Monday 25 March 2013

The Bird's Back

I was looking forward to stitching the bird’s back and wings even though I thought that the markings might prove challenging. I carried on working upward from the tail. The first challenge was working the distinctive bars on his wings. All of the needle painting I have done so far has focused on gradually blending from one shade to the next. These stripes required a more sudden colour change. I had to greatly reduce the staggering of the stitches and make them more like and overlapping satin stitch rather than the clear staggering used in long and short stitch. I was careful not to let the overlapping stitches become too bulky.

I did not think that this method would work so well for the speckling on his back so I first stitched all over with the darker shades of brown, blend the shades as I normally would. I then went back and overstitched with the paler shades, adding flecks and specks to give an impression of his markings rather than trying to faithfully copy every marking.

© Carol-Anne Conway

© Carol-Anne Conway

© Carol-Anne Conway

I am rather pleased with how they came out.

Happy Stitching

6 comments:

Hillside Threads said...

Wow! He is so lovely and you have made a great job of the blending.

Cath said...

You should be pleased! He's looking great.

Anonymous said...

He's charming (I could almost say, sweet) - and he looks slightly furry and pettable. Excellent job on the colors.

Jane said...

He's looking lovely. Well done

Rachel said...

It's worked beautifully, believable as a bird's back while clearly being stitched - great!

Wendy said...

good choice, the stitching is looking amazing