Sunday Business

The best kind of work days are when it's warm and sunny, you have access to the outdoors, and you can be doing 'work', in the loosest sense of the word, that you actually enjoy. Even better when you are in a beautiful garden attached to your studio and can look out over the prettiest flowers- like these beautiful clumps of Hellebores, and the most amazing white Clematis that has exploded over the top of the pergola.

I spent several hours in the studio yesterday getting more stitchscapes mounted and framed. My Supermoon Stitchscape and Moonlight Reflections Stitchscape found homes in these 12" box frames which I think look rather snazzy! I have had to paint the black one myself as I can't find black box frames anywhere, but am pretty chuffed with the finished look.

Today I was at the studio again with my official photographer, Amy, who brings along her posh camera and various lenses. We set up in the most glamorous style in the garden with a chair and a white sheet and have fun creating shadows and different lights with anything that comes to hand (garden utensils, bits of cardboard, other Stitchscapes...). Literally hundreds of photos were taken this morning, but only one of each will make the final cut! The above are just four of the images taken of the Supermoon Stitchscape- one is too bright, one too dark, one too sharp and one could be a possible for the finished photo. My job is to sift through them all, crop the chosen image and then edit, removing any stray threads that have blown across, adding brightness or contrast and generally tidying up through digital means. It's quite a long, drawn-out process but is entirely necessary for quality prints.

I have also started the stitching process on my next set of Stitchscape minis. I'm hoping these will be slightly quicker than my last lot as I have used less layers, but I want to be true to the detail that my big Stitchscapes have so they will probably still take me a while! I'll keep you posted.