Distant Lights
I just finished this piece called Distant Lights. A larger version can be seen here. This has been one of my favourite pieces to make, I really got lost in it.
I want to give some info that the camera misses. The “distant lights” are worked in metallic thread so that they twinkle at you when you are looking at the original piece, even though in the photo they just come out as light brown smudges. Also, some of the tree branches are worked in shiny thread so they appear to catch the light differently as you look at the picture. Maybe it would be better to have a short video clip panning over the painting. I feel a youtube post coming on!
The model for this tree stands in front of Port Moody train station and the rest of the composition is out of my head.
Below is a close-up of the tree branches. I admit, I went to town on the detail here a bit! I took a regular piece of thread and split it up into two or three fibres, as fine as it would go, and stitched the fibres down by hand in roughly branchy patterns. And crazy that I am, I loved every minute of it.
