This started with a photo I took using my phone while walking. What caught my eye was the composition – all of those blue angles and shapes in the old Heppenstall factory building in Lawrenceville (Pittsburgh).
I got it printed on cloth with the intention of cutting it up and collaging it.
But the composition resisted being cut up. So I left it whole, and decided to “thread paint” it. To answer the usual questions: yes, it takes a long time. I can finish an area approximately 3 by 3 inches in 2 and a half hours (an evening’s work for me). Yes, it takes a lot of thread. Thousands of yards of it. Sometimes I have a “thread emergency” when I need a certain color, and have to take the 30 minutes drive to Joann Fabrics. But I do enjoy it. It really feels like painting. A lot of the same principles apply. I analyze an area first, then stitch in the accent colors, letting the threads connect between the areas. After that I stitch the main color or colors in an area. That covers up the connecting threads from the accent areas.
And of course, finally, I add my found objects, little treasures that caught my eye while I walk 10,000 steps a day.
The size is 14 x 20 inches.