Summer Sticks, Take 1

A tiny piece I finished today that I'm calling Summer Sticks.

Summer Sticks. Watercolor, solvent ink
 and pearle cotton hand embroidery, 2014

It's a small watercolor in the saturated hues that are my current obsession. With a little pair of crossed sticks done in solvent black ink.

I do love the colors. The blue pops in a way I couldn't capture in photos.

Much simpler than the Planets of Durham. Fewer colors and layers. I'm happy with it and I'm ready to try it on a bigger scale.

WIP. Plotting layers.

Next up... Something entirely different, made from painted corks.

This aquamarine blue is catching my eye these days!

Planets overboard

I recognized early on that this piece had too much going on. Too many colors, shapes and textures.

Planets of Durham, stitched watercolor, 2014.

But I didn't care, because it was an experiment with trying different techniques.

Detail of textures.

I haven't figured out how to bring the solvent ink shapes into my stitched watercolors. I think it might be able to work with a far simpler background image.

First go around of planets.

Next time I'll keep it quieter.

I experimented with solvent ink hexagons.

But, even if this is an overboard, failed piece, I like it because I was reminded how much I love color and how much I have to be selective with it.

Too much going on, but it was a fun learning process.

Time to get back to playing.