DONE! There's nothing like a guild meeting to give me the final boost to persist and finish off a project so I can bring it to show and tell! I kept this project in a box that was in my way for the last few months. Mostly so that it wouldn't get shunted back to the UFO pile.And I will be so happy not to have that box in my way all the time!
I checked and the copyright on the pattern is 2000. I thought this piece was from more like 2003 but I don't really remember. It was designed and taught by Judy Souliotis for Chicago ANG's Donaldson seminar one summer. Check out Judy's web page--especially if you're looking for fibers--she has lovely collections at wonderful prices. She also has a wonderful gallery. I'm glad I was able to take a class from her before her retirement from traveling to teach.
The canvas has two types of traditional Japanese gold applied, Judy did this for us before class. All of those leaves are variations of or nué. Given the trouble I had keeping the counted versions of this technique in line, I can't imagine doing it on an uncountable ground! I really like it--as you move the piece some leaves gain sparkle while others become opaque.
As I was playing around with the piece last night, thinking about possibilities for framing, I laid it on different backgrounds. I wondered about using gold behind it. I didn't have anything metallic gold to try but dull gold was, well, dull. Then I tried deep red, blah. Black. It looked nice with black. But then I laid it on white, while I was reaching for something else. The white behind the black canvas made the embroidery pop out. It was truly amazing, so dimensional it looked almost like stumpwork.
I showed my hubby and he was as astounded as I was--I never, ever would have picked white for behind black canvas but I think I may this time. (And that's why when ever I frame anything I drive everyone nuts because I have to try every mat and frame variation possible.)
