Monday, June 22, 2009

A Butterfly for Summer

Have you noticed how butterflies seem to be a current design trend this year?

Well, I've been working on a butterfly design these past few months, and have finally finished it. It's called BLUE BUTTERFLY. The focal point and center of the piece is a blue butterfly that really glows in bright blues and aquas:


Unfortunately, you can't see how the butterfly shimmers with faint glints of soft metallic Hi-lights blended in with the Splendor silks...but trust me, it does!

The butterfly is surrounded by two different geometric patterns (both very fun and easy to stitch). The inner pattern uses 1 ply of variegated Waterlilies 192 ("Elderberry Wine") and Splendor silks, and the outer pattern uses 3 ply of variegated Waterlilies and 3 ply of Splendor silks to give the pattern some weight. And again, there are three different metallic thread colors used (aqua, bright blue and royal blue) on top of the silks, so there is metallic shimmer throughout the whole piece, although the photos just don't show it:


In the corners of the piece, there are large blue medallions that I like to think of as stylized flowers. They echo and balance the blues of the butterfly wings:


And here's the whole piece for you to see:


The finished size is 10" by 10" on 18 ct mono canvas (in Sante Fe green, for a soft, cool background). And it uses quite an assortment of my favorite Rainbow Gallery threads: silk Splendor, Fyre Werks Soft Sheen, Hi-lights, Neon Rays+, and some Nordic Gold too.

If you're interested in this new design, please check out my website for more information on my new BLUE BUTTERFLY.

3 comments:

The Chilly Hollow Needlepoint Adventure said...

Beautiful!

Thanks, Laura.

Anonymous said...

Is the butterfly a blue swallowtail (Papilio ulysses)? There's nothing like tropical butterflies - they have the most beautiful, shimmering colours in nature.

Wanda said...

Oh this is really great! I can well imagine how it looks with the metallics. Great job! And I can't get enough butterflies..or hummingbirds!