For my Stitchscape workshops I always take with me a couple of sample hoops with fabric layouts in so that I can demonstrate how to initially layer up the fabrics and discuss how the fabric placement affects the final finished look. For a standard landscape you would start with the sky (top layer) being put down first, with the lower layers of background and foreground being layered on top of that so that bottom piece is last to go down. This helps to bring the landscape towards you as you would normally view it.
You can also completely flip that and put the bottom fabric down first then layer up which will give you an incredibly dominating sky (this isn't often used) which would work beautifully if you are doing the Northern Lights or something similar and want to create the impression that the viewer is small with the sky, or something, looming over them.
A third option is to put the central piece down first and layer upwards and downwards from that point, creating a sense of perspective and zooming in towards a far reaching horizon line.
I have repeat students in my workshops so after a while this spiel probably gets boring and they'd notice if I used the same example pieces over and over. I like to mix things up so every now and then I finish the Stitchscapes to make room for new sample fabric layouts. This Stitchscape is one such example, although has actually been hanging around for quite a long time. I occasionally need little projects for working on the bus with and this is a perfect thing to grab and go - this one in particular had such strong colours in the fabric that it didn't need a lot of complicated stitch work (or any complicated stitch work actually as none of these stitches are hard).
The very top layer isn't stitched at all, other than where the long stitches end for the sun's rays, because I couldn't think of how best to compliment the batik fabric I had chosen. That's one of the beauties of using pre-printed cotton fabrics, you only need to stitch where you want to or where you think it will enhance your image the most.
The second layer has a very simple, single strand back stitch around every bold patch and a couched full six strands of embroidery thread at the top. Because I knew I was going to do big sun ray stitches I didn't want any chunky stitching underneath because that would interfere with the rays.
The sun itself is mostly covered with a couched 100% silk roving yarn which was stitched down in twists and also used to edge the fabric. Gaps in the couching are filled with french knots and I've just gone around the edge again with a two stranded back stitch in orange to help bring the sun out off the hoop.
The orange fabric behind the sun has been very simply treated with two strands of seed stitch using a variegated thread colour. I really wanted to bring a lot of colour changes to this piece, without it being massively obvious, so that I could enhance what the batik fabrics were doing. I love how in these photos the real sun is doing a similar thing and casting light and dark over different areas.
The bottom layers are very repetitive to try and bring the water towards you. The top blue layer has been covered in seed stitch, with a horizontal whip stitch creating battling waves further out at sea. The middle blue layer is rows of running stitch with a single strand of a DMC Silky thread whipped through each line to create a softly shiny wave. At the top of this layer I have also occasionally whipped through the line of whipped back stitch I've used to edge the layer to create a larger wave appearance.
The bottom blue layer is a really sweet batik fabric with bird shapes within the print. I have gone around the birds just to highlight their shapes, which I think of as reflections of birds that you cannot see as they are flying out of the hoop, and then working running stitch between them all. On occasion I have used the DMC silky thread again and worked Pekinese stitch which helps to pull some of the lines of running stitch out as an independent wave. Funnily enough, I originally worked the Pekinese stitch so that the loop was on the other side, and the solid line that is created, on top of the running stitch, which didn't work at all and quickly got pulled out! The same stitch, but the other way up, looks totally different.
Metallic gold thread was added to the rays of the sun, and also in the 'water' to bring the piece together, and I've added silhouettes of birds flying in from the sun to join the group that are larking about out of eyeshot.
There's a subtle colour thing I tried with the sun rays in case you haven't noticed - the sides of the sun have orange rays which do not appear at the top and I've used a variegated thread again around the top of the sun so that the colour changes but stays fairly light. I'm not sure whether it's noticeable but I wanted to create the impression of darkening rays to make the sun look like it was sinking into the sea. Did you notice?
This piece is staying in the hoop as it has such a fantastic shape to it that is really enhanced by being in a circular shape and I love the textures that are within it! Ah to think of those warm and sunny days where we can sit on the beach and watch the sun go down over the water.
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