 10 'Natural' Art Tips
- Take several photographs (or crop and resize digital images) to give you several views of your landscape. Include close-ups (to capture details) and distance shots (for overall color and composition).
- Keep your sketchbook and some colored pencils handy when you're out and about and sketch landscapes and foliage for future reference.
- When creating a landscape with a horizon line, it's more interesting to put the horizon in the upper third or the lower third of the composition, rather than equidistant from the top and bottom.
- Stitch like an Impressionist. French knots, a straight stitch, and a few hanks of DMC floss in tonal shades can create a field full of flowers and trees.
- Sprinkle Angelina fibers over a deeply etched petal or leaf stamp. Cover the fibers with baking parchment or a Teflon sheet and press for a few seconds until the impression of the stamp has transferred to the Angelina. When cool, cut out the shapes and use them in your design.
- Create the look of rocks and shoreline by mixing sand and small pebbles into expandable paint, then heating with a heat gun to add dimension.
- Paint a piece of Lutradur in green tones and then burn irregular holes in it for the look of decaying leaves.
- Give stems and vines texture and dimension by creating them from machine-wrapped novelty yarns and cords.
- Use alternative, "woody" materials like silk rods as tree bark, fence posts, tall grasses, etc.
- Create individual flowers and leaves by machine-embroidering on water- or heat-soluble fabric, then appliquéing them to your base.
Visit our online store for art and quilting supplies to bring your flowers and landscapes to life.
Art by Benedicte Caneill as seen in Quilting Arts June/July 2007 Issue
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