Stormy Skies

Stormy Skies or Full Wind or ... not sure of a proper title at the moment.
     I painted the main floor of my house in greys and yellows this past winter and  wanted a picture that would tie everything together. At first I thought I would use my Dad's old sailboat as a model, but it was turquoise with a plain sail. Also, full pictures that I had showed the boat tied up at dock, not flying in the wind across the harbour. So with the help of the internet & Pinterest & imagination, this was the result. It is 47 cm X 76 cm (18.5 X 30 in)
     The sky is done in a ton of narrow rows of horizontal stitching ... which took forever. I changed thread to match each of the grey fabrics that I was working with. The water stitching follows all the little blue swirls in the fabric. Shading was added to the sides of the boat using a couple of colours of golds and browns.

     I found the water really frustrating. Originally it was going to be done in greys but after ripping out the first attempt, I decided to use blue fabric that actually looked a bit like water. I added a bit of dark blue & mid grey-blue in front of the sailboat BUT when I showed the partially finished piece to my Dad, his first comment was about a adding a line to the boom (which I did, thank you Dad) and then he asked why there was a pod of dolphins or minke whales in front of the boat.
     Obviously my waves didn't look like waves! Back to the drawing board or at least my sewing machine. I added a few more pieces of different shades of blue fabric and then sewed the heck out of the top of the waves to look like white caps.  The finished work is acceptable ... but I think I may need to practice water and waves and white caps on some small samples before I add it to a bigger piece of work.
     I watched a sailboat in the harbour yesterday afternoon; the wind was producing little white caps in the cove below us ... I am not sure the whitecaps in my art quilt line up properly with the billowing sail. Perhaps my boat is tacking.