Finishing Nuno Landscapes

Finishing Nuno Landscapes

Comments 24 comments

I am feverishly working away trying to finish up some landscapes and get them to the framer. I suddenly realized that it’s November and I needed more work to sell for the holiday season. I have always had good intentions of finishing pieces, getting them sewn to the backing fabric and laced to a board when I complete the piece. But somehow, those good intentions are paving the road to procrastination. Here I am again, finishing all the landscapes at once.

I went to the fabric store and found some fat quarters that worked with the various colors. I then hand stitch the nuno piece down to the fabric and lace it around a piece of matte board. Here is “Twilight” on it’s backing board ready to be framed.

This one I chose black fabric for the matting and laced it on to the matte board with a very minimal edge. I only want a tiny bit of black to show. This one is called “Serviceberry” at the moment unless I come up with a better name.

Believe it or not, I have finally decided that my slow stitch project is complete. I stitched it down to some brown fabric but I haven’t gotten this one laced on to the matte board yet. This one is called Autumn Impressions.

For those of you who wanted to see what the original fabric looked like, here it is.  Definitely a bit of a change!

The last one is the green nuno felt that I showed you recently. I finished stitching and decided it was complete. I have it on a dark green fabric background but haven’t stitched it down yet. Hopefully, I will get these finished up this week and get them to the framers by Friday. That’s the plan, anyways.

And here’s a close up of the bottom so you can see the stitching around the poppies. I still haven’t decided what to call this one yet. Several suggestions were made last time and I decided I had to research whether the plant I was thinking of was really Queen Anne’s Lace or whether it was Hemlock. It could be either. So then I kept thinking of titles such as Lethal Serenity, Poisonous or Peaceful?, Deadly Tranquility etc. So I will keep thinking on what it should be called as I finish stitching it down and lacing it.

24 thoughts on “Finishing Nuno Landscapes”

  1. Wonderful pieces, good luck with getting them all framed. I love the last one which reminds me of the grass verges alongside roads. I wonder what you will name it.

    Reply

    1. Thank you! The last one is one of my favorites too. “Along the Verge” could be a nice title. I always like seeing what’s growing in the verges and what color the grasses turn in the autumn.

  2. They are all great Ruth. I was going to ask how the Slow Stitching Project was going – how on earth are you going to price that with all the hours you’ve put in? To be able to sell it you’d probably have to work it on a basis of “10 a Penny” (I suppose that would be “10 a cent” where you are).
    If customers will take the time to stand back and stare at these pictures they will see so much in them. If you have pictures like these on your wall it would be ages before you stopped “seeing” them from familiarity – there is so much that appears in the backgrounds when you just sit and gaze. Hopefully not too many people will just glance at the surface and walk on, as I admit I am sometimes guilty of doing when I’m interested but broke!
    Ann

    Reply

    1. I totally agree with Ann! These are such beautiful pieces and it will be tough to price them to reflect all the hours put into them. But I would line up with all my extra ‘cents’ to try to purchase. I would have a hard time choosing between them though. Thank you for sharing your approach to finishing – the stage with which I always struggle. I look forward to learning what title you settle on for the piece ‘the peacefulness of the green meadow’ as its depth is fabulous (and as Ann says, the longer you look, the more you see).

    2. Thanks Ann! We use the term penny and cent interchangeably so it could be either. And no, I probably won’t get enough money for the time spent but that’s OK. I usually price by size so I will just move the slow stitch one up one “size” and give it a higher price than it’s normal size. We’ll see how it goes.

      I’m happy that you see the depth in my pieces. That is what I like to show is the layers of a landscape and that there is interest and beauty in all the layers. I do hope people take time to look and see what’s there.

    3. Thanks Linda! I appreciate your kind comments. Finishing has always been my nemesis. I have a standard way that I do it now but I still don’t enjoy it much. I will try not to procrastinate next time. We’ll see how that goes.

  3. These all look terrific! I can appreciate all the hours you must have put into Autumn Impressions but its Twilight that really stands out for me. I just love that colour combination!
    Good luck with sales, not that you need it!

    Reply

    1. Thanks Karen! I enjoyed putting those colors together for Twilight. It has taken me a while to allow myself more free range with colors in landscapes and not stick to just what the camera sees. It’s fun to see what different color palettes look like.

  4. They are all stunning works! If I had to pick a favourite, difficult as that is, it would be Service Berry. It made me say an involuntary ‘wow’. I really love close ups of things, grills, flowers, reflective surfaces, but this is a lovely monochromatic piece that just pops against the subtle deep rust/black background. Its really beautiful Ruth, congratulations.

    Reply

    1. Thanks Bernadette! It’s so nice to hear that Service Berry is your favorite. I like close ups too but most people prefer a typical landscape. It’s good to know that subtle/simple does work.

  5. These are all really beautiful Ruth. Their new owners will treasure them. Autumn Impressions has a real wow factor for me. I kept flicking back and forwards (so much so I lost my original post! lol). To me, there’s a certain photorealism within Serviceberry – it is really attractive. Twilight is yummy (not a particularly artistic term but my mouth is watering looking at it). Your last piece will be snapped up regardless of name (but I do like Lethal Serenity). Many congratulations Ruth

    Reply

    1. Thanks Helene! I’m glad that you are enjoying looking at all the pieces. In regards to names for the last one, I still haven’t made up my mind. But I do like Lethal Serenity as well.

  6. Love them, Ruth! Well done. Any home would be proud to have these on display. As for the title, I had to chuckle, since one of them reminded me of Dark Tranquility, a metal band that is many things, but certainly not quiet 🙂

    Reply

    1. Thanks Leonor! Dark Tranquility is a good name. I haven’t heard of that band before but it would work for this piece too. I won’t steal their name though, but I could use ‘Dark’ as part of the title perhaps.

  7. The are all fabulous Ruth. I really like the mid ground of the Autumn Impressions. I like them all but the unnamed piece is my favourite at the moment. The service berry is very striking though.
    I think I would go with a more neutral name and let the buyer decide if it Queen Anne’s lace or Poison Hemlock.

    Reply

    1. Thanks Ann! Now if the buyers just like them all too 😉 You’re probably right about the name being more neutral. I guess some people might be turned off by a poisonous plant and everyone will probably assume that it’s Queen Anne’s Lace anyways.

  9. So beautiful, I love them all, but if pressed to choose, I would have the Autumn work on my wall.

    Reply

  10. I was so busy enthusing about all your pictures that I forgot to mention about mounting the pictures. You mentioned that you were mounting them ready to go to the framers.
    Since I started framing my pictures, rather than mounting them on artists’ canvas blocks covered in appropriately coloured fabrics as I used to do, I have begun to attach them to appropriately coloured mount board. I stick a couple of lengths of the hook side of velcro to the front of the mount board and just press the felt picture onto it. The hooks grasp the fibres and the job is done. I used to rely on just the glue on the back of the velcro, but after a piece which had been mounted in a glassed in frame slipped down when the glue softened in the heat of the gallery, I now staple as well.
    I used to lace the fabric onto stiff board and attach the picture to that with a hanger on the back, but once I started to use the artists’ canvas block, the stapler came out again.
    I’m all for taking the easy way out if it can be done well.
    Ann

    Reply

    1. Thanks Ann, I have tried many different types of mounts and even though the lacing technique is fiddly and takes time, I have found it to be the best to hold my pieces long term. I agree that it’s nice for things to be easier but with the weight of the stitching and the sometimes unevenness of the pieces, the stretching achieved with the lacing works the best for me. We have loads of questions about finishing and framing so if you were interested in posting about your methods,, I’m sure it would be appreciated.

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