top: " 21" x 15.5"- lower: " 21" x 7"
>2006 ANG Seminar - 2nd Place - Original Needle Art. Professional

The story of ... "Sunrise/Sunset"...

I would like to share with you the possible titles that I had chosen for Sunrise/Sunset, as it will hopefully give you some insight into the evolvement of this design. . . my choice of titles were: "Southwest Symphony" . . "Waiting to Soar" . . "Between Flights" . . "Mountain Gazing" . . "The Hills are Alive" . . and "Scene from Below".

I usually begin a piece with a working title so I know where I'm heading. It's similar to giving the baby a name. Often, as in this case, the name changes as the piece evolves. Also, as in this case, the piece has a life of its own and goes in its own direction.

When I write, it's best for me to just begin and let the words flow. The same happens with my creative stitching. I begin and let the piece show me what it wants to do. I try to a degree, to stay out of the way and allow things to happen.

I can remember looking out of the plane window as we flew to Reno for the 2004 American Needlepoint Guild Seminar. The vista of mountains was spectacular. I had the same sense of awe and excitement as I looked at the view from my hotel window every morning.

One morning before class, I sketched several versions of my window view of the mountains. One of those sketches became the basis for the template of Sunrise/Sunset.

Lunch time meant a visit to the neighborhood quilt shop where I purchased a stash of quilting fabric for the piece which was developing in my mind. I was so excited with this new creation that I could hardly think about my stitching. My mind kept playing with all of the possible variations of how to put my vision onto canvas. I wrote in my journal, "My choices are dancing in my head!"

Other thoughts that I wrote were:

• Think random patches of color in Western colors.
• It's not about realism, it's about feelings.
• Panorama shifts with patches of heavy color and breaks of light.
• Use needlepoint in the spaces between fabric and embellishment.
• Let fabric sections stand out like broad brush stokes of paint.
• Overdye threads are miraculous - even 1 strand brings spectacular results.
• Do background stitches first and then embellish and attach fabric pieces.
• Leave some of the fabric pieces undecorated - to 'speak' for themselves.

I wanted to have a bird watching the scene as the day unfolded. I wondered where to 'move' on the canvas. What would be my stitching pattern? I worked anywhere and everywhere. I moved around the canvas as my intuition guided me.

'Do what you know and the rest will follow,' is my motto, and it always helps me.

Years ago I had bought a stamped Penelope canvas in Paris and never finished the stitching, (you know what that's like!) The purist in me wanted to 'copy' the bird from that canvas onto this new canvas. I soon realized that I wouldn't be able to get the bird to look right . . . so I did the unthinkable . . . I cut the bottom off of that unfinished canvas!! It became the lower portion of Sunrise/Sunset.

Now I had a creation in two sections with an 18 mesh mono canvas as the upper part and a 10/20 Penelope canvas as the lower part. I didn't have a clue of how I would bring the two parts together or how my framer would work with the stretching of these two different canvases.

I had to find a way to stitch the background of the Penelope to look the same as the background of the mono canvas. I stitched with a combination of four strands of silk and one of wool to get the coverage and the color blend that I wanted.

How could I attach the phototransfer? I used a sharp needle and fine silk quilters thread to make the stitches as invisible as possible.

Fabric appliqués on the tree trunk too, allowed the lower canvas to join with the upper canvas. I had to keep in mind that the two pieces are one creation.

The thread list:

Needlepoint Inc, Northern Lights, Splendor, Silk n colors, Medici, Velvet, Needle Necessity Overdye, Beads, Madeira, Kreinik #16 braid, KDS, Minnamurra, Trebizon, Sampler.

Somewhere along the way the bird was watching the sun rise and the sun set. Maybe the sun is watching and taking care of the bird! Only they know for sure... I gave up control a long time ago!

My final Journal entry for this piece:

Saturday, July 22nd 2006

Complete... finally!!... it's a great relief. The piece was difficult, it was a pleasure, it was a conundrum, it was puzzling... and it all came together, almost suddenly!

>Click within the stitchings to see the detail images: