Louise Smith

I’ve been working on this one over the last week or two (long enough that by now on windy days the seeds are blowing everywhere, including of the particular dandelion I photographed for reference).

That’s my needle tucked in at the bottom by the way, and a bit of camera shadow for extra professionalism : )  This is about a 9-inch diameter hoop to give you some idea of scale.

I used scissors to mince up some thread in the colours I wanted then used acid-free glue to stick the resultant lint to the silk.  Then I’ve been making knots in thread, ruffling up these “seeds” with an emery board to give them the right sort of soft fuzzy look, and gluing or stitching them down.  I have some more of this to do especially around the edges.

I have to say, there were a lot of failed attempts at painting a more interesting background before I went for a simple fade from darker to lighter green.  Anyone want any strange-looking green-painted silk hankies?

This is my newest picture.  A larger version can be seen here.  The tree trunks and a few background details are painted and the foliage at the top and bottom is all free motion machine embroidered.

It’s based on a scene from this hiking trail which doesn’t seem to have a name, which starts just to the north of the sports field off Panorama Drive in Port Moody.  Quite dark and shady in there but with just enough sun coming through on a sunny day to make things interesting.  It got muddy after a while so we quit!  But not before getting a few photos of the sort of lace-like greenery that your average free motion machine embroiderer dreams of.

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.

I took some reference photos of wisteria today.  Usually I aim for photos with a basic composition I can use, without them necessarily looking any good by themselves just as photos.  I don’t pay much attention to lighting for example.  Sometimes an interesting shot comes about as a by-product though.

I don’t think I can use my sewing-on-painted-silk technique with the wisteria one.  The foreground element would be the wooden beams and the wisteria blossoms  hanging behind are so faded and misty-looking they probably should be painted.  It would be difficult to reproduce the wood with its smooth, weathered texture using thread.  Overall I think the results would be odd, although I’m not ruling it out altogether!

And another of Whytecliff Park near Horseshoe Bay, BC, that’s just a little complex for me to attempt in stitching.

I’d rather see them posted on my blog than forgotten in my computer files, and who knows, maybe one day I’ll work them up into something!

The best thing about this show is the wonderful artwork that will be on display.  The second-best thing is that the show is FREE!  Who doesn’t love the free?

I don’t plan on exhibiting at this show–it’s all I can do to produce enough work for the Fall Show at my usual slow rate!–but I’ll be there helping out as an Art Focus member and having a good look around.

I’ve put up a picture of The Outlet because you may have seen this building downtown and not known it as the venue for Art Focus shows.  It’s also where we hold our artists’ demo sessions (also free!) on the last Wednesday of each month except during the summer break.

If you’re standing looking at the same view as in the photo, the Gathering Place is behind you, another venue for art shows.  To the left are City Hall and Shaughnessy St.

I’ve fancied doing some moon miniatures (mooniatures?) for a while.   I put a blob of gutta on the silk aiming to keep a white patch to paint a moon on later.  (The gutta stops the silk paint spreading where you don’t want it to go.  The kind I use dries white).

You’re supposed to set the paint with an iron then wash off the gutta.  But after I spray-painted on the blue-green sky colours using my little travel-size spray bottles, the blob of gutta sure was looking moony.  So I left it there.

I hope to use this background to make two or three miniatures featuring different phases of the moon.  Watch this…er…space.

Hello there!  Welcome to my blog.  Hard to say what it will be about when I haven’t started it yet, hence the tagline “art & life” which sort of covers it all.  I hope to post pictures of my work, finished and in progress, and will also unashamedly promote art events, music I like, and various things I find delicious, humorous or inspiring.  Irrelevance and randomness guaranteed.  Enjoy!