Black Rock Beach

Black Rock Beach – Completed

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Just finished. Unfortunately, the photo doesn’t do the piece justice – I’ve tried lightening the blue of the frame and can’t get close to the real colour without distorting the body of the  piece.

Black Rock Beach

I’m happy with the balance of the whole. The piping, which doesn’t show well in the photo at all, pulls out both the orange of the vest and the blues of the water.

Now to find a place to hang it in my apartment – there isn’t obvious wall space in any room. I’m going to have to walk around and decide what to take down so I can display this piece of art.

Black Rock Beach – IV

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Day before yesterday I took apart the stitching of the water near the shore. Yesterday I stitched in new wave lines which run more parallel to the beach. I stitched in small wavelets as they reach the beach. I also stitched the rubble at the beach line and at the bricks at the bottom right.

Thread Painting Finished

Today, I stitched around the rocks and pebbles on the beach. I worked in the bits of vegetation and wood debris amid the rocks.

Finally I added David.

David Up Close

I very carefully stitched the shading of his clothing and around the edges of the fused appliqué.

The last thing I stitched was my signature in the bottom right.

Auditioning Fabric for Framing

I’ve stopped for today, but I’ve cut and laid out fabric for an inner border. I auditioned several fabrics for the piping including both bright and muted orange pieces but they pull the eye away from the vest. I think I’ve settled on a dark teal solid which will allow me to use a mottled grey print for the wide outer framing.

I’ll do the framing tomorrow.

Black Rock Beach – III

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I spent several hours yesterday working on the thread painting on Black Rock Beach – the sky, the distant shore, the black rocks point, the water near the shore.

Black Rock Beach

I closely stitched the Black Rock Point

Black Rock Point

Then I worked my way toward the foreground

Black Rock Beach III

Standing back from it I can see the curvature of the waves is jarring. The piece would feel more calm were I to straighten out the water movement. That’s a challenge – because I’m not sure I won’t be left with stitch marks I won’t be able to eliminate once I’ve taken that stitching out.

However, I’m going to give it a try because I’m not happy with how the water near the rocky beach is flowing.

A Return To “Black Rocks Beach”

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This “staying at home” has my brain befuddled. I was able to feel productive while engaged in face mask production but for the past week I have not been able to settle on a new quilting project or wall art project or any garment making. I’ve whiled away my time with puzzles and following news, a minimal amount of cooking, and an occasional walk but I’ve not been getting anything creative done.

Day before yesterday I put the “Black Rocks Beach” piece (started a year ago!) back on my cutting table. Last spring I concatenated three photos to create the one image. In December/January (I can’t remember when, exactly) I’d got as far as laying in the background sky, far shore, the black rocks, the near shore but stopped short of doing any thread painting.

Two days ago I fused small bits of fabric to indicate the movement of the water near the beach. I think today is the day I pull out my boxes of rayon embroidery thread and start working on water and sky.

Black Rocks Beach

David’s figure is fussy cut and ready to go but not fused to the scene yet – the water has to be thread painted before I can put him in place and thread paint his clothing. This is one of those moments where I have to take a deep breath and just start stitching – there will be no going back, no correcting what I’ve done. Here’s where the art form is unforgiving.

Ready – set – go.