You’d think that picking the fibers for the lamb would be a no-brainer. Unfortunately, I’m allergic to wool, so that was out. Instead, I opted for Alpaca wool yarn. This gives a natural look much like sheep’s wool, but without making my hands itch!
Leap for Joy Fibers, a photo by Carmen CS on Flickr.
Prayer: Father, please bring comforting things into this family’s life and help them grow in their walk of faith.
Finally, I paint the background. I’ve chosen to paint it unevenly, as I may decide to leave it openwork.
Wild Colors 10 Leap for Joy 5×7 cu, a photo by Carmen CS on Flickr.
Prayer: Father, thank you that you surround us with green fields in which we can romp and leap for joy!
The outline anchors the lamb and makes painting it easier. Here the design starts to come together.
Leap for Joy Lamb, a photo by Carmen CS on Flickr.
Prayer: Father, we are your lambs. We look to you for protection, healing, comfort, and guidance.
In painting a design like this where the background is painted and much of the figure is white and therefore unpainted, it works well to paint the outline of the figure first.
Leap for Joy Ghost Canvas, a photo by Carmen CS on Flickr.
Prayer: Father, please bring this mother back to her family in health and joy.
Rather than yellow, I painted Joy in metallic gold. This will make it pop!
Leap for Joy Joy, a photo by Carmen CS on Flickr.
Prayer: Father, let joy shine in their life!
The painted canvas – on decorative cream and gold metallic canvas so the background will not be stitched…
Prayer: Father, please help those she gives care to and those who love them to value her as they ought and to support her rather than undermining her.
Here is the complete painted canvas. Now I can start picking threads. The key on the right shows each shade I will need, so I can make sure I have all the fibers necessary. But I will refer back to the original photo for fine-tuning of the colors.
Insp18 Valley of Shadow, a photo by Carmen CS on Flickr.
One note: I have not been reporting my progress in real-time. Painting actually took me about a week, and since then I have moved on to stitching. I’ve been reporting in bite-sized chunks, both for your understanding and to break up the writing :-).
Here I’ve completed the sky, the greeny-brown hills, and much of the blue valleys. But there’s a problem. The blue paints I’ve mixed are just too blue.
Blues, a photo by Carmen CS on Flickr.
Going back to the original photo, I can see that the shades should be more grey in the upper portion of the valley. I need to remix my paints!
The Gentle Rays, a photo by Stuck in Customs on Flickr.
Here I have theoretically painted all the yellows which make up the sky. However, as you can see, there are a number of places unpainted. No matter how carefully I try to get all the intersections the first time around, I always seem to end up with spots I’ve totally missed. When I get to this point where I’ve painted all the colors in an area, I go back and check the area and correct any missed or incorrectly painted spots.
Somehow I Always Miss Some Spots…, a photo by Carmen CS on Flickr.
Keep adding on colors. The painted area will expand.
Four Colors Painted, a photo by Carmen CS on Flickr.
NeedlePrayer 