Birth of a Royal Guardian - Peacock Art (continuation)

I find myself incredulous that my post of yesterday was cut off.  When I looked at it today, the final part was gone.  Drats!  Let's see if I can't re-create it now.  Yesterday's post seems to have ended with sewing the peacock's crown.  Here we go with a continuation...

After the crown was sewn onto the backing, the body and tail of the peacock were pinned to the backing and then machine appliqued to the backing, starting with the head and stopping where the tail hangs off the canvas.

Machine Appliqueing the Body to the Backing.

After the machine appliqueing was complete, I randomly added claw shapes made from glass beads across the background and finished the work by adding heat sensitive rhinestones, also in a random manner.

Beaded Claw Shapes and Heat Set Rhinestones

Once the work was complete, I wrapped the quilt around the stretched canvas, stapled it to the wooden stretcher bars, glued black mat board to the back and finished it with D-rings and wire for hanging.

Waalaa, the work was complete and ready to hang on a wall.

Ruminations on Why I Chose to Use a Peacock to Express the "Boundless" Theme

The occurrence of multicolored iridescence in nature has always captivated my interest and stimulated my imagination.  To me, the male peacock is the king of radiant iridescence. After studying this bird extensively, I clearly understand why in Japanese culture the peacock was historically considered a guard to the royal palace.  To me, it is, indeed a “Royal Guardian”.

Exhibit Information

"Royal Guardian" will be on exhibit at the Cerritos Library for the months of August and September, 2015, along with other quilted and mounted art works by members of Beyond the Edge Fiber Artists.  If you happen to be in the area, I hope you will stop by the library to visit the exhibit.  The address of the library is: 

18025 Bloomfield Ave

Cerritos, CA 90703

Thanks for visiting and...

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2015.  All rights reserved

 

Thread Painting a Peacock with Metallic Threads

Thread painting with metallic threads on the peacock continues...

Blending Metallic Threads

 Working with metallic threads and non-metallic Floriani threads is what I've been looking forward to, so I'm having great fun.  This morning I pinned the peacock to the design board so that I could step back to see how the thread work is blending.  I see that at this point the peacock looks like it has a flat head.  Oh, no!  Oh, yes.  This means that I need to add more of the lime green metallic thread to where the curve is.

Sometimes standing back from a work is a really good thing to do.  Up close and personal everything looks good, but the perspective that is gained from stepping back and assessing the work as a whole can be very useful.  By doing this, I see where more work needs to be done.  Here is a picture  of thread blending where the neck meets the breast of the peacock.  it definitely needs more blending of the fuchsia colored threads with the turquoise threads.

Blending Metallic Threads in the Breast Area

 So now that I've stepped back and appraised the thread painting so far, I'll head back to the sewing machine and continue.  Love this part.  The treads are beautiful and working with them is such a joy.

I'll be baaaaack...

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2015.  All rights reserved