While I’m anxious to put the boys on the long arm and begin stitching, there is still some prep work to be done. I’ve put the piece back on the design wall, put pins at the corners and 1/3 points along the sides. Next I wrapped string connecting the points and creating a sort of net over the Boys.
These strings are really a network of tangents that run across the surface. I can use them to identify lost and found lines that fall on these strings. I did this a few weeks back when the piece was only partially fused. Now that it is done, I’ll choose a few key tangents and accentuate them by stitching highlights and shadows so that they help guide the viewers eye through and around the piece. Of course this key stitching will be the last stitching that I do on the long arm, but I need to identify these tangents now, so that I can avoid removing and reloading the piece on the long arm later.
This is also a time to look over the composition and note areas that need some color or value correction. For example, the bike frame under the front rider’s bum is just a bit too light. I can cover it with a darker fabric now, or stitch it with darker thread later. I think it is hard to see in this photo, but the man behind the bike, standing on the sidewalk, should have his feet showing, and they have been done in sidewalk fabric and are obscured. They sit just on the line going across the bottom third of the piece. That, I will fix with fabric now, taking care not to make them too strong.
I’ll have to leave this up for a few days and review it several times as it is hard to catch everything in just one viewing. Do you see anything?
