You've heard the expression, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"? When it came to stitching the sky for the Port Pontchartrain lighthouse, I just couldn't leave well enough alone!
The photo I used to adapt the lighthouse to needlepoint showed a stunning sky--one I thought would be fun to try to duplicate. At the top was an intense blue, which highlighted the oxidized roof perfectly. The darker blue quickly transitioned to a medium blue, which stayed fairly constant in value until it lightened at the horizon.
I also wanted this lighthouse to really stand out against the sky, and had already helped it along by stitching it in DMC #5 perle cotton. To accentuate its profile even more, I decided to "ply down" the floss in the basketweave background from four plies to three.
So I started at the top of the canvas with DMC floss #3755, working my way down to half-way through the railing under the lantern room. Then I started adding in DMC floss #3325 in rows five threads deep. Most of the center section of sky was worked with two plies of DMC floss #3325 and one ply of DMC floss #3841. By the time I reached the horizon, I was using a full three plies of DMC floss #3841.
I found that three plies covered the painted canvas adequately--I'd duplicated the look of the photo pretty closely and the lighthouse definitely does "pop"!
5 comments:
Clever use of thread bulk, Anne. It does look fabulous.
What a great example of how fiber selection can be combined with stitch selection to produce marvelous depth. Your lighthouse really comes "forward" here, Anne.
Each lighthouse has its unique characteristics, and you manage to transfer them to canvas beautifully.
Great job! You are the BEST shader (is that a word?) around!!
It's amazing how you come up with new little variations to make the lighthouses look even better! Super job!
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