Moving to colour I was inspired by Seurat’s study for ‘The Circus’ to create my Study for ‘The Lochan’, a photograph I took of a favourite place in Scotland. (I have failed to mention that all my Seurat pieces are based on water and reflections.)

The Circus was his last painting and remained unfinished at the time of his death. The study attracted me due to the lines, marks and limited colour palette with which he outlined the principle items/people before working in more detail, in the Neo-Impressionist style. I like the idea of loosely stitching the outlines as in a sketch but with needle and thread, the idea is to develop this further for a second piece.

Worked on the same cotton sheeting as the previous two, as this time it mimics canvas rather than paper, and hand stitched with variegated cotton threads and a little shading with crayons. The use of threads gives much finer lines than a paint brush and oil paint but it helps identify which details are necessary. I used crayons to add touches of colour to add some depth to the piece. The border stitching also mimics the marks Seurat made to frame his study. The colours used are fairly true to nature. I have found this a really useful exercise, it has really helped me to see where I want the next piece to go.