Negative space embroidery

Hi everyone,

How have you all been doing? It's spring here in Germany or at least that's what people say - but snow in spring???  aarghh!!!

I came across the term "negative spaces" quite a few times in the past few weeks.When asked about the happenings in her art class, the little lady told me that they are doing shading in negative spaces. At around the same time, over at Suztats I saw some wonderful watercolors with the same concept. And for the third time when I saw a picture shared in FB, that was it!! I decided to go negative :)

And thus the new project has started...  Here are some pics. The picture quality is poor due to the weather, sorry.


Since I've not embroidered letters as much as  I would like to, I started with searching for quotes and finally ended with "Hope". Don't ask me why.
My daughter asked the same question - why hope, amma ? Why not Luck,Love or Smile?.....sigh!!!! questions!!!
In negative space embroidery, the work is on the outside and the inner space remains blank.So to distinguish between the outside and the inside, I outlined the letters with a pale green in back stitch.
All my previous works have been mostly on cotton. Here I am using a piece of linen gifted by Meri. If you want to know more about Portuguese embroidery,check out her blog here. Working in linen is a beautiful experience. By the end of this project I may shift my loyalties from cotton to linen :)

I've slowly started embroidering on the outside and this is how it looks now.
Not much, I know..but I'll get there :) Since there's no drawn design, each element needs to be thought out. Had this been a heavy outline with a bright color, I think I would've been happy with just a few more bunch of flowers strategically placed. But since I am going negative, a lot more filling up is needed.
Well, let me add some more and we'll see how it looks.

 Love, luck and sunshine ,
Deepa

Comments

  1. looks interesting."hoping" sunshine for you :) you've done winter already!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks lovely Deepa, and "hope" a wonderful word to use, there's so much in it - or outside it in this case! Spring involves snow over here in the UK this year as well, quite unusual, but not unheard of. The primroses are shivering :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks great Deepa - I love those little flowers peeping around the letters. We had ice pellets yesterday morning when we woke up - yuck. Enough already!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes, Spring in Europe has been a bit wild. Hoping for good weather seems a good thought!

    ReplyDelete
  5. liking what you are doing here and hope is a good word also like peace.
    trust you have settled in now. We had very large snowflakes last night never seen them so big, now the daffodils and tulips are looking sorry for themselves but the sun is out and snow quickly disappearing but is is so cold

    ReplyDelete
  6. Looking forward to seeing how this develops!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sorry you are getting more winter in Spring. Another blog friend in The Netherlands, and another in Canada are complaining as well.

    Oh, I hope you post progress pictures!! I love negative space needlework. I have never done a piece, but think I would like to.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment