Sunday, February 12, 2012

A lighthouse revisited


Once upon a time, I was a monogamous stitcher: I'd never start a new project until the current one was finished. Those days are long gone! I've found that it helps my sanity to have a small project at hand while I'm working on larger pieces under the radar screen.

My newest small project is a canvas of Bass Harbor Head lighthouse in Maine (the photo here is of my model). A friend of mine used to live close by the lighthouse and has fond memories of it--a watercolor of the lighthouse hanging in her home was painted at the exact angle as my canvas. So I'm stitching it a second time for her, but not the way I stitched it originally! That was back in 1999, when new threads, both natural and synthetic, were making their way into the market. My taste and ability as a stitcher have evolved, too, and are reflected in my choice of stitches as well as threads.

Bass Harbor Head lighthouse, at the southwest corner of Mt. Desert Island, marks the entrance to Bass Harbor and Blue Hill Bay. Perched atop a granite bluff 56 feet above the water, the 32-foot-high brick lighthouse has been operational since 1858. Its distinctive red light, automated in 1974, is made possible by a plastic "shroud" over the Fresnel lens, and can be seen for 13 nautical miles. This little gem is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

I think it will be fun to see what changes and what remains the same as I rework this design almost 13 years later!

3 comments:

Cool City Stitcher said...

corkleI think it'll be fun to watch you stitch this one. I love your lighthouses.

Edy said...

One guess I would make is the way you will stitch the sky this time.

Anne Stradal said...

Edy--I have the feeling you've been reading this blog too long--or just long enough!