birch I had prepared the other day, while I was painting the ski slopes and had to wait for them to dry.

 

This was done with Derwent Ink pencils and with a touch of water this material did this......

 

The original animal was a moose but as there are none in in BC, I changed it to an Elk. Pencils first and then wet.

 

Adding these pieces to one of my early painted cloths was easy. When it was all assembled it looked like this.

Sewing the birch branches, thread painting the Elk and moving the trunks of the trees beyond the border, lifts this already pleasing piece to a new level.

 

 

                                                             In the Birches  16"x 14"

 

 

Terminator Peak - Ski Season 2015 - Final

These four pieces finished quickly.
It just goes to show simple can be really effective. This is 4 pieces of material. In addition to the pearl paint, I added black along the edges of the green to more realistically resemble trees jutting upwards. And then, I stitched trees and more trees, but only around the edges. I added titches of white paint, just to raise the level of snow among the stands of forest.
These each finished out at 8 " x 11"ish.
I included at close-up of my TINY trees. Really need those twitch muscles to get those fine movements.
While all four are the same, there are some differences.

 

This covers an area of about 2 inches.

But here's the finished one.