"Koi and Sewing Thread"

Diptych- word comes into my mind here. Yes, I created a second piece to go along with my previous goldfish piece (below).

I don't think I ever explained this: all of my hand embroidered on the paper pastels, use machine sewing threads. I don't use traditional hand embroider threads, right now, because they are much thicker. I want the focal point to remain the focus, and sewing machine threads are thin enough to remain more of a visual support and then using something thicker and fear of the embroidery becoming distracting.

Looking back, I have more goldfish drawing/paintings then originally thought...hmmm... 

Okay, the history is that as a kid I got two young koi fish* as pets. My father used to buy these baby shrimps, and made a special spoon so I can feed them on top of their fish flake food. But waking up at 6am everyday before getting ready for school proved to be too much for me. Plus, I was too young to have the responsibility and commitment to grow my koi fishes. So eventually, they ended up in fish heaven :0(

I still admire them and we have relatives that have actual koi ponds in their backyard, where they can grow big. I don't have the space nor do I have a backyard, so I'll just admire them from a distance.

*plural fish or fish·es

"Kingyo and Sewing Thread

Aaaa.... another fish piece! I decided to draw goldfish again, beause I actually had a creative block. UGH! So this time, I wanted to embroider again to make these fishes different. This piece using the kanji in the middle of the subject(s) says, "kingyo", which is Japanese for goldfish. 

Yes! I was hesitant to stab through the middle of these fishes so I can embroider the kanji, but I had threw a tissue paper with this kingyo character outlined beforehand and thought, that this would be a cool and different approach. I still admire the look of paper embroidery with a drawing. For me, I approach embroidery as linear imagery which is a great balance when it is against a solid subjecct matter....that's my take on it at least. It goes back to my love of typography graphic design.

"Jellyfish Dream"- Pastel with mixed media

Whew! I finally got this done. Sorry the photo is terrible. I forgot to take a pic before I had it sent to the framers. So this is taken with reflective glass... ugh! oh well. Jellyfish is in pastel on ArtSpectrum paper. The background is acrylic, and the embroidery is with white sewing machine threads. I'm starting to really like this method, although a bit time consuming then just drawing images straight on the paper. I guess I'm currently tapping into my old-fashion self, where I like to use threads. From the fact that I can hand and machine sew, knit and crochet...just like back the in days before computers (GAAAASSSSP!) This piece will be shown at the Santa Cruz Art League's "Small Wonders II" Show- Dec. 15th through Jan. 6th. This should be a fun experience for me. Great opportunity at the Art League to showcase work.