Into the Wild
5.75 x 8.25 inches. This is a view from Maui’s Napili Kai towards the island of Moloka’i in the distance. I liked the way the manicured grass and civilized fence led me “into the wild” of the brush, rocks and ocean.
The sky, distant island and ocean are hand-painted on silk. Except for the fence, the rest is hand-embroidered, including the palm tree, surf, rocks, bushes and grass. I did underpaint the grassy areas so that I didn’t have to cover every last millimetre of silk with thread. You can see this better on the close-up below.
The fence is made of pieces of ribbon cut to size and coloured with Pentel pastel dye sticks. The larger pieces are attached with thread and the smaller ones using tiny amounts of acid-free sticky dots.
A close-up of the palm fronds. I included some shiny threads. When the sun hits palm fronds, they look almost metallic.
And grasses. With green underpainting, otherwise it would take me the rest of my life.
An earlier in-progress shot.
Starting to outline the palm tree.
Testing placement of fence posts. I preferred a lighter colour so ended up going over them with white pastel dye stick.
Hope you enjoyed this little trip to Hawai’i!
Aloha nui loa!