"Last Blue Arctic"

[StephKunze]

"Last Blue Arctic" (12 x 12 inches, pastel pencils, graphite, and black pen on fabric)

I'm all done with this one! Unfortunately I opted out of sewing beads into the butterfly. I couldn't get the beads to look the way I wanted to. I also had concerns about the pastel smudging once I started sewing. Overall I'm ok with this being a straightforward drawing. Though I plan to use beads in future projects, for sure. I think next time I will do more advance planning of the bead placement so I'm feeling more confident about doing it.

The fabric I drew on was a blue/teal fabric with white speckles. I kept it visible in the sky and grass to help give the piece a nighttime feel.

This was inspired by the blue arctic butterfly, by the way. They are much more gray in real life, I made mine extra blue!

 

[snoball]

Could you sketch the outline of your project on the fabric and then sew on the beads before adding the pastels?

 

[Terri]

Beautiful work, Steph! These blues are divine.

 

[PaintBoss]

Well it’s gorgeous Steph!
You’re absolutely right, I think it would smudge if you tried handling it even if you were very careful trying to sew those beads on. I do like the effects of pastel, but it is very fragile that way.
I really like the combination of pastel and coloured pencil and charcoal, etc.

 

[Donna T]

Wow, this is just so beautiful and unique and truly artistic! I love how you incorporated the white speckles from the fabric. How will you frame it?