Little collages, big stitches

I've been doing a lot of hand stitching on little collages this week, sheltering inside from the triple digits and evening monsoon storms. I plan to staple them around 8x10 inch frames.

This is my latest one, made with old painted scraps from my stash. The only new touch was on the teal circle, which started out bright blue and didn't work with the rest of the piece. I applied a thin wash of yellow paint, which toned it down and made it teal, then I sponged on some silver-blue fabric paint to tone it down further. It's a mix of our desert heat and rain.

I decided to limit my hand stitching to long straight stitches and big X's. I know all kinds of elegant, intricate embroidery stitches, but I want the look of these collages to be wilder. Since the pieces are small, I'm using two strands of embroidery floss instead of the thicker pearl cotton that I usually use.

This one is called "Healing Rain," which is true of rain in the desert except when it's accompanied by wicked winds like last weekend. The silver circles were made by using bubble wrap as a stamp, and the green is that sheer silk organza that I painted awhile ago and layered over the background.

This one is "Desert Heat," no surprise. I love spirals, circles and hands and use them a lot in my work. They seem to be universal symbols that have shown up in art for thousands of years.

I think I'll call this one "Morning Light." I made it with fabric I painted recently after I decided to dust off my paint bottles and get creative inside to beat the heat.

I think this one is my favorite because I love the clear, but soft, colors. It's called "Monsoon" because there's so much going on during one of those storms -- changing light, wind, rain, and people outside celebrating the life-giving water in the desert.

When I've lived in wetter parts of the country, people tried to escape the rain. Here in the desert, kids rush outside and dance in the streets when it rains, just like kids up north rush outside when it snows. The rain cools our temperatures by about 20 degrees, which is nice -- from 108 to a bearable 88!

The little petroglyph figure is from a stamp I bought from Sherrill Kahn about 20 years ago. Those are more bubble wrap circles. I made the gold spiral with a foam stamp from Michael's, also bought about 20 years ago.

Have a colorful day