Surface Reflection

Surface Reflection, canvas embroidery, 9" X 6", congress cloth with six-stranded cotton

I don't usually do canvas work. But since I proposed a class for the American Needlepoint Guild's 2013 national seminar and was accepted, I did a bit.  I love working on canvas, but it takes so darned long.  I like to actually make the surface of the fabric rather than just decorating it.

The name of this is taken from the novel Surface Reflection by Iain Bain, one of my very favortie science Fiction writers.

This was done with four strands of stranded cotton.  Some of the water had four different colors in each needleful. 

The photo above is the original one I took in the winter of 2004 at the Blue Hole, Santa Rosa, NM.  The Blue Hole is a large spring with a constant temp and it has this wonderful color.  This is an unmanipulated photo.  The koi are of course not native to the pool, but added a bright touch to the water.

The photo is a manipulated one adding a bit of color to the reflected surface and the fish recolored.  The name of the needlepoint.

Since I had been researching the topic of creativity for a lecture I gave at the EGA 2012 National Seminar, I have been more cognizant of my own sources of inspirations and how I handle them.  It was a right-brain dominant moment when I saw the photos I had taken and also "saw" the finished work in my mind.  It was the left brain dominance in me that thought through the design and engineering of the work.  The right brain should work in yoke with the left brain for the most satisfactory results.