New

This is the largest piece I have yet completed in embroidery, 6 1/2" x 6 1/2". Actually I think there is another one with the same size, but not as dense. This one is completely filled solid with stitches.
It started out with the central figure based on an image from an old 50's French cheesecake magazine. Then I had a flash of late 60's comic book sci-fi influence. Then a PBS show about chickens happened. Then all hell broke loose, literally. The human figure plummeting through the demonized depths on the left side is myself.

What I have been trying to avoid is too much use of a black outline on things to define them, to pull them out of the background. I want to make everything look 'painterly'. Adding a black outline looks too 'cartoonish'. I have nothing against cartoon imagery but I just want things to look more painterly. But I couldn't avoid using black outlines in this one.

This piece took too long. I think my stitching may be slowing. Maybe I have reached 'stitching Nirvana' and I no longer am aware or care of the passing time. Nah. Next one is going to be smaller.

Painters Floss, Robots and Op-Art

Another great discovery I found out about after a year into sewing was the existence of 'Painter's Floss'. Painters Floss is an embroidery thread that is dyed with different colors. It comes in various color schemes - some subtle and monochromatic, some are extreme and psychedelic. The fun thing is that you are assured NOT to have the same color in a single strand of thread.
I went into a new hoop again with no ideas. But I did know I wanted to use the Painters Floss. The first thing that happened was the African mask head at the top. And then gold and red metallic thread turned into a skeletal structure. I suddenly started thinking of high tech robotry. Even robots have an internal structure, like we have bones. In this case the 'bones' are visible on the outside. There is a clear, almost invisible outer shell casing that these robot-beings have. Again, we are talking light years ahead of our modern scientific possibilities. Vampire robot? Maybe. Phallus? I don't know why.
The 'Succubus Angel Robot' (for lack of a better name) developed next (the model from the magazine I used as a reference certainly didn't have a halo on HER head).
The full metallic threaded mask was African and Asian inspired, although the thin, slick, metallic threads definitely jived with the robot theme, as they were like little circuit wires themselves.
I flooded the background with the Painters floss. Earthy colors - blue, green, brown, the yellows and oranges like the leaves of Autumn, all in stark contrast with the shiny, glittery technology.
Then there was the hot pink and white multicolored floss which complimented and contrasted with the earthen hues.
I laid down the painters floss while contemplating crop circles, optical illusions, country door decorations and water.