Heron Gets A Face And Body

I had a good day in my studio working on my Heron fabric painting.  Once I started working on the eye and beak, I was into it.  I stitched the eye, beak and top of the heron’s head using my free motion sewing machine.

 

Then I started adding the fabric.  The first pieces I sewed to incorporate with the stitching.

Then I added the rest of the fabric using matte medium. Those scrap pieces that Karen sent me were just the right shape and size.  I only had do so a small amount of trimming.

I had the fabric laid out on my work table and just chose the colors that looked right as I went along.  I knew I wanted darker blue on the bottom and more of the greens for the wing.

I love working with the matte medium.  In the past I would have hand-stitched the fabric on to the backing.  I was always trying to hide the stitches.  I didn’t like the lines they made on the fabric. I wanted the pieces of fabric to be more integrated with each other.

I started using the matte medium when I made some collages inspired by my friend Emily during the pandemic lockdown.

Tomorrow I’ll start working on the legs and feet. I already know which fabric I want to use and that   I’ll be hand sewing the legs.

14 thoughts on “Heron Gets A Face And Body

    1. Thanks Laurie. I feel like drawing with my machine gave me more confidence to draw using paper and a marker or pencil. Seems backwards when I think of it. 🙂

  1. This heron is stunning! The fact that the fabric came to you in such a fortuitous way just adds to the wonder.
    Does the matte medium make the fabric feel stiff at all (like modge podge would)?

    1. Yes, thats part of the wonder about the way I work Trish. I use what I have and it guides me, inspires me and seems to be what I need. And yes, it does make the fabric stiff.

    1. THanks, I’ve gotten pretty good with eyes. Although I do take some artistic liberties with animal eyes. Some of them can look strange and well, unappealing if I were to draw them completely accurate. But then I only get to see the eyes of some animals close up in pictures, so they many look different than I’m getting to see them.

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Full Moon Fiber Art