Northern Lights
 
This piece was inspired by a magical trip I took, with my son, at the beginning of this year, just before the Lockdown nightmare.  We travelled up through the fjords of Norway to way beyond the Arctic Circle and absolutely loved it.  We were lucky enough to see the Northern Lights too.  It will always be a wonderful memory.
 
I sketch my picture and then, when I am satisfied with this, I blow the drawing up to the size I want and, using a light box, draw the outlines onto white cotton, using an ordinary pencil.  Then I can fill in as much detail as I want.
 
The next stage is to paint, using fabric paints.  Sometimes I use bits of sponge to add a little texture.  
 
After painting I layer up in the usual way and stitch – generally fairly densely.  Sometimes I will go back in with a little more paint until I am happy with the result. 

A number of us got together in the early stages of Lockdown to make work and meet via Zoom to talk about how lockdown was affecting us.  We decided on a brief "Magic Carpet" and all undertook to produce a piece of work.  This is the result......