Stitching on paper

I've been so caught up recently with my circles sketchbook. I've felt a real need to complete it before I could focus on anything else - or even on developing some of the pages into more finished pieces which I really want to do.

There hasn't been so much as a sign of any stitch in my recent posts. For some reason which I don't quite understand, I have been especially reluctant to machine or hand stitch any of the pages, even though this was one of the things it was suggested we should do on the course.

Machine stitch on paper
Acrylic paint applied with a cut credit card

Finally, last evening it felt right and I sat down at my sewing machine for the first time for over a month. I did spirals and arcs, loops and circles and
here are some of the results.

The first is on scrumpled paper as Dionne had suggested. It was amazing how soft and fabric-like the paper became when I gently worked it before stitching.

Colours of image enhanced and changed in Photoshop

And then of course, I couldn't resist the temptation to play around with the colours in Adobe Photoshop. It never ceases to amaze me what a difference the colour change makes - in this case from warm to cool, from lively and vibrant to the acid green of spring....

Then I stitched into cartridge paper, spattered and dripped with ink ...

Paint-spattered and dripped background
ovals added with ink

.... and altered the colour balance again. This time I think it was especially effective as I felt the initial colour choice had been rather insipid (the photo here is more positive and concentrated than the original).

Colours intensified and hues changed in Photoshop

I've almost finished now ... and then it will be time to start on something new.....