'Endless Mystery' in progress

Endless Mystery - Part I

"Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky."  This is a quote by Kahlil Glbran from "Sand and Foam."  It explains maybe why I am so passionate about trees. 

I'm documenting progress on my latest forest scene; this one will finish about 36" x 60" landscape.


Here is a sketch of the tree trunks with the foreground taking shape.

Here is the background fabric together with the foreground.   The fabric was dyed back in August using various techniques involving sun, salt, and silk dyes as well as procion dyes.  The effect is that of trees in the distance.

And here I am starting to put the background trees onto the fabric.  These trees are burned out of polyester sheer fabrics using a woodburning tool.  That seals the edges and then the trees are carefully free-motion stitched in place using the paper pattern as a map.

Here I am trialing the tree trunks onto the background fabric and moving them around to create different effects.  They didn't stay this way!