Turtles background

Not sure about this, I'm going to sit on it. I am trying really hard not to overload the background.

Turtles Done

The 3 turtle shells were stuffed with plastic strips to give the shells a non-smooth look. The strips used got progressive smaller to make the shells look less dimensional as I trapunto'ed them.

The bottom turtle is the most dimensional, as it is closest to the viewer. The two top ones are less dimensional, to suggest a distance away. A darker Kreinik thread was used in the outline of the bottom turtle, followed by a lighter Kreinik thread for the top 2 turtles, to give the impression that these are closer to the top of the water and thus lighter. This is also known as "I ran out of the dark Kreinik and couldn't find the same thread at the local store". There is a very subtle difference between the outlines of the top 2 turtles: the left one was couched with light tan thread to shade it slightly, and the right one was couched with invisible thread. It is hard to see even on the piece itself, hopefully just giving a suggestion of one being lighter than the other.

Bottom turtle - most dimensional and darkest:

 Top right turtle - least dimensional and lightest - he is heading towards the light!

The next step is the background. After Laura Smith's lecture on "Skin of Venus, The Subtle Power of the Background" I want to make sure that the background enhances the foreground, and not overpower it...

Second Turtle Done

Batik Turtle Background

I decided to paint the background as backdrop for the coral/seaweeds. In case I blew it, here's the "before" picture:

Here's the "after" picture. I think it's ok.

Batik Turtle

It's been a while and I'm hoping I can get back into the groove, so to speak...

I recently took the "Batik to Stitch" workshop from EGA, where images were stamped and waxed and colored to produce the hand-dyed batik result. As the waxing and stamping are never precise, I want to put a lot of background (seaweeds, coral, etc) to distract; but then the turtles being flat will not be the focal points. So I want to trapunto the turtles. I want the shells to be somewhat rough, and the head and flippers to be smoother. I stuffed one shell with crinkly plastic, and the flippers with polyfill. The trapunto'ing causes the fabric to ripple, which I can say is the water effect.😀. This, however will not be "display quality".

The bottom turtle's shell has been stuffed.

One turtle is done.