Sunflower Fields!

We are deep in the long hot days of summer, and to celebrate the season, I decided to pull out an old project idea for a new "impressionist" design that features sunflowers, more or less in the abstract.  I've had the sketch in my "TO DO" file for a long time, and this summer seemed like the right time to figure it out -- so I did!  And SURPRISE: I'm calling this one "FIELDS OF GOLD":

It's been a long time since I've done one of my "abstract" collages, and picking out all the sunflowery stitch patterns was tremendously fun.  And honestly, I LOVED stitching this one, with all of its green and gold threads - including some silk ribbons for the center sunflower - because it truly felt like the perfect summer project!  And don't you just love those checkered bands?  They really add a great accent to all the yellows and greens, and just tone down/ground all the brightness. 

There's a handful of translucent gold seed beads mixed in with larger black beads (you can't really see them, but they fill the center of the large sunflower in the middle of the design).  

Here's a closer look at some of the central stitching patterns:

 And yeah, I had to add a few tiny bees buzzing around the single sunflower - very fun stitching those cuties...  All in all, this is a wonderful summertime piece that I highly recommend.  The stitches aren't difficult at all, but as in all counted canvaswork designs, the hardest part is often just counting correctly.  So when I'm starting to set up all the borders, I count VERY CAREFULLY (often times twice or thrice) to double-check that my borders match the graph.

This 10" x 10" design is worked on 18 ct. mono canvas in eggshell.  The glowing palette is built around Watercolours 251 - "Sunflower Seed", with a handful of #5 pearl cottons, thick and thin gold metallics, and two colors of Splendor Silk Ribbon for the Lazy Daisy petals on the central sunflower.  Easy Peasy!!

So if you want to have your own summertime field of sunflowers, please skip on over to my website: www.laurajperindesigns.net and check out all the information for this new "FIELDS OF GOLD" pattern.   And..... HAPPY SUMMER STITCHING!!