When "over the top" is just right

It's finals week here in Ogden.  Miss Amber has, of course, aced hers.  She brought in her color theory final. She based her study on the work of Arthur Rackham (one of my favorite illustrators.)  I had always wondered why his illustrations had a muted somber cast to them.  Through her study, she learned that he worked at night under gaslight and his illustrations then would take on a different color in daylight.  Here's the piece Amber whipped up to illustrate this concept.  (of course she's figured out a way to incorporate her love of critters too!)  YUM!

    (this image is copyrighted and may be used only with the permission of the artist)

I've always felt that when finishing a piece of needle art one must always consider the integrity of the piece and never, never, never, overwhelm the art with the framing.  Once in a while, however, we get a project that screams at us for a little extra effort in the embellishment department.

Here are some of the latest projects that we felt wanted a little extra bling.  Miss Amber, Rosie, Lois and I have found a working style that is quite cathartic for us and we are all super pleased with the results of our teamwork.

The framing of Delpha Henry's  HAED Storykeep Dragon is entirely Amber's doing. She is a skilled designer as well as an accomplished artist.  We felt that such a monumental needlework needed a monumental finish.

and Brenda Wilson's lacy "Love" really wanted some lacy hand carving to finish it.

Of course, when I saw this sweet heart piece from Marilyn Fronk, I couldn't help but think of Valentines Days of my childhood and the sugary sweet memories.

I couldn't remember if I had shown you this lovely piece of Sonia Gan's but I felt she fit into our topic rather well.


That's all the time I can manage to sneak away from framing for the moment. I'm off to make some beautiful pictures.
Jill