Still stitching

A few weeks back now, I grabbed some fabric, foam stamps and acrylic paint and got to work. My objective was to colour the fabric to give me the broad tones of Patea Beach and the sea wall, using alphabet stamps. Once that had dried I started stitching. And stitching. And stitching.

What I discovered pretty quickly was – 1. stitching is slow. 2. I tend to do tiny stitches. 3. I am not very patient (okay, really I knew that already).

I realised I needed to know more about stitching, and so have been reading Stitch Magic. Unfortunately the fabric I used is too tight a weave for me to use wool to stitch with, but I am learning to stitch looser and bigger. I’m also trying to be more patient; enjoying the process instead of rushing for the result.

I have included some detail shots, but it’s fair to say I found it quite difficult to get a decent scan of the stitching.

This is such a change of pace for me; normally I paint, and quite quickly. I love the process of painting, the speed of it, flinging the paint at the canvas to get background drips, sloshing the paint on the canvas, the floor, my feet… so I am not sure where this “slow stitching” is leading me, but I’m happy to meander along for now.