Little Bees Hand Painted Tunic

 

 This purchased tunic in a cotton/linen provided the perfect background for my new Bee Stencil. I loved the neutral colors of the taupe and cream color combination, so I decided to further enhance the color scheme by painting the bees in gold and silver Neopaque paint. I have already washed this garment several times, and the paint has not faded one bit.

I embellished the design with a bit of hand embroidery using a simple running stitch which was done with 6 strands of DMC cotton embroidery thread. I did a backstitch periodically to keep the  threads from pulling or puckering.

I even made a necklace and bracelet to match using freshwater pearls with gold and silver spacer beads. It was my first piece of jewelry that I had ever made, and I am so happy with the way it turned out.

I wore this tunic to my opening at the Sewell Gallery in Eureka, CA, with a really beautiful gun metal gray metallic chiffon scarf that my friend Nancy Branch gave me for Christmas last year. The scarf added the perfect finishing touch.

New Work: Ruthanne Rocha

 Last week I finished quilting this magnificent piece by my friend Ruthanne Rocha who is a retired schoolteacher living in Miranda, California. It is still in progress, so I will show more photos of the work once it's completed.
The inspiration for this art quilt came from photos Ruthanne took of the Masai women in the Serengeti while traveling in Tanzania 18 months ago.
Ruthanne travels the world and takes tons of gorgeous photos while also creating the most wonderful travel videos that you could possibly imagine. When she arrives back home, she spends many long hours narrating her films and adding authentic traditional music from that particular region.
Ruthanne thoroughly researches the history and culture of each country before she visits, and she travels with a group of people who relish visiting places that are off the beaten path.

The colors in this piece are drop dead gorgeous. Ruthanne has made several pieces of hand beaded jewelry that will now be added as embellishments.

The piece will be called Masai Women of the Serengeti (I think). This women was mauled by a lion and had severe scarring on her face. The faces are machine stitched and are solid threadwork.

I've decided that I want to be Ruthanne when I grow up, although I'm not quite sure when that will be.