Moonlit Night

A nice moonlit night for inspiration.  

As the evening wore on, the moon moved near the power lines, so I couldn't resist taking some photos.  It was really beautiful and I am seeing a small piece of work here.  This would be a good subject for fabric painting and/or thread painting.   

  Years ago I started a post card series of quilted pieces I called "Postcards From the Edge", which were journal pieces of places we have been, so I'm adding this piece based on that series.    The sizes of these postcards vary.  

 The photos were printed and placed in a collage.  I also wanted to add a bird, so I drew that out as well.  

I used Inktense sticks to paint the background onto white cotton fabric.  They are water soluble and blend nicely.   I layered the background over the batting piece.  Using a pigma pen, marked where the moon was placed with a circle smaller than the actual moon piece.  Using a ruler, I marked where the power-lines went.  

Now, moving on to the shapes (moon, power lines, and bird).    The moon is an applique circle shape with slight gray colors shaded in random areas.  I drew a circle on the reverse side of the white fabric, sewed an interfacing on the drawn line and cut it out.  Cut a slit in the center of the interfacing, clipping close to the sewing line and turned right side out.  To lightly shade the moon, I used water soluble pencil in a gray color.   I ironed the shape and top-stitched it in place over the background.   Then I started thread painting over my marked lines for the power lines and bird.   

I cut a backing to cover my threads, but you could have sandwiched it in the beginning and stitched.  To finish, I zig zag stitched all the edges.  It turned out well and am happy with the colors.