Undulating Terrain

I have always enjoyed sewing and it was fun for me to combine that with my passion for painting.  These canvases were completed for the "Be There and Be Square" Exhibit at The Artists Gallery, a cooperative in Virginia Beach that I have belonged to since 1996.

The canvases were cut apart, stitched back together with some areas backed by cotton muslin.  A small slit was made in the areas that are backed and those areas are stuffed with polyster filling and the slits stitiched back together, sort of trapunto quilting style.

 
The canvas is then stretched onto a stretcher frame and each area painted with oils using shading and highlights to make each area appear three-dimensional.  The trick is that some areas are actually three-dimensional and some areas are flat, but are painted to look three-dimensional.  Each painting was placed in a floater type frame and they are meant to be hung as a group.