Take a look at this completely cool needlepoint by Jacqueline Royal, which renders urban graffiti into needlepoint.
It’s awesome and people have been commenting about it since a post on it appeared on the CRAFT blog earlier this week. It’s simply glorious needlepoint and there’s lots we can learn from it, even if graffiti art isn’t our thing.
First notice how she gets texture in her needlepoint with some techniques which are easy for us to apply to our own work. In the concrete wall in the last piece shown, Berlin 3, she used several different colors to give the wall texture. First, she stitched the lines in gray-blue and dark gray. Then she stitched the light gray “blobs” and single stitches using a tweeded thread of two colors of gray. Finally the medium gray main color was stitched with another tweeded thread.
Looking at this wall, we can see two different effects tweeding can have. In the main color, the two colors are very close in value and we get texture far more than changing color. The stitching gets depth from the variety, but it still looks solid.
In the lighter color, the two values are further apart. Here we see consistent, but random, changes in color. Contrast this with the two-colored concrete just below the red lettering in the center right. That area uses two solid colors of gray with a clear division between them. Notice how flat it looks?
In all her pieces she uses tweeding to great effect. But in the top piece she uses another technique to give texture to the blue monster and it’s one we use all the time. She uses a different stitch.
But she does this with a difference. Notice how this stitch is not used for the entire blue monster, she uses it for the upper part of the head, highlighting that and ends the Cashmere Stitches in an irregular line. This makes the stitch look as if it is “melting” into the Basketweave. It’s a visually arresting technique and one which highlights the monster as a focal point.
Do you have some needlepoint which could use these techniques?
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
I have had the priviledge of working with Jackie Royal for several years now. She is without a doubt one of the most creative geniuses of this time. I had worked in the Arts for the 1st 20 years of my career & have met some ‘greats’. She is as talented & versatile as the rest.