Passionately Red
Here’s a presentation of a project that I see as an experiment and which I hope to share with you.
It involves creating a work whose main subject rests on a background that itself has been previously embroidered.
While observing the works of Henri Matisse, a painter I particularly love, I noticed the importance he attached to creating the backgrounds in his canvases.
The decorative background in Matisse’s paintings served to create atmosphere, define space and reinforce the presence of the main figures in the work. Matisse often used decorative motifs, such as geometric patterns or arabesques, to fill the background of his paintings. These motifs were often stylised and simplified, giving an impression of dynamism to his works.
The bold use of colour in the decorative background was also characteristic of Matisse’s approach. He used bright, contrasting tones to create powerful visual effects. The colours of the background could be in harmony with those of the figures or create a striking contrast, drawing the viewer’s attention to the main forms of the work.
This has inspired me to try my hand at embroidery and I invite you to join in.
You can see the sketch on which my project is based above, and the drawing you can download to take part in is available HERE.
The design is approximately 23/16 cm and will be embroidered on vanilla linen.
If the flowers are going to be dramatically RED, there are naturally several possible choices for the background colors. I’m going to suggest three and the first is the one I’ve chosen personally.
For this first variation, I used Stef Francis extra fine silk thread (n°28) for the background and DMC 3750, 931 and 3752 for the star shapes.
Here’s a second and perhaps warmer proposal based on House of Embroidery Freesia n°48C stranded cotton and DMC 935, 469 and 472 for the star shapes.
For the third, much more neutral proposal, I chose House of Embroidery Mist n°86A stranded cotton and for the star shapes, DMC 645, 647 and 648.
I’m perfectly aware that you probably don’t have all these threads, but with these three examples, I wanted to show that to determine your choice of background, all you have to do is choose a variegated thread that you like and add 3 plain camaieu threads with good contrast (but avoiding red) to represent the stars.
Passionately Red, the leaves
Passionately Red completed The leaves You will find below the explanations necessary for the realization of the leaves present in this pattern. As before, these leaves are also made with long and short stitch, after being underlined with a backstitch as usual These...
Passionately Red, second flower last petals
Passionately red, 2nd flower the last petals You will find below the necessary explanations to make the last petals belonging to the second flower. As before, all these petals are embroidered in long and short with one thread after being outlined in the usual split...
Passionately Red, second flower new petals
Passionately Red, second flower new petals You will find below the explanations necessary for the realization of the second series of petals belonging to the second flower. As before, all these petals are embroidered with long and short stitch and one thread after...
Passionately Red, second flower first part
Passionately Red Second flower, first part You will find below the explanations needed to make the first series of petals belonging to the second flower. As before, all these petals are embroidered in the long and short stitch with a thread after being outlined in...
Passionately Red first flower, second part
Passionately Red The first flower, second part Following are the explanations needed to make the second set of petals belonging to the first flower. As before, all these petals are embroidered with long and short stitch1 thread after being underlined in split...
Passionately Red, the first flower
Passionately Red The first flower Here are the explanations you need to make a series of petals belonging to the first flower. All these petals are embroidered in long and short stitch with a single thread after having been underlined the edges in split backstitch as...
Passionately Red, completed background
Passionately Red Finished background This is the background of the completed project. Flower embroideryIn next week's article, you'll find the first explanations on how to make these flowers. To do this, I've added a page containing the numbering of...
Passionately Red, the background
Passionately Red Background This project is divided into two parts. The first consists of simple backstitches embroidered with the variegated thread you have chosen and 1 thread. In the example shown here, the thread used is Stef Francis (UK) extra fine silk n°28. The...
Passionately Red
Passionately Red Here's a presentation of a project that I see as an experiment and which I hope to share with you. It involves creating a work whose main subject rests on a background that itself has been previously embroidered. While...