Embroidered Collage

Marbled paper sometimes seems to have images in it, so this time I looked for curves that I could turn into a face.  The one bit reminded me of an ear, so I started there.  Because of the way the design went, I figured I would add the nose and such for the profile in pen, then did my cutting and gluing so the face would fit on the 8"x10" watercolor paper.

I wasn't sure how I'd add stitch at first, but when I realized the "ear" didn't look much like one I wanted to emphasize it in some way.  Instead of drawing it out with a line I added jewelry.  To keep the eye moving I put in a headdress jewel as well, then put touches of red at the stitching and at the lips.

I'm still not sure how much I like the piece on its own merits, but I am definitely happy with my progression in the series, since I did something a bit different.

This face took two tries.  The first time I tried to do it only from an image in my mind and ended up tearing a piece of the dark blue paper into ever smaller and eventually useless piece.  I was adapting my ideas along the way, trying to figure out how else to fit the face onto the 8"x10" sheet.  I even tried drawing on the sheet first, but then couldn't figure how to place the paper.

The second time I tried I did a little sketching first from a reference photo, looking for the curves and shapes that I wanted.  Then, when I went in to cut I knew which points to keep mentally in mind and the path my hands should take.  It worked much better and I still came up with something more free than if I'd actually drawn the lines on the blue paper itself and cut along them.

I used chain stitch for the eye and mouth.  I had originally intended the red as lips, but some of the folks at CoachCreativeSpace, where I posted the image yesterday, interpreted the lines as teeth.  That's actually pretty neat and I can see how the spaces between the chain stitches do have that effect.

I'm wondering if there's a way to effectively make the details with paper shapes and the expanse of the face as lines for the next piece.  Or if I want to leave the face as negative space and use the paper to indicate the water instead.

My next attempt at developing the minimally mixed style that I first tried with Surfing is in answer to the "Four Faces" challenge, one each week, at Coachcreativespace, a ning community that I joined recently.  This time I added stitching to the collage with drawing.  The piece is 8"x10" on watercolor paper.

The challenge didn't have any other guidelines beyond the title, but I knew I'd do better with a little more focus - hence the merfolk.  There was a mermaids exhibit at a local art gallery recently, so the subject has been on my mind, and then there was the stack of water-themed hand-made papers in a portfolio beside my desk.  I'd bought them for a different and larger project that isn't likely to materialize any time soon, but the ideas connected for this theme.  I specifically made it merfolk instead of mermaids because I want the faces to be somewhat androgynous and more mysterious.

I wanted to use the paper to capture a large plane of the face and the forehead to nose to chin section was the first one that came to mind.  I knew I wanted one eye to be more realistic drawing and one to be abstract stitching.  As the idea developed I decided to alternate those media on the lips as well.  The wavy portions in the lower right were a late addition, but they help place the image.

I'm happy with how this one turned out and am trying to decide whether next week's will be another variation of full-frontal or if I will try a different orientation.