Beach at Sunrise

Size: 19½" x 21"

Price: $435

"Beach at Sunrise" came from a challenge on translucency, plus horizontal layering. I began by pulling out all my gauzier fabrics and a bag of plastic mesh from food packaging, and layered everything on a yellow background until something clicked that it should be blue. The scene was a delicate one until I dug further, found the black and white fabric and tucked pieces of that in and around. The water is the same fabric as the sky, but overlaid with blue plastic mesh and some wavy thread-painting.

I added Polyfil® batting for clouds, Angelina® fiber for the sunset, and finally overlaid it all with fine white gauze. All the stitching is with clear thread; this was one piece where I didn't want to add any other color with the thread. I had planned for less sky to show, and hence have a higher horizon, but it seemed to want to expand upward with the clouds. I used my Tsukineko® ink technique to do some shading at the top and upper sides for a better sky.