This is another in the series of zentangle animals for the upcoming exhibition. I’ve already posted the hare and the fish, and this is the third one, a zentangle deer. There was a lot of interest in the hare so I thought I’d explain in a little more detail how these large designs are done.
A very important part of the design is the underpainting of the embroidery, which of course has to be done before the embroidery is added. To do this, I hoop the background fabric and stitch a simple outline of the subject (in this case the deer). The stitching is done white on white, so it isn’t obvious, but you can still see it clearly enough to be able to paint it. Then you remove the fabric from the hoop and just scrub the colours in roughly, trying not to get the fabric too wet. I use acrylic paints, because I have a good selection of colours, but you could probably use just about any kind of paint, as long as you don’t intend to wash the embroidery.
The deer underpainting
Now comes the tricky part. After the paint has dried you re-hoop the fabric and try to line up the painted image with the image that you see on the embroidery machine. I do this with the built-in camera on my machine, but if you’re good at alignment and re-hooping you might be able to do it without the camera. I've wondered about perhaps doing the underpainting while the fabric is still hooped, so you wouldn't have to worry about re-hooping it, but for various reasons I'm not sure that this would work well. But however you do it, once the underpainting is in place it’s just a question of stitching out the design.
The embroidery added
The final result works well – I like the contrast between the rough painting and the crisp embroidery. One of these days I must try stitching these designs out without the painted background, just to see if they work. But I have a feeling that the underpainted version will be more interesting
Thank you for explaining how your zentangles are made. I would not have guessed. You are very creative and talented. Your work is beautiful. Thanks again for sharing with us.
This is great.
I keep going back to look at the before embroidery and the after. It’s amazing that in some areas the painting comes through so recognizably but in others it fades to barely subliminal.
I think the grays come through strongly on the deer’s legs, and the browns along its back, but the brown spots on the shoulder and neck that are so pronounced in the painting aren’t really noticeable after the embroidery is added. I’m wondering if it’s that specific color, if it’s the density or distribution of the embroidery in those areas or something else?
In the painted version, my eye is riveted on the deer, but in the embroidered version, my eye circumvents the deer, but is drawn down to the bottom of the piece where the lighter area is. I’m almost expecting a pool of water or something like that, but instead the white makes me think of sky, as if this is an ethereal deer stalking the forests of imagination up where the eyes are drawn as we create.
But maybe that’s too fanciful, and I’m up too late.
😀
It’s very beautiful
I will like learning this
Thanks