Leaf Collage update

First...a note about the above photo.  Just a reminder this project is on eggshell canvas.  It was taken outside today with great natural lighting.  Most of the previous postings have been scanned images which tend to bleach out the canvas.  But, this photo and the original ones of the individual leaves most closely represent what I see when I am stitching.  Of course I think the colors on everyone's monitor is different!

It has been 17 days since my last post with very little to show for myself in the way of stitching progress.  But, I wanted to show what I have done anyway.  The last time I was unhappy with the vertical band on the left....too bright after the background was added.  A reader suggested copper as a possibility and she was right.  This new version is more copper and orange.....less gold.....so it has a little softer look.  I also used copper in the frame to the right of the vertical band.  There are three threads in the frame.  It's a rice stitch!  The overdyed thread is a coppery orange and mauve/purple.  I plan to add a few subtle rose to mauve threads here and there.  One is used with copper in the skinny vertical band on the right side. 

The question I have now is if I need to change the vertical band to the very right.....the one in blue/green and gold?  I should take my own advice and wait until I have most of it done before deciding....or have added more color around it.  Or maybe the stitch itself is not the right choice.  Something to be decided later. 

I am leaving in the morning for a teaching trip and when I return on Monday afternoon I have no more flying trips planned until March.  So I plan to start stitching again in earnest. The holidays will be here before we know it and then.....where does the time go?!? 

So I hope to be back with a significant update in about a week to 10 days.

Happy Halloween to Everyone!!

New design - work continues

I haven't been able to do any stitching on the new leaf design since my last posting but I finally took the plunge and colored in the area I plan to be exposed canvas, or only lightly stitched.  I used a marker technique using three Copic transparent markers.  The colors used were a light green, a medium-dark blue green and a dark indigo.   I used the three markers in order, and changed direction with each of the 7 layers.   The resulting effect is supposed to be rather like a coarse  linen fabric.

The scan is only of the left side of the design, but gives a good idea of how the technique looks. 

The result might look at little rough right now, but there will be a little light stitching over the marker areas which will help to tie the areas together.   One interesting thing I did realize was that I really should have added the marker earlier....but I just couldn't design which markers and layering I wanted to use before today.  I kept making different samples, but never could settle on one.  Now that the background is in, I realize I think the orange and yellow gold vertical strip is too bright and I will re-stitch it in slightly softer tones.  Oh well....i'm no stranger to "unstitching".

I will be away for a few days and then back to stitching next week and will post more then. So, wishing everyone a great week.