Welcome to the first in the series of Mixed Media Embroidery tutorials.

This little quickie will give you an idea of how to approach a flowery scene in watercolor and stitch.

The sequence begins with Aquarelle watercolor crayon scribbles on muslin.  I often just spritz some fabric with water and lay down some watercolor crayon to get an idea.  In this example, I scribbled onto paper, wet it with spray, and pressed the puddle into the fabric.  I kept rubbing the color into the fabric and blending with water to allow adding deeper colors. Once I liked the way the color looked, I pulled out some floss and started using thread salad to match up color combinations–whatever looked good. (See thread salad tutorial in Schoolhouse *link* )

I started stitching when all paint was dry (but will often use a blow dryer to hurry it up).  Usually I keep adding stitched elements until it all looks balanced and vibrant.  It’s an intuitive process guided entirely by color and texture.

While finishing this piece, I wandered to my greens.  Sometimes green just doesn’t deliver–so I ended up eyeing the gray.  I know, I know–crazy talk, but hear me out.  Sometimes the greens aren’t dark enough–shadowy enough.  That’s what the grays step in for.  Witness:

This  green is slightly off gray — and would be greatly enhanced by a dark gray for shadow.

I decided the greens coordinated nicely, but the shadows around the purple and red flowers, and along the horizon tree line aren’t pronounced and have little depth.  That’s where the greys are needed.

I intend to add more orange brazilian coils in the lower right corner, and fill the yellow-green space with seed stitches.  I’ll fill in the treeline more and I’ll probably go with one more flower color too–we’ll see.

As this little piece evolves (remember it’s only 6X6inches), I’ve enjoyed the lush colors and the almost tapestry-like composition. I’m thinking I want it to be covered with stitching, thick and heavy. We’ll see!

For a second example (that’s not a landscape), see Butterfly She *link*

Now YOU take a bit of muslin and lay on some watercolor — and see what happens!