Stitched Drawing

I've been working on my portfolio this weekend.  Half of it consists of this type of work.  I've taken it upon myself to undertake these heavily laborious projects for some reason.  It doesn't make sense, which is part of the appeal.  I suppose I've been wanting to do these types of pieces for awhile now, but have been afraid to commit myself to them.  Although I'm not sure about the end results, I appreciate how the process has altered the way my hand-eye coordination works.  My mark-making has become much more intuitive.  Color and dimension problems seem to work themselves out along the way.

Even if the final images aren't that interesting, I give myself an "A" for a valuable learning experience.  I could really go on and on with these.  I could go bigger.  I want to go bigger.  I wish I had more time, but I have to resolve things for a grade.  This has been the hardest part about working on an art degree.  I want to do more time-consuming projects.  Everything I do for school always feels like practice for the real thing.

I initially planned for this to be neutral regarding color, but just wasn't feeling it.  I'll try another neutral-colored piece next portfolio.  I've been trying to limit my color palette, but it's proven to be a more difficult challenge than I thought it would be.  I want to be able to use marks without color to create visual interest.  When I can do that successfully, I believe my work will be much stronger overall.

Beginning.

Almost finished.

Close-up.

Slightly neurotic, I know.  I better not forget to wash and iron it.  Also, it still needs some finishing touches.