Embroidered Collage

I added the basic fabric elements to this piece to set the composition, then put in just a little bit of cretan stitch at the mid-left to get the stitching started.  I honestly hadn't been expecting to add the darker and thicker row of stitches across the bottom, but it seemed like a good idea and the value contrast worked stunningly well.  I think the cretan stitch evokes the feeling of trees nicely, with it's up and down markings, but keeps a forest like continuity because of the sideways connections.  You'll be seeing more of it on this piece.  I cropped this photo to near the 12"x12" dimensions of the finished piece to give a bit of a different impression from the full view of the 18"x18" canvas I'm working on that I showed in the blog entries on painting and beginnings.