A few months ago I started painting and stitching little 2 inch squares. I didn't have a connecting idea. I was just playing.
Earthea, 2. Hand embroidery/x stitch on watercolor segments.
While I was waking up on a Sunday morning a few weeks ago, a dreamlike image came to me of tiles of slightly large squares of bits of land and sea, seen from above. And over the surface of these little scenes, thread and text and paint and experiments.
Earthea 1.
So, Earthea was born. These first two pieces are watercolor and embroidery/X stitch. No words, yet. I will play with images of the world... satellite images and maps. Jungle and glacier. Ice and sand. With words and without.
The only thing to unify the pieces will be the 3.5 x 3.5 inch canvas. And our planet. And experimentation. And, perhaps, a gold star on each.
This image was inspired by the painted maps in the Map Room at the Vatican in Rome.
Not sure where I will take this, but I'm off to Earthea.
The biggest challenge for me will be not to go too extreme with the colors. I love saturated color. I shall endeavor to be more restrained.