Louise Smith

This crescent-shaped dandelion seedhead seemed to be calling out for the “moon” treatment of a purple background to suggest a night sky.  The stem is hand-painted ribbon, glued into place, and everything else is a combination of stitches and glued-on fluffy pieces (technical term).

I talk about how I make the seeds in this old post.  One difference this time is that before attaching the seeds, I ironed them to remove the crimped look you get from splitting the threads.

That’s when my husband walked in.  He has a knack.  “Whatcha doing?”

“Ironing my seeds.”

“All-righty then.”

The ironing also helped me sculpt the shape of the fronds a bit.  It’s like hairdressing on a very small scale.

It’s hard to get really white whites in embroidery because of the shadows the stitches create, so finally I used a few specks of Pentel dye stick in white to help the center of the seedhead stand out.

When I get around to it there’ll be a companion piece, Full Moon.

I have a minor obsession with trying to capture cherry blossoms in thread.  I’m learning it’s helpful to keep the image small (this one’s 3 x 4 inches) and to aim for blossoms that are a bit more distant, otherwise you don’t have a hope of capturing their daintiness even in thread or ribbon.  Those real-life petals are just so very delicate.

I used free motion machine embroidery in the background, then hand embroidery and ribbon work over the top. You can click on the picture for a closer look.

I do like to give credit to the trees I feature in my artwork.  This one’s in Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver, BC.

I confess I’m a bit sick of the sight of oranges after this!  It’s made the same way as Lime Time, as you can probably guess.  I made the whole “slice” and then chose the area with the fewest mistakes to show inside the frame.  I ended up doing the final assembly in the kitchen, appropriately enough, as I needed plenty of counter space for messing about.

I have artwork in a couple of shows, one right now and one real soon.  If you can make them, Art Focus Artists’ Association, North Vancouver Community Arts Council, and I would be glad to see you!  More info on my Events page.

Another view from on deck.  I thought these heavily treed islands looked like castles from a distance.  All the water and the closest trees are hand-stitched and the background is painted on silk charmeuse.

I was on a ferry again this weekend and the weather was in a very different mood.  The wind kept taking my breath away!  So, perhaps an attempt to capture whitecaps in thread is in my future.

I just joined this group and am excited about new opportunities to show artwork at events on the North Shore.  I’ll update my Events page when I know more.

Did you know a bee’s heart is in its abdomen?  Or that its blood is yellowish? Can you tell I’ve been researching bee anatomy online?

The background is hand-painted (randomly poured on the paint, and chose an area that worked with my plans). The lavender flower head is ribbon work and the stem’s a length of flat cord.  I hand-painted the cord grey-green and the ribbons different shades of purple first.

The bee is hand-stitched.  His wings are done in silk fibres. My favourite part is at the end when I rough him up with my needle to make him fluffier, then give him a little trim.

Another view from the ferry between Vancouver Island and the mainland.  This one has hand-painted sky, distant islands, and boats on the horizon, on silk charmeuse again.  The foreground spit of land and all the water is hand-stitched in regular sewing thread (land), and Sulky and other brands of shiny thread, and some weft threads of regular non-charmeuse silk (water).

A couple of shows coming up this spring…I’ll update my Events page soon.

Sometimes a summery picture comes out of the depths of winter.  This composition is the flip of Lime Time and the picture created in the same way.

Fear not, this lemon was put to good use in my winter beverage of choice, a Lawrenceburg which involves bourbon, brown sugar, bitters, and citrus fruit.  Cheers!

Here’s the finished piece (3 x 4 inches) with hand-stitched water and nearby islands.  There are pinks, lilacs and greens amongst the blues, and in places where foam was breaking on the water I’ve stitched double thickness to add a bit of volume.